School Proposals Raise Hopes and Questions

Two major school initiatives by Gov. Pete Wilson--one to reduce class size for some of the state’s youngest students and the other to give cash grants to all public schools--were greeted with a mix of cynicism and gratitude Monday in Ventura County.

“I feel pleased there is some attempt to provide more funds for public schools; we haven’t seen that in a long time,” said Karen Dubrule, director of primary education for the Simi Valley Unified School District. “But we have found that at the state level, sometimes the things they talk about come to fruition and sometimes not.”

For instance, Wilson’s proposal to spend $460 million reducing the number of students in first- and second-grade classes could improve reading scores but severely stretch the schools already running short of classrooms. Portable classrooms, split shifts, even wall partitions could be needed to provide enough space for the 20-student classes.

“There is not enough money there to provide the facilities to produce those classrooms,” said Shirley Carpenter, superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District, where Camarillo area voters have rejected school bond measures four times. “It is not just about increasing staffing. Along with that there is the space [issue].”

In addition, educators said the governor’s proposal would not pay the full cost for the new teachers required and questioned how school districts would make up the estimated $15,000 difference per teacher each year.

It won’t come from the $50,000 cash grant Wilson has promised every school next year.

The one-time grants would be spent at the discretion of the schools with the proviso that the funds not be used for salary increases.

That provision might anger some teachers, but Hal Vick, executive director of the 700-member teachers union in the Conejo Valley, said the teachers already have a 3.4% cost-of-living increase promised in the budget.

They are placing no claim on the grant money, he said.

“This is money the schools need,” he said. “It’s nice to see that the governor is changing the way he funds schools.”

The comments came as Wilson announced sweeping proposals for new levels of statewide education funding. If the proposals come to pass, it would mark the second year in a row of increased spending on education after years of cuts.

Tom Duffy, superintendent of Moorpark Unified School District, welcomed any additional funding for schools. But because it costs more to run a 1,700-student high school than a 600-student elementary school, he wondered whether there would be any flexibility or equity adjustments among the grants given to schools.

As for class-size reduction, he said the district is already working toward keeping classes small at its new yet-to-be-built elementary school.

Using the governor’s formula of $500 for every student who is in a class of 20 or smaller, administrators calculate that two classes of 30 children split into three classes of 20, would produce $30,000 in revenue. That leaves them $15,000 shy for the average $45,000 cost for a new teacher, including salary and benefits.

“It’s a policy direction, but there are not enough resources to get there, and it would require significant local contribution,” Duffy said. “It’s going to cost some money locally and that doesn’t include the additional facilities.

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In Thousand Oaks, only two of the district’s 18 elementary schools could accommodate more classes without building or borrowing more classrooms, administrators said.

Despite the funding problem, Barbara Ryan, director of elementary education in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, applauded the effort by Wilson and State Supt. of Instruction Delaine Eastin to reduce the child-to-adult ratio in the classroom.

“They want students to be reading by the time they leave second grade, and certainly reducing class size in grades one and two would go a long way toward meeting that goal,” she said.

In Ventura, where the state considered fining the school district last summer for overcrowding in classes, administrators said they would work hard to figure out a way to accommodate new classes.

“At some sites, we think we could pull it off without much trouble, and at other sites, we would have trouble just because of space,” said Patricia Chandler, assistant superintendent for educational services.

To reduce the number of students in each class, Chandler said the district might have to install more portable classrooms or perhaps set up a split schedule. Half of the students could attend school in the morning while the other half could take classes in the afternoon, she said.

Despite studies that show that reducing class size does not affect student test scores, until the size drops to less than 17, Chandler said the decrease would make a difference.

“When I have 30 students in a class, I don’t know them as well,” Chandler said. “I don’t know their strengths or weaknesses as well as when I have 15 or 20.”

Anthony Zubia, principal of Oxnard’s Cesar Chavez Elementary School, agreed that decreasing class size to 20 would have an impact.

“If the governor is standing ready to release money to do that, it would be a big shot in the arm of literacy and math in the state,” Zubia said.

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But the district has no extra classroom space and already operates on a year-round schedule. Zubia said his school would have to construct a new building to bring his first- and second-grade class size down from 30.

“We are maximized to our limits,” Zubia said. “I would probably have to add two more classrooms or a portable.”

He said the one-time grant money would also be well-used for computers and upgrading restrooms, among other needs.

Miller is a Times staff writer and Wahlgren is a correspondent.

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