Garden Grove District to Take Part in Governor’s Plan to Reduce Class Size

The Garden Grove Unified School District board of trustees last week decided to participate in Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to reduce class sizes in primary grades.

The board agreed to a 20-student cap for both first-grade and first-second grade combination classes. The change, which will be phased in this fall, affects 3,870 first-graders and 430 second-graders at the district’s 43 elementary schools.

Following the reduction of all first-grade classes, the district will begin to cut class size in the second and third grades.

Currently, the district’s average class size in first through third grades is 29.5 students.

“The challenge to reduce class size in such a large school district is an enormous undertaking,” said Ronald Walter, the district’s superintendent.

Under the plan, the district must hire 70 teachers and purchase 50 portable classrooms in order to accommodate students in the first grade.

It will cost about $3.2 million to hire six dozen teachers and $4 million to buy portable classrooms, said Alan Trudell, a district spokesman. The state will give the district $2.8 million for teachers’ salaries, but $500,000 must come from the district’s budget.

However, district officials are uncertain whether the state will hand over the $4 million it needs to buy portable classrooms. School officials said they have yet to determine whether the district meets the state’s criteria for classroom funding.

The district has decided to phase in the class reduction program so it has sufficient time to hire teachers, Trudell said.