This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It is obvious that reducing class sizes will improve educational outcomes, but it's also obvious that moving that needle is a mighty expensive proposition in a state that is long on children and short on taxpayers.
The Tribune recently reached out to Utah teachers to tell us how big their classes are, and some of their answers were staggering. Classes over 40 and 50 students are not uncommon.
But Utah's demographics are relentless, and as a result we have gone decades spending less on each student's education than any other state. That alone means nothing is going to change soon in most of those classrooms.
The good news, however, is that reduced class size is most effective in the first four years of school (kindergarten through third grade). If Utah were to focus its efforts on those early grades, that is where it will see the most bang for the buck. What's more, low-income and ethnic minority students see the most gain from smaller classes in early grades.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because Utah for years has had a class-size reduction program aimed at early grades. But enrollment growth has meant that in many schools the program doesn't so much reduce class sizes and just keep them from growing as much. Indeed, the research says class size needs to be 18 or less in those early grades to see significant benefits. But Utah's class size targets have been 20 in kindergarten and 22 in first through third grades, and a lot of schools aren't even hitting that.
There is much talk about leveraging technology to stretch Utah's dollars, but it's foolish to think that technology will be Utah's "edge." Every state is diving hard into educational technology, and every other state has more to spend on it than Utah. Whatever we spend on technology, and we should spend more, will only keep us current, not put us ahead.
And it won't erase the fact that Utah education needs more boots on the ground. Honestly reducing class sizes will require more teachers and in some cases more classrooms, both of which are expensive. Meaningful reductions would cost something on the order of $100 million or more. That cannot be found without some adjustment in taxes or mineral royalties or another significant funding source, all of which would be politically difficult.
Just don't call it spending. Giving more students that early attention will reduce remedial education costs later and increase the number of students who succeed in higher education and pay more income taxes. Class-size reduction is a high-return investment. We're wasting money if we don't do it.