NEW YORK, NY September 18, 2009 —Roughly 7200 New York City public school classrooms are overcrowded - an increase of more than 30 percent over last year, according to the teachers union. The United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew claims at least 175 kindergartens have more than the limit of 25 students; and lots of high schools have classes with more than 34.

MULGREW: Many schools have problems with space. And if there are neighborhoods where enrollment is going up, and they have the space problems to begin with, then they have no choice - it's not like they can open another class they just have to make the classes larger.

Some schools also reduced their teachers because of budget cuts. The Department of Education says class sizes should decline as schools get more accurate enrollment figures. The union has until next week to file grievances in cases where classes are bigger than their contractual limit.