Local school districts dismiss class-size reductions

04-22-2010

By Diana Lambert/Sacramento Bee

Remember class-size reduction – the push for classes of no more than 20 students per teacher that swept California public schools in the 1990s? The last two years of state budget cuts have sent the pendulum careening back in the other direction. Classes of 30-plus students are once again commonplace in Sacramento-area schools, as districts lay off teachers to balance deflated budgets. Natomas Unified School District has increased class sizes in primary grades by 50 percent in three years, going from 20 students in 2008-09 to 30 students next school year. Sacramento City Unified and Folsom Cordova Unified also are proposing going to 30 students in K-3 classrooms next year; San Juan Unified allows 31. "Right now education is in survivor mode," said Ken Whittemore, assistant superintendent in Natomas Unified. "I'm not saying all the changes are good for children."(more...)

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Local school districts dismiss class-size reductions

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