On Tuesday, the city’s teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, announced a plan to reduce city schools’ class sizes to comply with state law.

The union released a survey that found 856 of the city’s more than 1,800 schools have space to reduce class sizes by the start of the new year.

The education department has pushed back, saying 20% of city schools already comply with the reduced class size mandate, and that there is time until the next deadline. 

The deadline is scheduled for next year, when 40% of city schools will be expected to have reduced class sizes.

The final deadline for all city public schools to follow state-mandated class sizes is the start of the new school year in 2028.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the UFT, joined NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Tuesday to talk about the union’s push to get this done sooner rather than later.

“You don’t need to cut anything from the schools. You don’t have to cut their art programs. You have to start sending additional money for this,” Mulgrew said. “We should embrace it because our children deserve it.”