Districts to Divide $4.42 Million for Classroom Space

Giving a financial boost to Ventura County educators desperate to find enough room for smaller elementary school classes, state officials Wednesday committed $4.42 million to buy or lease portable bungalows.

The anticipated money--part of a $200-million state facilities fund for class-size reduction--will pay for 177 portable classrooms in school systems from Ventura to Thousand Oaks. As feared, the state dollars come nowhere close to paying for every portable classroom needed to shrink class size to 20 or fewer for students in kindergarten through third grade.

Most of the money is earmarked for the county’s largest and most crowded school systems, including the Oxnard Elementary, and Ventura, Conejo Valley and Moorpark unified school districts. The state did not release data for some school systems--Simi Valley Unified among them--in the tentative listing.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, where classes have been pared in first through third grades, the state funding amounts to $425,000--enough to purchase 17 bungalows. That money will cover extra space needed for all of the first grade and about a third of the district’s second-grade classes--more than school district officials had anticipated.

“That’s good news,” said Sean Corrigan, facilities director for the sprawling district. “But our bare-bones [facility funding] requirement appears to be about $2.7 million.”

In other words, to give each whittled class its own room, Thousand Oaks school officials will need to spend another $2.3 million. “We’re still studying our [financing] options,” he added.

As in many districts in the county, Conejo Valley schools are using a number of piecemeal solutions to solve the facilities crunch created by the popular class-size reduction initiative, which began in July.

Some schools have converted computer rooms to classrooms to accommodate space needs. Others have temporarily crammed 40 students in the same room with two teachers to achieve the coveted 20-to-1 student-teacher ratio.

When schoolhouse doors swing open next school year, however, each class must be in its own room, according to the state mandate.

Knowing the preliminary state facilities funding commitment--which won’t be final until later this year--allows school districts to proceed with or scale back their implementation of the program.

This facilities money is in addition to $771 million that the state has pledged to cover a portion of new teacher salaries and textbook needs prompted by the pared classes. The state has promised school districts an additional $650 for every student in a smaller class.

“I think it’s wonderful that we were approved” for $1.12 million, said Sandra Herrera, Oxnard Elementary’s assistant superintendent for business and fiscal services. “If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to follow through with class-size reduction.”

Already packed to capacity and on a year-round school calendar, Oxnard elementary schools have been further stretched by implementing smaller classes for all first- and some second-graders, she said. The anticipated state funding will pay for every portable classroom the district requested--45 bungalows are already ordered.

The state approved $825,000 for the Ventura Unified School District, which will be used to create 33 classrooms. The district had requested funding for 31 first-grade, six second-grade and three kindergarten classes. Along with the first-grade bungalows, Ventura expects to receive money for two second-grade classrooms.

Times correspondent Regina Hong contributed to this story.

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State Funds for Facilities

Ventura County schools received tentative confirmation Wednesday of how much state money they would get to buy facilities for class-size reduction. The money will allow schools to purchase or lease portable classrooms--or teaching stations--for primary classes of 20 or fewer students.

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School district Funding amount Classrooms Briggs Elementary $75,000 3 Conejo Valley Unified $425,000 17 Fillmore Unified $125,000 5 Hueneme Elementary $375,000 15 Mesa Union Elementary $50,000 2 Moorpark Unified $400,000 16 Oak Park Unified $400,000 16 Ocean View Elementary $150,000 6 Ojai Unified $250,000 10 Oxnard Elementary $1,125,000 45 Rio Elementary $150,000 6 Santa Clara Elementary $25,000 1 Somis Union Elementary $50,000 2 Ventura Unified $825,000 33 COUNTY TOTAL $4,425,000 177

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Source: California Department of Education