Class Size Controversy

Re “Wilson Steals Education Issue From Democrats,” news analysis, July 5:

How does it happen that one party is able to steal an issue from another party when the latter still has it? This phrase is showing up more and more in newspapers and on TV, with politicians whining about the loss or bragging that they have stolen the other’s idea. It should be called compromising, negotiating or talking together to solve the issue for the people.

To have Gov. Pete Wilson board a chartered jet to fly around the state for boasting purposes is totally unacceptable behavior, especially for a governor who is supposed to be working for all the people of his state. By the way, who pays for the jet?

BARBARA YEOMANS

Santa Barbara

* Critics of Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to put up $678 million to lower the teacher-student ratio in primary grades point out that even if every school were to use year-round, double-session scheduling to max out their physical space, there would still be a need for more classrooms--an expense that would far overreach the funding.

But there may be other solutions. For example, what if, instead of shipping kids out of their present classrooms, we moved another teacher in? A third teacher (possibly a literacy expert?) dividing her day between two classes of 30 students each could effectively lower the ratio to 1 to 15 during that critical part of the school day that’s spent on language arts instruction, all without creating the need for additional space.

ELIZABETH BERNAL

Riverside

* Teachers in this state are underpaid. The Times recently reported that there are l5,000 classrooms here staffed by personnel that are not fully licensed to teach. Now to add to the problem, Wilson wants to reduce class sizes in the primary grades, requiring the employment of almost another 20,000 teachers.

Why is it that the law of supply and demand applies everywhere else, but not to teacher salaries?

Unless districts start teachers at $30,000 and bring them up to $60,000 within 12 years of permanent status, California can forget lowering class sizes. Instead, class sizes will increase and teachers will have to be imported from other countries where teachers are accustomed to earning low wages.

DAVE MARESH

Yucca Valley

* Wilson repeatedly points out that reading scores for California’s schoolchildren are at the bottom. He has been the governor for six years during which these scores have fallen. Now he wants to be portrayed as education’s best friend by offering hundreds of millions of dollars to schools to lower class size. If he had spent this money six years ago, those test scores might not be where they are now. The idea of reducing class size is commendable. However, it needs to be a gradual process. There is no way we can fill 15,000 teacher positions to reduce class size to 20 in grades one through three without affecting the quality of education. Unprepared, emergency-credentialed teachers have been part of the problem with falling test scores. Imagine adding over 10,000 more unqualified teachers to lower class size.

I am a first-grade teacher. Having taught for eight years in grades two and three, it was a whole different experience teaching first grade. I had to retrain myself to learn how to teach children to read, since I had not been trained in my education classes to do this. It has been three long years of attending many workshops and in-service training sessions for me to consider myself finally qualified to teach first grade. Every educator acknowledges that first grade is the hardest and most important grade for any child.

Wilson should let school districts (with teacher input) best decide how to reduce class size or offer lower teacher-to-student ratios.

CLAUDIO ENRIQUEZ

Gardena

* I would like to apologize for the public display of whining by my union and others in the education establishment regarding the millions of dollars proposed to help lower class size in primary grades. They do not speak for me or my colleagues. I welcome the state’s willingness to assist us in providing a better opportunity for learning in the primary grades, regardless of the motivation or political agenda.

ROBERT G. JOPLIN

Long Beach

* As a 15-year teaching veteran and former bleeding-heart liberal of the ‘60s, I can tell you that while smaller class sizes constitutes a worthwhile ideal, it will not ameliorate the devastating effects of parental abdication of responsibility in the co-education of their offspring.

Let us spend these funds firstly on the mandatory orientation of all parents on their role in the shared responsibility for educating their children.

FRANKLIN D. JASKO