Texas considering removing the class size limits? (Dallas, Austin: coop, house)

[MountainBiker]

My wife heard it on NPR this morning that Texas is considering removing the class size limit cap...

Thoughts and opinions?

So the way I understand it, there is a hard cap of 22 students per class in k-4 and that is the extent of the cap... so the discussions have been around going to an average class size, rather than a hard cap. Average of what?

Probably the main reason that I live SA is because of the cap on class sizes, and cost of living. On the whole, that doesn't seem like the impact would be that big of a deal... any teachers want to weigh in?

[cinnamon_toast]

One of the few things TX schools have going for them is small (that is a relative term, of course) classroom sizes. It doesn't take long for those classroom sizes to literally explode and before you know it, you have 28 kindergartners with a teacher fresh out of college. Disaster waiting to happen!

Where do you mountain bike, BTW? We are big bikers, road and mountain.

[loves2read]

the legislature (actually former gov Mark White) put it in so I guess the legislature can take it out--there are going to be so many "exceptions" requested for this next year because of the budget problems districts are having that it would be meaningless anyway probably
but just remember who brought you this educational crisis folks when you have 30 first graders in a classroom and have some pity on the teacher who is supposed to provide SUPERIOR teaching in those conditons--
and half of them are likely to have learning/personality disability as well--the kids, not the teachers--
think some private schools are going to see surge of new students in the lower grades if parents can afford the tuition

http://dailyme.com/story/2010122900000475/legislative-fight-looms-class-size-limit-elementary.html (broken link)

[cinnamon_toast]

I have full sympathy for the teachers, the conditions under which you work are far from ideal! FYI the private schools don't necessarily have smaller class sizes. In fact, it's been my experience that they usually don't.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by loves2read

and half of them are likely to have learning/personality disability as well--the kids, not the teachers--

Wow, has it gotten that bad with children nowadays?

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by cinnamon_toast

Where do you mountain bike, BTW? We are big bikers, road and mountain.

Not to detour this thread, but there's an 11-page thread on that already...

Mountain Biking

Cheers! M2

[xsa210tx]

Yep. They want to raise the 22-student cap on our elementary schools in Texas to make up for the more than 27 billion dollar shortfall that occurred under Governor Perry's watch!

Here's an excerpt below from the article, "Fight Is Brewing In Austin Over Class-Size Limit (http://www.kwtx.com/statenews/headlines/Fight_Is_Brewing_In_Austin_Over_Class-Size_Limit_112608954.html?storySection=story%29: - broken link)."

>>
Legislative leaders and Comptroller Susan Combs say easing the requirement would save hundreds of millions of dollars [...]. But The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday that teachers groups, backed by Democrats in the House and Senate, say any change will reverse academic gains in elementary schools and force the elimination of as many as 12,000 teaching jobs.
<<

The stimulus package passed by our president in 2009 saved hundreds of thousands of teachers' jobs as ballooning state budgets were going to force states to make tough decisions on whether to eliminate some teachers' jobs.

Now, those who opposed the stimulus package will see the impact on our students in our state because of our state's failure (all the way up to Governor Perry) to balance our state's budget in the first place.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Let's get the facts straight before we point fingers. It's a mandated balanced budget. That means they have to pass a new balanced budget each year. Nobody failed to pass a balanced budget - the budget for the next Fiscal year has not been passed yet. The State of Texas has a fiscal year that runs from Sept. 1st through August 31st of each year.

The shortfall is a tax revenue shortfall. The only way to fix that is to either increase taxes or cut program funding (or a combination of the two in varying proportions).

[xsa210tx]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

The shortfall is a tax revenue shortfall. The only way to fix that is to either increase taxes or cut program funding (or a combination of the two in varying proportions).

I hope our Governor never "promised" no tax increases while he was campaigning in the past. And cutting needed services? Not surprised there. I'm sure they'll cut more services as always since those are always the first to be cut.

Some politicans always (lately it's been on one side of the aisle particularly) say they don't want tax increases but when it comes to balancing budgets what else are you going to do? Oh, that's right! Eliminate student cap-limits on elementary schools that should take care of the whole problem.

All the more reason why our federal government needs to reform the "tax code" to make it fair.

Here's a great article: There's One Huge State Budget Crisis That Everyone Is Refusing To Talk About: TEXAS.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Actually, the unpopular answer to tax shortfalls would probably be to impose a State Income tax. And, of course, nobody wants that.... nobody wants to see any tax increases. I certainly don't, either.

Bottom line - services aren't free (no matter what the ignorant think). Somebody pays for them, or they don't exist.

As far as the 22 student per class cap, I'm not familiar with that since my son is an adult and flew the coop several years ago. I think 22 per teacher is a decent amount and it shouldn't increase.