New York, NY —

New York's assembly holds a hearing today on Governor Spitzer's plan to expand pre-K programs and lift the cap on charter schools. Spitzer also wants to settle the New York City school funding court battle by setting aside roughly $3.5 billion over the next 4 years for city schools.

REPORTER: Meanwhile, Queens Assemblyman Rory Lancman has drafted a bill that would require 25% of new money to be spent on decreasing class sizes.

LANCMAN: It's not merely a mandate to the city to reduce class size and you city figure out how to do it. It's, we state, are giving you a big chunk of money and you should spend a quarter of that toward reducing class size.

REPORTER: The Bloomberg administration has objected to a similar proposal in the City Council, saying such a mandate could limit the city's flexibility over its budget.