By MIAWLING LAM More than 30 children are being crammed into classrooms as local schools battle overcrowding and devastating budget cuts. Preliminary class size data, released by the Department of Education last week, shows student numbers have ballooned across the city this year. P.S. 24 fared the worst among Riverdale’s three public schools and recorded the highest student-teacher ratio of 16.8. Figures shows a fifth-grade class at the Spuyten Duyvil school has as many as 32 students on its books, while the average Kindergarten class houses 24.8 students – right at the legal limit. In comparison, P.S. 81 enjoys a lower student-teacher ratio at 14.8, as well as smaller classes. According to the city’s figures, the largest class at the Robert J Christen school is a fourth-grade one, which has 30 children on its registers. On average, there are also 22.5 students assigned to each P.S. 81 Kindergarten room, while first-graders enjoy a mean of 27 children in their classes. Meanwhile, Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy recorded an overall studentteacher ratio of 16.3. Average class sizes at M.S/H.S 141 range from 31.3 students in sixth-grade to 23.7 teenagers in chemistry and 32 in each of the 10 living environment classes. One of the school’s global history and geography class even boasts 35 students, Under the UFT’s contract, Kindergar-
ten class sizes are limited to 25 students, 32 in grades one through six, and up to 34 in the upper grades. As of press time, calls to each of the three schools were not returned. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz blamed the super-sized classes on systemic austerity measures. “The increase in class size is solely a function of funding, or lack thereof,” he said. “If there was more money for the schools, we would be able to prevent the increase in class size.” Dinowitz said extending the millionaire’s tax would boost funding but Mayor Michael Bloomberg remains staunchly opposed to the idea. “The administration is very good at pointing fingers elsewhere,” he said. “One of the places the administration might want to point its finger at is in the mirror, specifically the Mayor. I strongly urge him to reconsider his opposition to the millionaire’s tax, which would continue to help generate significant revenue for the state and therefore the city.” Citywide, class sizes rose by nearly one student per class. Officials said the average elementary class size rose nearly three percent this year, from 23.7 to 24.4 students. In middle school, classes spiked to 27.1 students, from 26.8, while high school classes increased to 26.8 students, up from 26.4. In real terms, it means there are now, on average, two more Kindergarteners per class than there were in 2008, and roughly three more third graders in each Continued on Page 11
9 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, November 24, 2011
Class sizes increase at local schools