SACRAMENTO
– A bill that could have immediately helped Gilroy Unified
School District start saving upwards of $400,000 in teachers’
salaries over the next 18 months died in the state Assembly
Wednesday.
SACRAMENTO – A bill that could have immediately helped Gilroy Unified School District start saving upwards of $400,000 in teachers’ salaries over the next 18 months died in the state Assembly Wednesday.
Opponents of the bill, which calls for more flexibility in meeting 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratios, are calling it a victory for smaller class sizes and improved student learning.
“(The bill) would have increased class sizes for millions of California students without saving the state one dime,” said Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association.
Meanwhile, a similar bill is slated for debate Feb. 19. If passed by the state Assembly, and ultimately signed into law by the governor, the bill could help school districts trim their 2003-04 budgets. Both bills would allow schools to hire fewer teachers, allowing as many as 22 students in the classroom for every teacher, as long as the average for each school did not exceed the 20-to-1 ratio.
California’s class-size reduction program extends from kindergarten through third-grade.
“The so-called flexibility sought by school administrators is just a code word for diverting money out of the classroom,” Johnson said.
Local education officials see it differently.
Saving up to $400,000 on the teacher salaries, health benefits and classroom supplies needed to run the class-size reduction program is important because GUSD spends $417,000 of its own funds to cover costs not picked up by the state. Based on Gov. Gray Davis’ $35 billion budget deficit projection, GUSD needs to slice $3 million of expenses over the next year and a half.
The teachers association and administrators state-wide also disagree on the impact 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratios have on student learning.
Even though he supports smaller classrooms, Superintendent Edwin Diaz said evidence of the program’s effectiveness in Gilroy is inconclusive. The Gilroy Teachers Association points to several studies across the country that show students perform better on standardized tests when they attend smaller classes.
Chris Mowrer, spokesperson for Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher – who wrote the bill, says the push for more flexibility within class-size reduction rules is in no way dead.
The state Senate recently passed a similar class-size reduction bill that would allow for 22 students in a classroom as long as the school district’s average did not exceed 20-to-1. Mowrer said it is up to the Assembly’s budget committee to move the bill along.
“There could be new bills coming from anyone as we speak. This is a special session called by the governor. It’s not over until he says it’s over and that means anything can happen,” Mowrer said.
Another of Daucher’s bills remains tied up in committees. The so-called “home rule” bill would allow districts more flexibility in their use of funding designated for specific purposes.
Essentially, the bill would mean that all of a district’s earmarked funding would be put into one pot the district could use as it sees fit.
On the net: visit www.cde.ca.gov/csr for more information on class-size reduction legislation.
