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By Dr. Harry Tennant
Saturday, January 8, 2011 In The News: Elementary Class Sizes May Increase Tight budgets have forced many states to take controversial budget cutting measures, including one in Arizona that has denied funding for one-hundred previously approved organ transplants for patients who need them to prolong life. Two of those one-hundred patients have already died. Many bio-ethicists have expressed concern over this decision, including comments like "unprecedented" and "unimaginable". Talk about death panels. Well, Texas is also considering one very controversial measure to save funds. See the article highlights below and/or the WFAA.com video.
"...Since 1984, the state has required schools to limit kindergarten to fourth grade classes to 22 students unless a school gets a waiver." "...But, Luce, the chief of staff of the Texas Select Committee of Public Education who was one of the top proponents of the limit that was part of a massive school reform law back then, says the strict 22-1 ratio is no longer needed." “...I think given the budget problems that we have today, you have to consider giving more flexibility to elementary schools," he said. “...It was supported by research that existed at the time in a couple
of other states that had actually studied that and said that smaller
class size makes a difference..." "...But, the state comptroller said scrapping the limit would save $558 million a year if it were replaced with a requirement for schools to just average 22 students per class. Luce thinks that would work, unlike the '80s, when no achievement and benchmark tests existed." "...Teacher groups oppose relaxing the 22-1 law, claiming it has improved learning and 12,000 teacher jobs would be cut."
Posted at 11:25 AM Keywords: In The News , Class Sizes , Budget Cuts 0 Comments |