Class size mandate is irresponsible; fix needed
Published December 15, 2017
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, December 14, 2017.
Local school boards are having to clean up after the General Assembly’s mess -- and it won’t be pretty.
In 2016 and again this summer, legislators mandated cuts in class size. From a maximum of 20 students, kindergarten classes would shrink to 18, first-grade to 17 and second- and third-grades to 16. The changes are supposed to take effect next fall.
Smaller classes mean more individual attention. Educators say it’s important that any problems be identified and addressed in these early grades, or learning might go off the rails for the rest of their time in school.
There’s only one problem: The Honorables didn’t say how schools were going to hire extra teachers or build the extra classrooms. Nor, of course, are they providing any extra money. They’ve been too busy cutting taxes for the well-off.
So, local school systems are having to hustle. In New Hanover County, there’ll be a lot of redistricting (details to be announced). Teachers may have to share classrooms.
In Brunswick and Pender, computer labs and libraries/media centers are being converted into classrooms. We thought students needed computer labs and media centers, but we guess they will have to manage.
If that isn’t enough, officials say, programs for older students -- art, music, P.E. and foreign languages -- may have to be cut or eliminated to shift the money.
While class sizes shrink in lower grades, already-crowded middle schools and high schools are likely to bulge. Local boards of education -- which can’t raise their own money -- are likely to beg their sponsoring local governments for money. That could mean local tax increases.
But the fiscal priority for the Republican leadership in Raleigh is another round of corporate tax cuts, despite the fact that North Carolina already has the lowest rate in the nation.
No doing. House leaders are willing to revisit the issue, but state senators are adamant. Nothing can be done, according to Senate leaders, until the short session in May.
Funny: They called a special session to deal with the burning issue of which restrooms transgendered folks can use. But dealing with the bleeding of school systems strapped with an inflexible and unfunded mandate has to wait. That says a lot about their priorities.
Clearly, the Honorables need to hear from the voters -- long and loud.
