Schools Question Cost of Class Size Reduction

By Donnie Fetter< Columbia County Bureau

Gov. Sonny Perdue says Georgia education will improve when its classrooms have fewer pupils.

But Columbia County Schools Superintendent Tommy Price is worried such a move for growing school systems such as his will push more youngsters into portable classrooms.

The governor has been aggressively promoting reduced classroom sizes for kindergarten through eighth grades.

Beginning next school year, Mr. Perdue wants schools to set maximum class sizes for kindergarten enrollments to 18 pupils per class, 21 pupils per class for grades one through three and 28 pupils per class for fourth through eighth grades.

That’s where Mr. Price sees a challenge.

“I’d guess we’ll probably have to add at least 25,” he said of portable additions to meet the governor’s recommendations.

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina increased the demand for portable facilities and, consequently, drove up the prices, Mr. Price said. He estimates portable classrooms now cost about $25,000 per unit.

“Reducing these class sizes is going to be a very expensive proposition for us,” he said.

The governor acknowledges that his plan won’t be easy.

“It’s going to be a challenge for these fast-growing systems,” Mr. Perdue said last week.

Michelle Paschal, the principal of Stevens Creek Elementary, the county’s most populated elementary school, agreed.

“It will give us a little bit of a challenge, but our wheels are already turning in making plans for using the space under our current roof as effectively as possible,” said Mrs. Paschal, whose school teaches about 850 pupils.

Mr. Perdue offered no details on how fast-growing systems might meet that challenge, but Mrs. Paschal said she will look to shift smaller classes to smaller rooms. She said she doesn’t know whether her school will receive any portables.

The governor’s proposal to the General Assembly includes purchasing $383 million in bonds for classroom construction, but the money would be used to fully fund the state’s capital outlay program, said Shane Hix, a spokesman for Mr. Perdue.

The program allots extra money to school systems that apply for school construction. If the bond package is approved, Columbia County would receive about $5.8 million, but those funds are earmarked for the construction of a new middle school on Blackstone Camp Road.

None of the funds from the bond package could be used to buy portable classrooms. That money would likely come from the one-cent sales tax, Mr. Price said.

Reducing class sizes also will require hiring more teachers, which means more money in salaries and benefits.

Though Richmond County school officials aren’t sure what the cost will be, they do know there will be a cost to reducing class size, school spokeswoman Mechelle Jordan said.

The school board’s researcher is determining the current class size for each grade and projected enrollment figures, so the cost can be calculated, she said.

“This will take some time,” she said. “However, we do know that any reduction in classroom size will require more teachers.”

Mrs. Jordan said the average teacher salary, including benefits, in Richmond County is $61,000.

“If that’s going to cost more money, that’s going to cause a problem for us,” she said. “Our budget is tight. We’re always looking for ways to save money.”

The average annual teacher salary in Columbia County is about $50,000, excluding benefits.

Mr. Price has an estimate on how many more teachers will be needed to meet the class-size reduction proposal, but school officials said he plans to first release that information to school board members when they meet Tuesday in Appling.

Staff writer Greg Gelpi contributed to this story.

Reach Donnie Fetter at 868-1222, ext. 113,or donnie.fetter@augustachronicle.com.