VENTURA : Board Asks State to OK Bigger Classes

Hoping to avoid a $185,000 penalty for violating state guidelines, the Ventura Unified School District Board of Education said Tuesday that it is asking the state for a waiver that would give it the legal right to increase class size at its elementary schools.

The district violated state guidelines this school year when the number of fourth- and fifth-grade students at some of the district’s 17 elementary schools exceeded the state’s recommendations for student-teacher ratios, said Georgeann Brown, the district’s finance director.

While the student-teacher ratio at the elementary level is 30 to 1, some schools violated the guidelines by accommodating higher numbers of students.

If the district receives the waiver, it would bring all elementary schools in line with its other schools, which increased class sizes last year.

Brown said the district is eligible for a waiver because the financial penalty, if imposed, would result in a decrease of 20% or more of the district’s budget for classroom supplies and materials and because it would be equal to more than half of the district’s budget reserves.

District officials said they did not know when the state would rule on the waiver.