Trustees made their final layoff decision after they heard from several teachers who pleaded with them to make other cuts in order to keep class sizes from growing.
“We think we can do more, and our students deserve our best effort when it comes to class size,” Sue Conway, Burbank Teachers Assn. co-president, told the board.
She’s asking members to consider other cost-cutting measures, such as reductions in school materials and textbook funds, in order to save teachers’ jobs.
Teachers emphasized the educational benefits for students in smaller class sizes. “The earlier and longer [students] participate in small classes, the greater the effect on achievement,” union co-President Dana Ragle said.
Board members and administrators agreed that smaller class sizes were beneficial for students, but argued that the district may not have the funds to operate without increasing some student-to-teacher ratios and cutting jobs.
Newly elected board President Dave Kemp blamed the district’s financial status, in which administrators expect to lose $13.1 million over the next three years, on state legislators.
“There is no fairness in education because the people who provide us the money don’t see the importance of it,” Kemp said. “Otherwise, everything else would be secondary except for education.”
State grants currently fund additional teacher positions that keep class sizes in kindergarten through third grade, as well as in ninth-grade English and math courses, at 20 students per teacher.
