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Despite some debate and disagreement, lawmakers advanced a bill Thursday to reduce class sizes in grades K-3.
The Senate approved Sen. Karen Morgan's SB31 by 18-9 on an initial floor vote Thursday. It still must win final Senate approval before it moves to the House. The bill would cap class sizes at 20 students in kindergarten and at 22 students in first, second and third grades. Or, it would require teachers' aides, known as paraprofessionals, in larger classes.
Before lawmakers approved the bill, Morgan amended it to raise the caps slightly, reducing its cost to $3.6 million. Lawmakers also amended the bill to specify that in order to continue to receive state money that's long been distributed for class size reductions, schools would have to meet the new caps.
"Kindergarten through third grade is a critical time in a child's education," Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, told senators. "That is the time they need more one-on-one individualized attention."
Now, the state's median class sizes are 22 for kindergarten, 23 for first grade, 24 for second grade and 25 for third grade, according to the State Office of Education. Utah had the highest student-to-teacher ratio in the nation — 27 students per teacher — in 2008-09, the most recent numbers available, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Some lawmakers, however, questioned whether the bill would really make a difference, given that Utah already spends a significant amount of money on class size reduction each year.
"If spending the billion dollars over the last 10-12 years ... has not solved the problem, I don't know how a mandate with a fiscal note of $3 million will solve the problem," said Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo.
Other lawmakers worried the bill might obligate the state to pay far more than $3.6 million for schools to meet such caps.
"I'm not sure when we start looking at capping we're not painting ourselves into a mandate," said Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton. "We'll have to pay for it once it's in place."
Morgan said after the debate that the $3.6 million in her bill would help pay for paraprofessionals, and, as for the rest of the cost of reducing class sizes, school districts would just have to prioritize their funding into that area.
"It's just like a family. A family has a budget and you put your money toward the greatest needs," Morgan said. She noted that for many parents, class size is the number one issue in education.
A number of others also spoke in favor of the bill, include Senate President Michael Waddoups who said, "I believe this is a step forward from the way we did it back in the [1990s], which failed." Several said they liked the idea of holding schools accountable for the money they're already getting to reduce class sizes.
A 2007 legislative audit showed that $460 million meant to make class sizes smaller in Utah over seven years hadn't led to any change, though some have said class sizes would have been even larger if not for that money.
Morgan's bill would phase in the changes starting with kindergarten next school year and adding one grade each year for the next three years.
The State Board of Education supports the concept behind the bill, as does the Utah Education Association.