Atlanta class size limits set at highest level allowed

Grades 4-8 in core subjects: 33 students

Grades 9-12 in core subjects: 35 students

Class sizes in Atlanta schools will remain steady next year after the city school board voted to allow classrooms to hold up to the maximum number of students permitted by the state.

Atlanta Public Schools staff will make efforts to maintain class sizes that are smaller than the maximum allowed, according to a school board document.

The school board, which set class size limits during its Monday meeting, has discussed spending money to hire more teachers to reduce class sizes, but Superintendent Erroll Davis has said that adding even one teacher to each of the city’s 100 schools would cost $8 million.

Class sizes for core subjects in Atlanta can be as large as 35 students in high school and 25 students in kindergarten.