State Budget Extends Class-Size Reductions

Now, it’s the freshmen’s turn.

After primary elementary grades gained a major windfall to slash class sizes to 20 students, the new state budget contains $78 million to do the same in some key ninth-grade classes.

As it turns out, though, the ninth-grade money is tied to matching funds from districts in ways that actually make it hardest for the schools that need the relief most to get it.

“It’s a great carrot if you’ve got the extra money,” said Dean Waldfogel, Irvine Unified School District’s deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction. “We just can’t afford it at this time.”

The state’s formula reimburses schools $135 for every student placed in the smaller classes. For schools that already have reasonably small classes, moving around some students and adding one teacher might do the trick, and the extra-per-student money would more than offset the added expense. These schools were able to jump at the opportunity to lower class sizes further.

Saddleback Valley Unified, for example, opened school this year with 20-to-1 ratios in all freshman English and social studies classes. With only 25 students per teacher last year, the changes required minimal teacher hirings and scheduling arrangements. Saddleback actually ended up breaking even.

But in schools with severely crowded classes, the $135 per student would cover perhaps 70% of the expense.

Irvine Unified, for instance, would need to muster $100,000 toward hiring about eight math teachers to shrink the classroom numbers. And at Irvine schools, where some algebra classes are stuffed with almost 40 students, the program would be too expensive.

The schools also must pay for more books and extra classroom space, not to mention the difficulty they face finding qualified teachers, particularly in math and science.

“Every time you take one of these bonuses, you end up a little further in debt,” said Greg Cops, principal of Woodbridge High School in Irvine.

Newport-Mesa Unified and Tustin Unified are poised to jump at the new program by next semester. Their class sizes are hovering over the 30-student range, a manageable task, officials said.

Newport-Mesa will need up to eight math teachers to lower ninth-grade class sizes, an ambitious goal, but not impossible.

“Going out shopping for teachers late in the year doesn’t bode well for us,” said Peggy Anatol, principal at Estancia High School in Newport-Mesa Unified. “But we’ll make sure we’ll find the right teachers.”

If too few teachers are hired in time, districts may opt to ask instructors to teach an extra class period to create more course sections.

This year’s extra ninth-grade money comes from legislation enacted in August when Gov. Pete Wilson signed the state budget. It augments a 1989 initiative, called the Morgan-Hart Act, that gives incentive money to high schools able to cap class sizes at 20 students in one core academic subject.

The newest action expanded the program to two subjects.

Last year, 237 districts statewide took advantage of the Morgan-Hart Act, which supplied $34 million. The amended measure more than doubled that amount with an extra $44 million this year. And the larger program is expected to raise statewide participation, administrators said.

“A number of districts have called us saying they are very interested and are ready to implement it in two courses,” said Neil Yeager, the state’s educational program consultant.

Because of the newness of the extended program, there is no count available yet of how many districts are running small classes in two courses.

The ninth-grade money aims to lower the state’s student-teacher ratio of 24 to 1, which is ranked highest in the country and is much worse than the national average of 17 to 1.

While the program promises to improve California’s ratio, education officials caution that it could fail if inexperienced teachers are at the head of the class.

The chronic teacher shortage California has faced over the years is worsening, said Dale Janssen, manager of the certification division for the state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Roughly 5,000 new teachers are needed every year. Schools increasingly are relying on uncredentialed teachers--particularly in math and science--to fill the mounting demand created by smaller class sizes and steady student population increases.

Last year, the state granted an estimated 7,600 emergency permits so that teachers-in-training could enter the classroom quickly. Of that figure, roughly 19% were emergency credentialed English teachers; 26% were science teachers. Those percentages continue to inch up every year.

“We suspect we would see an increase in those figures with the new ninth-grade class-size reduction program,” Janssen said.

Districts have until early December to apply for the lower class sizes. The original November deadline was extended to give schools more time to pursue the program.