Earlier this week key members of the Senate Education Committee, including Committee Chairs Dan Soucek (R-Watauga) and Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph) and Vice Chair Chad Barefoot (R-Wake) introduced legislation (S. 374) to give local school districts greater budget flexibility and also allow them to raise class size limits if they so choose.
The legislation allows school districts to make their own decisions on how to spend money and best educate students. If a school district thinks it needs to keep the classes small, it has the freedom to do so. If the district believes it has the environment and ability to expand enrollment in some classes and can better use resources elsewhere, why shouldn’t a school district be free to do so?
We are all different. The same can be said about students, teachers and school districts. So why do we develop policies that force schools to be administered in the same way? Yes, there are certain situations where smaller class size is beneficial to student achievement. However, there are also situations where an effective teacher could add a few more students to a class without disruption and free up resources to be better used elsewhere. Local principals and teachers can best answer that question. SB 374 gives local officials the authority to make those decisions.
Read more on why it’s time for North Carolina to do away with class size ratios.
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