K-3 Class Size Hearing November 15, 2017 History of the K-3 Class - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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K-3 Class Size Hearing

November 15, 2017

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 2

History of the K-3 Class Size Legislation

(maximum student to instructor ratio requirements)



Initial Bill adopted in 1998



Change in the State Formula was provided to increase teaching units



Required class size not to exceed a student count of (22)



A Paraprofessional in a classroom can count as one half of a teacher unit. (33:1.5 allowed)



Legislative update in July 2008 established a “uniform” reporting format for class size data state-wide

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 3

Unit Divisor for Grades K-3

Compliance Challenges

 The formula does not take into account the

variation of enrollment figures a school experiences from grade to grade

 State financial support is not provided for

students who enter the school district from 9/30 through the last day of October.

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 4

Compliance Challenges

 The class size requirement does not address the

potential impact on areas such as library, art, music, and physical education

 Staff to support basic special education, TAG,

school counseling, Language Development and technology programs must be funded through each building’s earned units

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 5

Current Status

 Based on teacher student ratios on October 31,

2017 (last student day in October) five Red Clay elementary schools require a class size waiver.

 Specialized staff and paraprofessionals reduce

teacher to student ratios through push-in support.

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 6

DOE “Uniform” Reporting Method

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 7

Grade Number of Students <15 15-19 20-22 23 24 25 26+ KN 10 26 27 1 9 24 30 1 2 13 17 32 4 1 3 10 24 28 2 1 1

Total # of classrooms

40 94 111 7 2 1 2017-18 15.7% 36.9% 43.5% 2.7% 0.8% 0.4% 0%

• Baltz
• Brandywine Springs
• Cooke
• Linden Hill
• North Star

Class Size Waiver Report as of October 31, 2017

Schools Requiring Waiver

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 8

Waiver Request

 A class size waiver is being requested for the

2017 - 2018 school year.

The School Board must approve the waiver by December 1st

 The final report to the Department of Education

will be submitted prior to December 20th based

• n the enrollments as of October 31th

11/15/2017 Presentation to the Board of Education Slide 9