For the fourth year in a row, state education officials have agreed to waive class size requirements, anticipating that next school year may be the worst yet financially for local systems.
School systems are facing more than $1 billion in lost revenues from the state and steep declines in property taxes, an offshoot of the national housing crisis.
On Thursday, the state school board unanimously approved extending the waiver for larger classes through the next school year. For students and parents, this could mean more students in some classrooms and fewer teachers.
Maximum class size requirements vary. For instance, state law says a regular kindergarten class should have no more than 18 students, while a fine arts or foreign language class in grades 6-8 can have 33 students.
In addition to the state waiver, school systems also have permission from lawmakers to establish class size averages, meaning they can take an English class with 30 students and one with 10 for an average class size of 20.
"Class size does matter," said Elizabeth Hooper, parent of a sophomore in Fulton County schools. “That is not a good path toward educational improvement in any way shape or form. [With a smaller class] the teacher gets to know the student and the student gets to interact with the teacher."
Fulton County mom Karen LeCates, who has children at Centennial High and Haynes Bridge Middle, said packing more kids into classrooms will lead to disruptions. “You are going to have increased discipline issues,” she said.
State officials said school systems need the flexibility in these tough economic times.
"They don't want to do this. They don't have a choice," said Garry McGiboney, associate state school superintendent for policy and charter schools. "For some systems, their solvency is going to depend on things like this."
Cobb County is adding two students per classroom at all grade levels, a move that will allow the school system to cut 250 teaching jobs.
Studies and common sense suggest that classrooms with fewer students are better learning environments, said Cobb school district spokesman Jay Dillon.
"Unfortunately, the economic reality is that we are facing a $62 million deficit, and 90 percent of our operating budget is committed to payroll," Dillon said.
The state has been giving school systems blanket waivers from mandatory class sizes since the 2009-2010 school year.
Other requirements have been relaxed. Most notably, school systems have been allowed to abandon the traditional 180-day calendar, which two-thirds have done to save money, even though they're required to maintain the same hours of instruction.
Metro area districts have seen property values and taxes drop significantly and have been told they're not yet at the bottom.
School districts "need the waivers more now than they ever have," said Herb Garrett, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
McGiboney said staff at the state Department of Education has been concerned about the potential impact on student achievement, but doesn't have enough data yet to draw any firm conclusions.
"Of course, we're worried," he said.
DeKalb County school board Chairman Eugene Walker said he believes in smaller classes. When teachers have fewer students, they can devote more one-on-one time to kids who are struggling with the material, said Walker, a former teacher.
But, he said, "we can make the class size no smaller than the budget will allow."
Marcia Coward, parent of a student at DeKalb's Druid Hills High School, said the district needs class size flexibility.
“While I agree that smaller class sizes are ideal in terms of educating our children, if the need is there to raise the class size, it’s just a matter of doing what you have to do," Coward said. "I believe that a truly effective teacher can teach any amount of students. It’s all about classroom management.’’
Gwinnett and 15 other school districts already have class size flexibility and aren't affected by the waiver. They have contracts with the state that exempt them from certain requirements in exchange for meeting or exceeding student performance standards.
“Class sizes are different for us at every school and in every class,” Gwinnett district spokesman Jorge Quintana said. “It depends on the needs of the individual student.”
Caitlin Dooley, an associate professor in the College of Education at Georgia State University, said the research is clear that class size matters in low-income communities and with younger children.
One concern, she said, is: “What is the drain on teachers who are dealing with this?”
In the past three years, school systems have been strategic about class size increases and generally have avoided them in lower grades and in classes with students who are struggling academically, McGiboney said.
"They're not going to let class sizes jeopardize student achievement, because it's self-defeating," he said.
Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, lamented the trend. "It is a shame that the combined effects of the austerity cuts of the past eight years and the economic crunch have so diminished our ability to fund public education, which is the engine of future economic growth," he said.
Staff writers Ty Tagami, D. Aileen Dodd, Ernie Suggs and Jaime Sarrio contributed to this article.
Class sizes
State law set these standards for the maximum numbers of students in classes by grade level, pre-waiver:
Kindergarten: 18
Kindergarten with full-time paraprofessional: 20
Grades 1-3 with or without full-time paraprofessional: 21
Grades 4-5: 28 for English, math, science and social studies
Grades 6-8: 28 for English, math, science and social studies
Grades 9-12: 32 for English, math, social studies, science and foreign language *
* Note: Some flexibility here.
Here's a sampling of class size maximums in two metro Atlanta school districts
Fayette County (for the 2012-13 school year):
Kindergarten with paraprofessional: 19, not to exceed 20
Grade 1: 19, not to exceed 21
Grades 2-3: 19, not to exceed 22
Grades 4-5: 23, not to exceed 26
Grades 6-8: 24, not to exceed 26 to 28
Grades 9-12: 24-25, not to exceed 28
Cobb County (for the 2012-13 school year):
Kindergarten: 24
Grades 1-3: 25
Grades 4-5: 32
Grades 6-8: 32
Grades 9-12: 34
Source: State Department of Education, local school districts
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