In a significant expansion for New York City's public education system, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos announced the city will be hiring over 3,700 new teachers across nearly 750 schools. According to a news release from the Office of the Mayor, this move is intended to reduce class sizes and is a part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget. The decision follows comprehensive reviews of schools' proposed plans, conducted jointly by New York City Public Schools, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA).
Mayor Adams declared, "A reduced class size is one of the best ways to help our students learn and for young people to thrive, and today, we are taking yet another step toward making New York City the best place on the globe to raise a family." The city's schools are set to prepare for compliance with the class size law for the 2025-2026 academic year, with the ultimate goal of creating smaller, more nurturing classrooms that facilitate individualized care, as the mayor stated in an official press release.
Emphasizing the collaborative nature of this initiative, Chancellor Aviles-Ramos said, “Today’s announcement is a demonstration of genuine collaboration with our union partners and represents a commitment to listening to our schools.” Equity in education has been a consistent theme in the Adams administration, with this investment being part of a broader effort to engage school communities in decision-making processes. Each school had the opportunity to develop individual class size reduction plans, taking into account recommendations from a class size working group facilitated by New York City Public Schools in 2023, as per the Office of the Mayor.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew underlined the effort it took educators and parents to reach this point, asserting, “What seemed impossible has become possible because of the sheer determination of educators and parents.” This initiative is an extension of the city’s efforts to accommodate state-mandated class size caps, as schools begin to receive their Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget allocations later this spring. Budget allocations, include dollars for class size reduction, will afford principals additional time for the critical process of hiring competent teachers and planning for the upcoming academic year, according to the same press release.
This hiring surge builds on the city's previous investments in education, where, under Mayor Adams’ leadership, nearly $1 billion was directed into long-term salary increases for teachers, principals, and staff. Moreover, Fiscal Year 2025 saw the city stepping in with over $600 million to preserve educational programs initially funded by expiring federal stimulus dollars, demonstrating a significant prioritization of education funding in the city's budgetary considerations.
