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Posted: 8:45 PM- Schools need to be more accountable for how they spend money meant to reduce class sizes, lawmakers said Wednesday, reacting to a December audit that showed $460 million meant to make classes smaller over the past seven years hasn't led to any change.
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, wants to see school districts chip in more local money to reduce class sizes. He hopes to push for changes to the law that would only offer the money as an incentive to districts that can prove they're keeping sizes down. Now, all school districts and charter schools get the money automatically based on enrollment.
"It's not our job to fund every component of achieving class size reduction," Stephenson told members of the Legislature's Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
The audit looked at several districts that did track how they spent the money and found those districts were spending the money appropriately. The problem was that the money was only enough to fund reasonable salary and benefit increases for teachers hired in past years to help reduce class sizes, not hire new teachers, according to the audit.
The state spent $74 million to reduce class sizes in fiscal year 2007. Utah has 22.6 students per teacher compared with an average of 15.8 students per teacher nationally, according to State Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington.
Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, said she's also working on legislation to help reduce class sizes, especially in kindergarten through third grade. She declined to offer specifics but said she'd like to see significantly more money put toward class size reduction and schools held more accountable. Many schools don't track how they spend the class-size reduction money because lawmakers took certain reporting requirements out of the law several years ago in an attempt to streamline the process, according to the audit.
Morgan also has concerns about the money going to schools that don't necessarily need it.
"Class size reduction money should go to those schools with large class sizes," Morgan said. "There are some schools that don't have a problem."
One of the auditors' suggestions was to re-examine how the money is distributed to charter schools which, unlike traditional public schools, have enrollment caps. Auditors said the intention of the recommendation is not to harm charter schools but instead to make sure the money is being spent most efficiently.
Several charter school officials, however, bristled at the idea Wednesday.
Salt Lake Arts Academy Principal Amy Wadsworth said her school shouldn't be penalized for achieving smaller classes through creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, which are what set the school apart.
"If you take away my money, I will start to look like other schools," Wadsworth said.
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