Keeping Class Sizes Small

By David Cohen

Due to the California budget crisis, school districts all over the state have increased class sizes, particularly at kindergarten to third grade. Most have gone from 20 students in a class to 30 students in a class at those levels. Due to our fiscal responsibility and the Board's priorities, we have kept class sizes small by only increasing from 20 to 24 students per class.

A couple years ago, the state offered flexibility to school districts by allowing districts to keep the CSR money even if K-3 class sizes increase. As a result, many districts, including Berryessa's neighbors in Milpitas and San Jose Unified, jumped their classes to 30 students.

I have made sure people understand that in order to preserve libraries, counselors, and music, we would have to increase K-3 class sizes above 20. However, my goal has been to keep classes as small as possible and not jump to 30 like others have done. As a result, this year, our K-3 classes average 24 students.

Some candidates running for the board have suggested that the board could have avoided reducing library hours, which we cut by 20%, and cutting clerk time, which was reduced by 12%. The only way to have done that would have been to increase K-3 classes even more, and laying off more excellent teachers. My position is that slight reductions in these other areas is a reasonable educational trade-off that allows us to keep class sizes as small as possible.

All the cuts that have been implemented over the past couple years have been painful, for our students and our staff. But our district ended up with the best balance possible for a low-funded district. We still offer music, libraries, counseling, and our K-3 classes have just 24 students in them. I will continue to fight to maintain that balance.