K-3 Class-Size Reduction Proposal Moves Forward

Feb 19, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) An effort to reduce class size in the earliest school years survived a House Education Committee vote by a narrow margin yesterday. Pointing to underwhelming results from classroom reduction funds already allocated to schools, some lawmakers doubt that giving schools more money would solve the problem.

"I need to understand how this bill is any different," says Representative Sylvia Andersen (R-Sandy). "How is this going to suddenly, miraculously - after a decade of funding this, and more specifically the last four sessions, funding it directly - how is this going to change it, and suddenly a miracle is going to happen and we are going to lower classroom sizes."

Representative Karen Morgan's HB 194 asks for $26 million to give to schools that agree to lower class sizes to an average of 18 students for kindergarten classes, 20 students for first grade, and 22 students for second and third grade. The Salt Lake City Democrat argues the difference between her bill and the existing budget line-item for classroom reduction funds is accountability.

"Say a school has a kindergarten class that's 30. They can apply for this grant money. And if they did not use that money for that purpose and those kindergarten classes in that school were not lowered to where they should be, then they are accountable to return the money," Morgan says.

HB 194 passed the House Education Committee by an eight-to-five vote, and now moves to the House Floor for further consideration. The bill sits fairly high on the Legislative appropriations list of priorities, but might not receive full funding. Morgan has agreed to accept funding for her proposal in $5 million dollar increments.

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