Class Size

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's Board of Education will hold a public meeting tonight to discuss the reduction of the size of kindergarten classes. Assistant Supt. Art Cohen said Tuesday that classes in first through third grades already have 20 or fewer students in keeping with a two-year-old statewide program that gives schools money to hire more teachers to reduce class size in early grades.

Hueneme Elementary School District trustees are expected to approve a resolution tonight asking state lawmakers to delay expanding the popular class size reduction program until the Legislature provides full funding for the first three grade levels. While state money for school districts that whittle class sizes to 20 or fewer students may increase from $650 to $666 per pupil next year, school officials at Hueneme want to see it raised to as much as $800 to meet the district's full costs.

All first-grade classes this fall will have 20 or fewer students, the Cypress School District board decided this week. At its meeting Tuesday night, the school board also voted unanimously to phase in as many 20-student second grades this fall as possible. Doing so will depend largely on finding space in existing schools, officials said. Though board members agreed that smaller classes generally enhance learning, Supt. William D.

As the first day of school approaches, full-time homemaker Beverly O'Rourke is feeling more like a cabby and less like a mother of four. "Let's see," she begins. "I have one who arrives at 7:45, then [two] at 8:25, then one at 9 o'clock--9:05, really. Then pickups are at 11:30, 1:45, 2:35 and 3:10."

As California school districts anticipate a significant increase in state money coming their way, there's obviously a lot of interest in how it will be spent. Naturally, secondary teachers would love to see some of that revenue finally go toward reducing their class sizes. When I look out over the sea of 38 faces in my senior AP English class, I can't help dreaming of some relief. After all, it already has happened at the primary level, so why not junior high and high school as well?

With an eventual goal of only 20 students for each teacher, Gov. George Deukmejian on Saturday proposed a six-year, $450-million program to reduce California's overcrowded high school classrooms in the critical subject areas of English, math and science. Deukmejian told a statewide radio broadcast that legislation to be carried by state Sen.

The Tustin Unified School District's 1992-93 budget will include increases in class sizes and lunch prices, approved as a part of cost-cutting to offset projected losses in state funding. The final spending plan, passed this week, includes cost-cutting measures that total $450,000 and were originally part of a contingency plan in the final 1992-93 budget due Aug. 9.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District board this week approved a budget for next fiscal year that includes increased class sizes and cuts in funding for materials, some programs and school administration. Although the spending plan adopted Tuesday night spares remedial reading and award-winning science programs originally slated for the ax, the average high school and middle school class size will increase from about 36 to nearly 40 students, said Assistant Supt.

Seeking to avert a $71,000 fine, administrators at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School have asked state education officials to waive a requirement that the average size of third-grade classes not exceed 32 pupils. Emerson has averaged two students over the limit, said district officials, who are optimistic the state Department of Education will grant the waiver this month.

Despite concerns about classroom space and state funding, Capistrano Unified School District trustees voted Monday to reduce the size of first- and second-grade classes to 20 students this fall. The unanimous decision comes as the state Legislature debates two competing versions of Gov. Pete Wilson's $460-million plan for reducing class sizes. "I'm thrilled to see that the governor is coming forth with this idea," Trustee Marlene Draper said. "We've talked about this for a long time."