NEW YORK — State lawmakers in Albany are set to give New York City an additional two years to implement a law mandating smaller class sizes, an extension that will help Mayor Zohran Mamdani balance the city’s budget by saving the school system more than $500 million.

The 2022 state law phases in new class sizes caps between 20 and 25 students, depending on grade level. It applies only to New York City. The delay will give the city until September 2030 to fully implement the law, according to a bill introduced Monday by state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat, chair of the New York City education committee. Previously, the deadline was fall 2028.

The legislation is critical for Mamdani, who was banking on a delay to help close the city’s multibillion-dollar budget gap. Budget documents released last month showed the city expected to save $508 million from the extension next fiscal year, and $733 million the following year.

The measure was expected to be included in the final state budget, which was signed into law last week nearly two months after the statutory deadline. But it was noticeably absent from the financial plan after the Mamdani administration failed to provide the stated legislative language to amend the law in time for the state budget’s passage, the Daily News reported.

“The legal timetable will be extended by two years, empowering the Mamdani administration to at long last bring all NYC class sizes down to state and national norms of teacher-student ratios,” Liu said in a statement.

“This amendment to state law is respondent to clear and accountable teacher recruitment and classroom construction plans developed by the Mamdani administration to be fulfilled within the mayor’s current term of office.”

The Daily News has reached out to City Hall, New York City Public Schools, and the United Federation of Teachers for comment and copies of those plans. The deal was first reported by Politico.

As part of the extension, the city’s school system will have more time to hit annual milestones leading up to the final deadline. This fall, 70% of classrooms have to comply with the caps, instead of 80% as currently required, according to the bill. An additional 10% of classes, rather than an original 20%, must come into compliance each year until the phase-in is complete.

“This was negotiated between the City of New York and the teachers union about a requirement that was put in law a few years ago to reduce the class sizes, but it is an enormous expense annually,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference on New York’s school cellphone ban in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

“This just gives them some more breathing room to roll out the cost of it, and they expect to save about half a billion dollars a year to do this. So, they’ll get to the right place. And I know class sizes are already shrinking in some areas, so that effect is already ongoing. But this was a budget issue that the city asked the teachers for relief from.”

Mamdani at a recent news conference suggested his administration was “distinct” from that of ex-Mayor Eric Adams, who spent most of his term in office pushing back against the cost of the mandate without additional support from Albany.

“We actually want to fulfill this,” Mamdani said last Thursday in Astoria, “and ensure that the spirit of the law is one that we are delivering on — where we have students who have an easier time learning in our classrooms, and teachers who have an easier time teaching in our classrooms.”

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