Photograph by George Sakkestad
This Eisenhower Elementary School class, team-taught by Karlynn Emanuel, seated, and another teacher, is slated for a 40-to-2 student-to-teacher ratio.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Most everyone--from California's governor to teachers on the state's front lines in education--think that having fewer students in each classroom is a good idea. Even the state's highly partisan state Legislature agreed, voting last year to fund a program to bring class sizes in kindergarten through third grade down to a ratio of 20 students for every teacher.
But as many Californians with elementary-aged children now know, the money the state kicked in to fund the program falls short of reality, and school districts from San Diego to the Oregon border are now trying to figure out how to pay the balance.
The Cupertino Union School District is no exception. Between here and the goal of smaller class sizes lie several hurdles, the biggest of which are finding the money, the space and the teachers to make the program work.
"Reducing class size won't happen by magic," CUSD school board president Sandra James said. "You bring to us a challenge which is wonderful--that we want to do--but in order to make it happen, we may have to cut programs.
However, she added, "program cuts are down the road and, hopefully, we won't have to get there."
Costs
This year alone, the district hired 41 new teachers, at an average cost of about $45,000 each, to cover the first-grade program. That sum pays for a teacher's salary and benefits.
"Some teachers have come back from leave or transferred from other districts--they are not all brand-new teachers coming in at the lowest salary schedule," said Robyn Phillips, the CUSD's assistant superintendent of finance. "The district won't lower its standards in order to hire more teachers. What's the point of a small class size with an unqualified teacher?"
Forty more CUSD teachers will have to be hired to implement class-size reduction at each successive grade level, except kindergarten. At this time, the district plans to switch from a "staggered" kindergarten schedule, in which 34 students arrive in two shifts of 17 each, to an "a.m.-p.m." schedule, wherein two teachers will share a class of 34 students in the morning and then a second class of 34 students in the afternoon. No extra kindergarten teachers must be hired to achieve lower ratios, district officials say.
The state will pay districts $650 for every student enrolled in a class with a ratio of 20-to-1 or lower. But that doesn't cover the actual costs.
The CUSD anticipates receiving $1.2 million for decreasing first-grade class sizes this year. The program will cost the district an estimated $1.5 million, however.
If the CUSD implements smaller class sizes in second grade next year (which it would have to do first to qualify for kindergarten class-size reduction funds) the state would pay for about $2.9 million in program costs. But implementation would cost the district $4.2 million, leaving the CUSD searching for $1.3 million more to make the program happen, Phillips said.
Space
When it comes right down to it, "class-size reduction" translates into "classroom expansion." If 32 children are enrolled in a classroom, paring the number down to 20 means that a dozen students are going to have to go somewhere else.
Options for finding somewhere to teach these students include opening closed school sites (the district has six closed campuses), buying portable classrooms and using existing space more efficiently.
One option the district may consider is year-round schooling. Under this scheduling system, a school's population is typically divided into four blocks, or "tracks." Students in each track attend class for about six weeks and then take a mini-vacation of about two weeks. As one track begins its break, another returns to school. The lengths of vacation and in-school time vary from district to district, but the result is that only three-fourths of a school's students are on campus at any one time, freeing more classroom space. The CUSD's Portal Elementary School has a year-round schedule in place.
"It would be difficult to turn our backs on class-size reduction," James said. "Yet in order to do it, people have to open their minds to new ideas. Change can be very terrifying to people."
The district is looking closely at reopening Eaton Elementary School, a property the district now rents out to private schools. Reopening each school site would result in a start-up cost of $220,000, as well as $523,000 per year in operational expenses. Those costs include $300,000 in lost revenue from the organizations that leased the property, Phillips said. Each reopened site would also require new employees other than teachers, such as principals, secretaries, librarians and the like.
Each new portable classroom would cost the district $97,000 each.
"In the short term, opening a school might be cheaper, but in the long term, the portables, which only have a one-time cost, may be the cheaper option," Phillips said.
CUSD Superintendent Patricia Lamson said that if a site was opened, it would be an alternative school, such as Faria Elementary School, which has a back-to-basics curriculum and is open to students from all over the district. Consequently, school boundaries would not have to be redrawn.
Yet opening a school site is not the same as adding primary classrooms, Lamson said. "We are a growing district, so opening a school site may help us with a higher enrollment," she said.
Schools could also convert existing space, such as guided learning centers, into classrooms. But converting the GLCs, which house computers and other learning aids, would require breaking a promise to voters. The GLCs, paid for in 1995 with a $71 million school bond measure, were proposed with the assurance that they would not be used as classrooms. However, that measure was approved before the state legislature passed its underfunded class-size reduction program along to districts.
Team teaching
Another way to create space is team teaching. Under a team-teaching scenario, up to 40 students would be placed in a large classroom with two teachers.
Lamson believes team-teaching can be as effective as a system with one teacher for every 20 students if the classroom is well-organized.
"I believe that with proper planning--and developing teams of teachers who wish to do it together, which is critical--you can be successful and you can have the 20-to-1 ratio," she said.
One teacher, she said, can take the lead in a particular subject, such as science, while the other teacher takes the lead in social studies, for example. "It allows the teacher to do more in-depth prep work," Lamson said. "With two teachers, we can also maintain a low ratio for reading and math by splitting the class for these academics."
Yet Karla Daw, who teaches a kindergarten/first-grade split class at Garden Gate Elementary School, believes that 40 children in one room is too many bodies.
"When you have a lot of children, you become a manager rather than a true teacher," Daw said. "You want to keep order, and you tend to teach to the whole class rather than individuals--even with two teachers." One teacher can more easily teach 31 students than two teachers can teach 40, she added.
The 29-year veteran said she is fortunate that she gets along with her partner, with whom she'll be teaching for the remainder of the year.
"Cupertino has always been a leader, and I love this district, but I think they're going backwards," Daw said.
Lamson said most parents she's talked to feel good about the changes the district is making.
"Even though there's a lot of change and tough decisions, it will be beneficial for children in the long run," Lamson added.
Debra McGibbon, a kindergarten teacher at Meyerholz Elementary School, team-taught in another district before coming to Cupertino. Although she wasn't allowed to choose her teaching partner, McGibbon said she found the experience beneficial.
McGibbon and another teacher at Meyerholz teach in adjacent rooms and do most of their classroom planning together.
"I think for ease of planning, it's always worked to team with other teachers," she said. "If kids are doing similar things, it can also be easier on parents."
The district is up against a wall in terms of money, McGibbon acknowledged. "They are not trying to make people angry," she said. "Most of the time, teachers will be able to work things out.
However, she added, "it's true that people who've been teaching in their own rooms for a long time will feel disrupted."
Most kindergarten teachers are opposed to an a.m.-p.m. kindergarten schedule, McGibbon said. "I think it's partly because they haven't done it the other way, and you may lose some of the academics.
"Their perception is that the kindergarten program will be sacrificed for the benefit of first and second grades," she added. "I don't envy being a board member right now."
Board president James recognizes the importance of the board's decision. She acknowledges that organizing kindergartens with a.m.-p.m. schedules and scheduling them with 40-to-2 student-teacher ratios are two valid approaches. "There aren't extra classrooms out there," James added. "It's a huge crisis."
But, she added, "we will work through it--we always do. It won't be easy, and it will be emotional."
Lamson, who will make a recommendation to the board after a Jan. 7 study session, which parents are invited to participate in, said that the needs of all children will be taken into account.
"I don't want to jeopardize any programs or services that we currently offer at all grade levels," she said. "I think we need to look at the big picture as we make these decisions. We need to think of the good of all our children."
Class-size study session
What: The Cupertino Union School District board of education will host a study session on reducing class size. Up for discussion, among other items, is how to find space to implement the program and how to pay for it. Parents and the public are invited to attend and participate.
When: Jan. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Stocklmeir Elementary School, 592 Dunholme Way, Sunnyvale.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 1, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.