{"id":324263,"date":"2026-08-18T19:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324263\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:32:09","slug":"who-will-get-nycs-8500-teacher-class-size-bonuses-details-remain-murky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324263\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will get NYC\u2019s $8,500 teacher class size bonuses? Details remain murky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

When Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured a two-year delay in fully complying with the state\u2019s class size law, the teachers union won a concession: Educators could receive pay bumps of up to $8,500 if their classes exceeded the caps.<\/p>\n

But more than two months after the union announced the bonuses<\/a> \u2014 and with the first day of class less than a month away \u2014 it remains unclear which teachers will receive them.<\/p>\n

Teachers may be eligible for extra pay if their classrooms are exempt from the law<\/a> because their building doesn\u2019t have enough space or if their school can\u2019t hire enough educators to staff smaller classes. But not every teacher in an exempt classroom will get a bonus, according to the union<\/a>. The Education Department declined to explain how bonuses will be awarded or how much money has been budgeted for the payments. <\/p>\n

Union officials contend the payments create a powerful \u201caccountability incentive.\u201d The possibility of doling out big pay bumps could push the city to shrink class sizes rather than seek exemptions from the law, which generally require union approval. Last school year, the city relied on thousands of exemptions to comply with the law<\/a>, which generally caps class sizes at 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level.<\/p>\n

But experts and advocates said the bonuses could disproportionately flow to teachers at more affluent schools, where classrooms tend to be more crowded<\/a>. They worry that could exacerbate turnover at high-poverty schools<\/a> by adding a financial incentive to move to a lower-poverty one. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish they were using strategic compensation to do the opposite: to try to retain teachers in our lowest performing, traditionally hardest-to-staff schools,\u201d said Evan Stone, CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group that has raised equity concerns about the class size law. \u201cThe priority is about pressure to meet class size.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Goldhaber, a teacher labor market expert at the University of Washington, said pay differentials can help with retention. The city could strategically deploy them to the most effective teachers who wind up teaching larger class sizes in a bid to keep them in the system, he noted. <\/p>\n

But the ambiguity about which teachers will ultimately get pay bumps could dampen the effect on retention, he said. There is no guarantee that teachers who receive the bonus this coming school year will get it again the following year when the value rises to $9,500. It\u2019s unclear if the pay bumps, which count toward educators\u2019 pensions, will continue after that. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe effect would be a lot larger if it\u2019s really clear what are the parameters of the program going forward,\u201d Goldhaber said. \u201cThat is, I think, an example of a real missed opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

Education Department officials are expected to hash out which classrooms will be exempt from the law by November, which means teachers won\u2019t know whether they will receive a bonus until the school year is underway. This coming school year, the law requires 70% of the city\u2019s classrooms to comply with the class size caps<\/a> or win an exemption, which are subject to approval from the Education Department and unions representing teachers and principals.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Independent Budget Office estimated<\/a> that at least 2,463 general education teachers could be eligible for the bonuses based on last year\u2019s exemptions. If all of those teachers receive the full $8,500, the pay bumps could cost roughly $21 million in the first year. <\/p>\n

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew recently told Chalkbeat that the union is still hashing out details about the pay bumps. He declined to address concerns about whether teachers at more affluent schools will disproportionately benefit. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working through it right now, so we will let you know as soon as we are there,\u201d he said. Union officials have previously suggested that higher-need schools would be \u201caddressed first.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Some teachers have expressed mixed feelings about the pay bumps. Robert Effinger, the union chapter leader at the Bronx High School of Business, said he is already trying to manage teachers\u2019 expectations about them. <\/p>\n

Most of the teachers who are aware of the bonuses have assumed they will be eligible for them, he said. \u201cI have to patiently explain to them that it\u2019s not that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Effinger\u2019s social studies classes last year had 34 students \u2014 the current limit under the teachers\u2019 contract \u2014 which generates significantly more grading and administrative tasks. His classroom is so crammed that he doesn\u2019t have space for students to do group work or other activities, he said.<\/p>\n

Effinger said he would rather teach classes of no more than 25 students than win a pay bump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money is not going to make up for all the amount of work,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[122111,122112,98,4146,22553,83990,122113,122114,9,56,63,65,64,2585,14747],"class_list":["post-324263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-8th","tag-a-magnet-school","tag-brooklyn","tag-chalkbeat","tag-classroom","tag-eighth-grade","tag-ms-301-restoration-academy","tag-ms-corr","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-students","tag-teacher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}