Agenda - 11-10-1998 - Attachment #4a

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5 The rationale for the order in which grade levels would be phased in relates to building capacity and budgetary implications. The following factors were taken into consideration: • The cost of the phase -in needs to be spread out, avoiding major costs in upcoming years when the Excellent Schools Act and the cost of opening new schools will place major burdens on our budget. • It is difficult to make major reductions at each level until the new elementary school, new middle school, and addition to East Chapel Hill High School are complete. • Class sizes at the elementary level should be reduced first in grades 3 -5 in order to avoid having classes with 15 students in K -2 and others in grades 3 -5 with 26 students and fewer teacher assistants. This disparity within the same school seems too great. • After completing reductions in grades 3 -5, the next priority should be first grade where formal reading instruction is critical. • Middle school reductions are interspersed with primary grade reductions because it would be unfair to expect middle schools to wait eight years until 2005 -06 to begin benefiting from this initiative. Conclusion Reducing class size is a fi�equent request of teachers that can be justified on the basis of student achievement, quality of instruction, and quality of the work environment for teachers. Significant class size reductions are necessary in order to make a real difference in these areas. The proposal outlines reductions that are of a significant magnitude, particularly at the elementary and middle school level. Many cost savings measures were considered, however, the one that generates the largest savings is to reduce the ratio of teacher assistants to teachers as class size is reduced. Three scenarios were outlined in the study. If we keep the same teacher assistant staffing pattern that we have now and don't make any other cost reductions, the cost to implement this recommendation is $4,981,877. It would require the addition of 96 teachers and 57 teacher assistants. An alternative would reduce the allocation of teacher assistants to one per two teachers in grades K -3 and one per four teachers in grades 4-5. This would result in the reduction of 36 elementary teacher assistant positions over the ten years of the phase in. This scenario would cost $3,102,294. The third scenario would allocate one assistant for every four teachers in grades K-5. This would reduce 74 teacher assistant positions, but would reduce the cost to $2,334,627. Under scenario 2 and, possibly, scenario 3, it should be possible to make these reductions without any teacher assistants losing their employment with the district. Normally, we have a high rate of turnover among teacher assistants. The total cost of this proposal, ranging from $5 million to $2.3 million, is significant. For this reason, it is recommended that the class size reductions be phased in over the copse of ten years. If additional cost - cutting measures can be agreed upon or if the state or federal governments provide additional funding for reducing class size, this schedule could be expedited and the cost would be reduced. This report is a feasibility study and not a recommendation. If the Board would like this issue to be pursued further, it is recommended that an extensive process be used to garner reactions and suggestions from teachers, teacher assistants, SGCs and the community about these scenarios.