Contact: Ron Roach (916) 441-0490
June 15, 1996
Reducing class size in California public schools is an ongoing debate brought to center stage by Governor Pete Wilson's proposal to cut by one-third the number of children in first and second grades.
The governor's plan, included in the May revision of his state budget proposal that added $1.8 billion to school funding, deals with important considerations that have been missing in class size discussions.
Various proposals that would mandate reductions in California's highest-in-the-nation ratio of 29 children for each teacher have problems. They have lacked cost-effective elements and can be counterproductive to overall efforts to improve schools.
The governor's $460 million proposal to reduce class size to 20 in first and second grades would seem extremely costly, as cash-starved school districts cannot afford to hire more teachers and build new classrooms.
However, there is an "Option B" available to school districts, says the governor's finance director, Craig Brown. He says this option has received too little attention. It involves use of early and late courses in reading or math, with half the class coming early and half the class staying late.
For reading and mathematics, the ratio of pupils to teachers would be, say, 15 to 1. Of course, teachers should be compensated for working additional hours.
Districts might also use "floating" special teachers who would move from classroom to classroom joining regular teachers in instruction of basic subjects. This way, the number of pupils per teacher would be cut in half.
Option B is not without additional expense -- longer days for teachers or use of floating teachers -- but it is done without building more classrooms (a temporary classroom costs about $45,000).
Brown says use of Option B could enable some districts to stretch their funding and also reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in the third grade. Under Option A, districts must go to 20 students in a classroom to get $500 more per pupil. Under Option B, schools get $250 per pupil for effectively reducing class size for reading and math instruction.
These strategies, along with year-round schools, would allow schools to achieve the long-sought goal of fewer children per teacher, and still not exacerbate shortages of classrooms.
Class size reduction otherwise can be very costly and would likely absorb additional resources needed for better textbooks, computers, deferred maintenance needs, rewards for teaching excellence and other needed educational reforms.
The California Taxpayers' Association has urged use of the "early-late" program. It will provide meaningful reductions of about 50% in class size for instruction in basic reading and math, with relatively little additional costs.
With the right program, children will have more opportunity to be good readers and math wizards. And their parents will see greater value for their tax dollars.