Class Size Reform Eroding

For the first time since a popular state reform reduced class sizes in most primary grades, a few school districts are opting out of the program, citing their worsening financial picture.

One school system in Riverside County already is packing more second- and third-graders into every room. Irvine, one of the state’s highest-scoring school districts, could follow suit Tuesday. Other districts, including Capistrano in south Orange County and Vista in San Diego, are tossing around similar proposals as they seek to balance their budgets.

And several more districts notified a state education group that they are considering raising the number of students in primary classes.

Until this year, virtually all of the state’s 900 eligible school districts participated in the voluntary program, which caps class sizes at 20--down from more than 30--in first through third grade, and some kindergartens. Parents and teachers have raved about the smaller classes since they started six years ago.

“The most significant educational reform initiative our country has seen is dying on the vine,” said Jim Fleming, superintendent of the 45,000-student Capistrano Unified School District.

Fleming said his district may be forced to raise class sizes in third grade next year. If state officials don’t do something, he predicted, “class size reduction will be a memory” within the decade.

Though the state picks up much of the program’s cost, districts must shoulder more of the burden as new teachers advance up the pay scale faster than state funding increases. And with a faltering state budget that gives less discretionary funding to districts, many said they can no longer afford to cover the difference.

In Irvine, some officials said they would rather add 12 students to some primary classes than slash arts, science and music for elementary schools, and raise class sizes for grades four through 12.

“People need to understand the pain we are going through,” said Steven Choi, president of the Irvine school board.

Some parents in the 24,000-student district agreed. At a meeting last week to discuss proposed cuts, scores of parents pleaded to keep specialized music and science teachers at the elementary schools. Few even mentioned larger classes.

“Class size is no big deal,” said Lata Kumar, mother of a first-grader, who said she attended schools in India with 40 or more students and did just fine. “It’s a big hype. . . . But science--how can you study without science?”

‘All the Teachers Are Devastated’

Still, the smaller class sizes for the state’s youngest students have proved immensely popular among parents and teachers. They said young children need one-on-one time with teachers as they learn basic skills in reading and math that will carry them through their academic careers.

“If we go back to the way it was, more kids are going to fall through the cracks,” said Kathleen Carney, who teaches second grade at Deerfield Elementary in Irvine. “I can get to every single kid in my classroom, every day, on every assignment. You cannot do that with higher numbers. . . . All the teachers are devastated.”

Officials said it is too soon to say whether budget woes could eventually force a significant number of school districts to eliminate the smaller classes. But some experts said there are worrisome signs.

Lynn Piccoli, who is in charge of the program for the state Department of Education, said she has been getting so many phone calls from school administrators saying they are afraid they no longer can afford the program that she has changed her voice-mail message to urge them to be patient in awaiting her return call.

“They’re in a real tough situation right now,” she said. “This is not normal.”

Last week, the California Assn. of School Business Officials e-mailed all its members asking whether they thought the program was in jeopardy. Within 48 hours, 10 administrators from the 900 districts in the program had replied that they were considering abandoning part or all of it next year.

Kevin Gordon, executive director of the group, said more districts may have to increase class sizes in kindergarten or third grade next year, but are hesitant to say so publicly yet because of the outcry from parents and teachers.

Because of the program’s popularity, educators said they would rather cut almost anything else. Saddleback Unified in south Orange County, for example, slashed $8.5 million from its budget this year, cutting music, science, library clerks and custodians. But it managed to hold onto smaller primary classes.

Across the state, other districts face similarly wrenching decisions.

In Riverside’s Val Verde Unified, officials two years ago discontinued the smaller classes for the few third-grade classrooms that had it. This year, second grade went to 30-plus students per class. Next year, first grade could go the same way.

“Nobody wants to do it,” said Mike Boyd, who heads up business services for the fast-growing school system. “It’s not the right thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do to keep us fiscally solvent.”

The district simply lacks the space to house all the students. Enrollment has doubled in the past nine years to 12,000 students. The cost of building new classrooms and a heavy debt load leaves little money for anything else, Boyd said.

In March, the Cabrillo Unified School District in Northern California will ask voters to approve a parcel tax. If it fails, kindergarten could go to 30-plus students next year, officials there said.

“The kids are the losers in this whole situation,” said John Bayless, superintendent of the 4,000-student school system.

School administrators in Vista and the Live Oak district in Santa Cruz said they also may have to drop part of the program.

New Students Keep Showing Up

The way the state funding now works, participating school districts must start shrinking classes in first grade, then move onto second, and finally third and kindergarten. The program requires that every class have 20 students or fewer, or risk losing funding.

But children “don’t come in neat little packages that match mathematical calculations,” said Boyd of the Val Verde district. New students constantly turn up throughout the year, forcing many districts to set class sizes at 18, combine grades and bus extra students away from their neighborhood schools to make the numbers add up. Add a 21st child to a school in the program and it must open another classroom.

Many school officials favor changing the law to allow them to go up to 22 students in some classes as long as the average class size at each school remains at 20.

Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) said he plans to introduce such a bill this spring. Similar bills have been unsuccessful in the past and faced opposition from the state PTA and the California Teachers Assn.

“Our position is that there is already flexibility in the program,’ said Cecelia Mansfield, director of legislation for the California PTA. Her organization wants class sizes to remain frozen at 20 for schools to be eligible for the funding.

But officials said such rigidity puts them in an impossible position.

“It reminds me of the movie ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ ” said Pat Clark White, superintendent of the Irvine district, referring to the story in which a mother must choose which of her children will die. “It’s a list of appalling choices.”

Mary Mickleson, mother of an Irvine fifth-grader, said that her son had a great experience in his small third-grade class and that she would be sorry to see younger students lose that.

“It’s a huge problem [to lose the small classes],” she said. “I want my son to get enough attention for the teacher to teach at the appropriate level that he’s at.”