What appear as small changes to Fairfax County public schools next year will amount to big disruptions in some of the county’s classrooms.
An increase in the average class by one-half student, approved by the school board as part of its skeletal fiscal 2010 budget, will mean many classes far larger than this year’s and some that won’t be offered at all.
It’s a matter of averages, said Kristen Michael, the district’s budget director. To have a high school class of 20 students, the principal is forced to create a class of 40 students somewhere else, enabling them to average class sizes of about 30.
A handful of courses that have 18 or 19 interested students — for example, high-level language classes — might not outweigh the consequence of having other classes with more than 40 students. So the smaller classes may not be offered.
“Sometimes the numbers break perfectly, but usually that doesn’t happen,” Michael said.
Principals will make decisions about specific classes during the summer months.
Elementary school principals in recent years have had more flexibility to create several smaller-than-average classes when the number of students in a particular grade isn’t divisible by the ideal average.
Next year, however, overflow students in one grade will be paired with overflow students in a neighboring grade, and one teacher will oversee both groups.
“It’s a really big deal in all of the age groups,” board member Elizabeth Bradsher said. “The kids who will get hurt are the general education kids,” she said, explaining that special education class size is regulated by law.
The bump in class size was one strategy the board reluctantly employed to cut $18 million from its $2.2 billion budget, despite a projected increase of 5,000 students. In addition, the plan froze teacher and staff salaries and cut 800 positions, though not all of them are filled.
About 250 non-teaching staff members, from custodians to office assistants, have received a layoff notice, according to the district.
Their roles include everything from keeping track of school visitors to sending out seniors’ transcripts to colleges.
“These are all things that parents don’t see, but now they’re going to feel it,” Bradsher said.
