MALIBU CITY HALL — Financial strains may be preventing Santa Monica public schools from reaching optimum class sizes, but that hasn’t stopped one elected official from insisting more teachers are needed.
“I’m not going to advocate a blanket class size across the district,” said Shane McLoud, a school board member speaking to his colleagues on Thursday. “But I think we need to set goals that reallocate resources to schools and students that need them most.”
Upon McLoud’s request, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provided a report to the board of education regarding class sizes on Thursday.
McLoud’s colleagues, however, weren’t about to jump on his policy bandwagon.
According to the report, it would cost the district $400,000 to reduce six to 12 core classes by just one student. For a district that’s already committed to improving student math and science test scores, bolstering its arts curriculum and adding counselors, additional efforts to reduce class size would likely require a budget shift, officials said. It’s a move they fear would detract from other educational goals.
“I think balanced (goals) are a better and more effective way of having an enriched program for all students,” said Jose Escarce, a fellow board member.
Thursday’s report referred to research done on the effects of class sizes, conducted in Tennessee for grades K-3 between 1985 to 1989. According to that study, optimal gains in student achievement occur in classes that have between 13 and 17 students. To reach those class sizes — which are on par with private schools — the district would have to drop an average of 10 students per class, officials said.
It’s an effort that would cost millions of dollars.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, John Deasy, superintendent, indicated it might be more prudent for the district to invest in programs that will allow teachers to provide better instruction to students, rather than attempting to shrink class sizes, which are already competitive among public schools statewide.
“I believe it would be better to improve instruction and having teachers work more collaboratively than decreasing class sizes significantly,” Deasy said.
“It’s not in our economics?” asked school board members Oscar de la Torre.
“Exactly,” Deasy said. Still, the report indicated some classes offered within the district could stand to be made smaller. Santa Monica High School, for example, has an average class size of 28 students within the core subject areas of English, history, science and math. Of these subjects, 94 classes — or 22 percent — have fewer than 25 students, the report said. Meanwhile, 45 classes — or 11 percent — have more than 35 students.
It’s the large classes McLoud wants to see addressed, suggesting that classes with more than 35 students be brought down to a more reasonable number.
As a teacher in Los Angeles, McLoud said reducing large classes by a handful of students would do much to improve the level of instruction.
“I’m teaching 27 students now, and a few years ago I was teaching 34,” McLoud said. “Believe me, it makes a big difference.”
The district will be preparing next year’s budget in coming weeks, during which time McLoud and other board members will be able to discuss what goals they believe should take priority.
“It’s good to see where we are and check in,” said Julia Brownley, school board president. “I see we made need to work on tweaking our class sizes, but I think we’d be getting ahead of ourselves with anything else until we have our budget discussions.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 7, 2006. Read the original PDF.