Big Picture concerning Student Teacher Ratio

1. Big Picture concerning Student Teacher Ratio • I have prepared this power point presentation to inform all stake holders on why we use the state standards concerning our student/teacher ratio.

2. What are the state standards? • 20 students in a KG classroom with one teacher or 22 with ½ aide. • 25 students per classroom in grades 1-3 with an average of no more than 23. We always meet the average number because other employees such as Alternative learning and Special Education are figured in this average in addition to the regular classroom teachers. The state department told us our ratio with all of these others figured in would be less than 15:1 and we would meet that requirement easily however we would need to watch the maximum classroom number. • 28 students per teacher in grades 4-6 • 30 students in grades 7-12. We can have more students in classes such as band, athletics, and physical education. • Regular classroom teachers can have no more than 150 students per day in grades 7-12.

3. Why do we go by the state standards? • We can be fair to all parents, teachers and children if we operate by the state standards. We work hard to be consistent concerning all teachers and students. • In the state of California a study was conducted on reducing class size and the findings were that when you significantly reduce class size the quality of teacher you have to choose from goes down. Arkansas already struggles to find teachers in certain subject areas. If we had less students per class this would only get worse. • We could not afford to be competitive with teacher salaries if we reduce the class sizes across the board. We would rather have the best teacher with 25 students than an average or poor teacher with 22 students. We pay the very best in our area concerning teacher pay. We are in a position to attract and keep the best teachers. • We could not afford to purchase the technology, buses and upkeep our facilities if we had to take this amount of money out of the budget to reduce class numbers. • The matrix funding formula from the Department of Education funds school districts on the numbers they set with standards. We are funded based on the teacher student ratio they allow us to have. Most if not all school districts placed on the fiscal distress list are over staffed.

4. Cost to reduce class size by less than three students per class • Cost to the district for 5 elementary teachers at the midpoint on our salary schedule including benefits. Line 15 on salary schedule plus benefits = • $63,246.25 x 5= $316,231.25 • Cleaning and utilities $17,000.00 Construction of five classrooms $1,000,000 Total cost $1,333,231.25

5. Cost to reduce class size to 15 in k-4 • We would have to add at least five per grade to drop the class size to 15 in K-4. This would cost the district $1,581,156.25 in teacher salaries plus $5,000,000 for classroom construction plus $85,000 for cleaning and utilities. • Total = $6,666,156.25

6. Primary and Intermediate Student / Teacher Ratio k-4 Grade ST T Ratio Standard • K 229 12 19.08/1 20/1 • 1 244 10 24.4/1 25/1 • 2 210 09 23.3/1 25/1 • 3 230 10 23.0/1 25/1 • 4 184 08 23.0/1 28/1 • ST-Students in Class • T-Number of teachers per grade level • Ratio- Our current student teacher ratio • Standard- State standard for student/teacher ratio

7. What would the size be if we added one more teacher per grade in k-4 • K 229 13 17.61 1.47 less per class • 1 244 11 22.18 2.22 less per class • 2 210 10 21.0 2.30 less per class • 3 230 11 20.9 2.10 less per class • 4 184 09 20.4 2.60 less per class

8. Student/teacher ratio K-4

9. Cost to add one to five teachers in k-4

10. Fairness across all grade levels To be fair for all students and teachers in the other grades we would need to add the same number of teachers for grades 5 and 6. With the current numbers we have for grades 7-12 we would have to add nine teachers to reduce the class size to 27. 16 teachers x $63,246= $1,011,936.00 16 classrooms x $200,000 each = +$3,200,000.00 $3,200,000.00 + $1,011,936.00= $4,211,936.00