By Sara Ballenger
There is a bill currently in the state Senate that will be watched closely by the Los Altos School District.
State Sen. Byron D. Sher of Palo Alto, District 11, has authored a bill that, if passed by Gov. Gray Davis, would modify monetary penalties districts could face if they failed to meet the currently required student-teacher ratio of 20-1 per classroom in grades K-3.
A district must meet this requirement in order to receive class size reduction funding from the state.
Specifically, the bill would prorate the penalties against districts that exceed the 20-1 ratio as follows: a 15 percent reduction in funding for schools with K-3 classes averaging greater than or equal to 20.5 but less than 21 students per teacher; a 30 percent reduction in funding for schools with K-3 classes averaging greater than or equal to 21 but less than 21.5 students per teacher; a 45 percent reduction in funding for schools with K-3 classes averaging greater than or equal to 21.5 but less than 22 students per teacher; and a 100 percent reduction in funding for schools with K-3 classes exceeding 22 students per teacher.
Superintendent Marge Gratiot gave an example to illustrate the state’s current class size reduction program.
“Under the current law, if there are 16 classes in the primary grades at a school like Almond, with 20 students in every class, we get about $300,000 from the state to partially pay for decreasing the class size in those grades,” Gratiot said. “Without the class size reduction incentive, we would probably have 27 students in all of those classes and would need 12 classes in the primary grades.
The $300,000 from the state pays for most of the expense of an additional four classrooms.”
Under the current law, if a K-3 student were to move into the attendance boundaries of a particular school and attend that school, putting the class total above 20 students, the district would lose all of the $300,000 of incentive money from the state.
It is more likely, in that case, that the student would be reassigned to another school where the class size was smaller, even if it wasn’t the student’s neighborhood school, Gratiot added.
Under Sher’s bill, the district would be able to put a student in a class of 20-plus students and lose a small amount of money from the state, rather than the entire $300,000.
Currently, partial funds from the district’s parcel tax and the Los Altos Educational Foundation go toward class size reduction in the district.
Last year the educational foundation funded $75,000 for class size reduction in English classes in grades seven and eight, and $127,000 for class size reduction in first grade.
“We are fortunate that the parcel tax and LAEF funds allow us to keep class size reduction in all four primary grades,” Gratiot said. “Many districts throughout the state are dropping out of the program, partly because the regulations are so inflexible. This bill would help not only us, but those other districts.”
The bill is expected to go back to the Assembly floor this week, back to the state Senate for concurrence, and then to the governor’s office, according to Heather Scott, a legislative aide for Sher.
The bill is expected to be approved or denied by the governor the week of Sept. 22 at the earliest, Scott added.
For a complete history of the bill, including analysis and votes, logon to the state Senate’s Web site at www.sen.ca.gov.
