State May Expand Class-Size Cuts, Allow Flexibility

Determined to make California’s closely watched class-size reduction program a success, Gov. Pete Wilson will propose using unanticipated tax revenues generated by the state’s surging economy to boost spending on the program to $1.5 billion, which would extend the program to 1 million more children, senior administration officials said Saturday.

Wilson’s proposal would also give schools new flexibility for using state money to pay for new classrooms--a response to one of the top concerns raised during a statewide series of meetings in recent weeks between former Orange County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, now his top education advisor, and teachers and administrators.

Irvine Unified School District Supt. Dennis Smith was one of many educators who welcomed the governor’s proposal. The district now has smaller class sizes in kindergarten through second grade, and the new money would allow the district to add third grade to the program.

“It makes good sense educationally and financially,” Smith said.

Democratic leaders including Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) and Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) said through their spokesmen that Wilson’s proposal is almost assured of passage as part of the state’s budget this year.

Assembly Republican Leader Curt Pringle of Garden Grove said local school districts should bear part of the cost of the program “to show their commitment.” But, he added, the state has the resources this year to make that unnecessary.

“This is very close to what I think will be in the budget” when it is passed this summer, Pringle said.

The state’s effort to reduce the number of pupils in the early grades from roughly 29 to 20 per class is already one of the most ambitious and expensive such initiatives in the nation’s history. Launched a year ago, no one yet knows whether it can achieve its goal of improving the academic performance of California children in math and reading.

On Tuesday, Wilson is expected to announce that he wants to add $230 million to current spending plans, signaling that he is willing to have the state bear all of the cost of the program even as he grants districts more leeway in how to make it work.

Administration officials said Wilson will propose that districts receive $800 per pupil--up from $650 this year--enrolled in the smaller classes.

That is the figure that state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin and other education leaders have argued for since December and should be enough to have as few as 18 or 19 students in each class from kindergarten through grade three, administration officials say. That should give districts a bit of wiggle room if an extra student or two were to show up midyear. In some rare cases, districts could exceed the cap of 20 students, but would pay a financial penalty for doing so. Under the current system, they lose all of their funding if that occurs.

The proposal also would give crowded districts, such as Los Angeles, the flexibility to use part of the new money to buy portable classrooms. Though they welcomed extra funding, Los Angeles officials said they may not have room on campuses for the extra classrooms, making it difficult to take advantage of the offer.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Assistant Supt. Gordon Wohlers. “We really want to do this for our boys and girls.”

Analysts have warned that the class-size reduction program is causing school districts to hire many unqualified teachers, which could dilute its educational benefit. Moreover, the cost of the program will rise as those teachers gain seniority, threatening districts’ long-term financial health.

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Concerns such as those led Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill to urge state officials to delay any expansion and simply send more money to school districts unfettered.

Nevertheless, the program has become a political juggernaut, with Wilson, legislative leaders and Eastin differing only in how fast to expand the program and how much of its cost should be borne by the state.

Although many of the details of Wilson’s proposal remained unclear, Eastin as well as Republican and Democratic legislative leaders immediately gave it a high grade, saying that the additional funding better reflects the full cost of the program.

“This is the best news I’ve gotten in a long time,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Brown (D-Kenwood), who was carrying a bill that also would have allocated $800 per pupil to the class-size reduction program. “He has realized what we have been promoting all along. This is a dead-bang winner. You can’t lose with this one.”

Most school leaders welcomed the proposed infusion of money--although in Los Angeles and other areas it may not be enough to get past nightmarish logistic problems caused by the crowded district’s unprecedented growth in enrollment.

This year, the Los Angeles district managed to reduce the number of pupils in its first- and second-grade classrooms to 20 or fewer, but expanding the program to kindergarten and third grade would be virtually impossible even with the additional money Wilson is offering, Wohlers said.

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The problem is that the district would need to add about 1,000 portable buildings to expand the program to two more grades, and many of the district’s campuses are so packed with bungalows that they do not have room for more.

One option would be to replace the portables with two-story classroom buildings, he said. But it would not be possible to have those built by September.

Another option could prove controversial. District officials are considering scheduling shorter school days at some crowded campuses, enabling them to hold double sessions. To make that scenario possible, however, officials would have to extend the school year by 40 days--to 220--to make up for the smaller number of hours students would attend each day.

“It’s novel and innovative and something we would have to consider,” Wohlers said.

The only other possibility, he said, would be to install portables on campuses where there are fewer students and to bus children to them. “We don’t see that as a reasonable approach,” he said.

However, other educators said Wilson’s proposal may be generous enough to make it possible for the program to expand. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District had reduced the size of its classes in grades one and two and had gone part of the way in kindergarten. But the Board of Education there had decided to hold off on further expansion unless the state upped its share of the costs.

“Our costs are about $850, but $800 is going to be close enough that there is a very high likelihood that we will be out of the dugout and into the game for a third grade,” said Supt. Mac Bernd.

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The additional money would come from tax revenues generated by a robust California economy that has exceeded predictions since the beginning of the year.

The legislative analyst’s office has said that by the end of the 1997-98 fiscal year the state can expect about $2 billion more in revenues than had been anticipated.

Under Proposition 98, which assured steady funding for education, most of that newfound money--at least 80%--is required to be spent on schools.

The state’s official estimate of its budget revenue is expected to be released Wednesday by the Department of Finance. That forecast, known as the May revision, is used to calculate the budget for the 1997-98 fiscal year. Lawmakers are supposed to adopt the budget by June 15.