Bills Introduced to Expand Class-Size Reduction Program

CARPINTERIA — With the state’s program to pare down elementary school class sizes just begun, state Sen. Jack O’Connell is proposing that funding be increased to cover two more grades.

O’Connell, a San Luis Obispo Democrat, introduced bills this week that would expand the program to five grades, enabling children from kindergarten through fourth grade to enjoy classes of no more than 20 students.

He also introduced a measure that would reimburse districts $750 for each student in a smaller class--up from the $650 that districts received in the first round of the state-funded program.

Finally, he is seeking to place a $4-billion state school bond measure on the November 1998 ballot. Of the money raised by the proposal, $1 billion would go for facilities needed to accommodate smaller classes.

“We have experienced an educational revolution without using technology,” O’Connell said Friday. “The goal of the bill is to provide more individual and personal attention for our youngsters.”

To date, 95% of the state’s eligible school districts are participating in the program to reduce class sizes, most doing it in first and second grades with some adding kindergarten or third grade.