May 22, 2008 4:52 PM
With rising costs straining school budgets, some U.S. capital-area school systems want to increase class size in the coming year rather than hire more teachers. Virginia’s Fairfax County, with the region’s largest school system, expects to save $11 million by inching up staffing formulas half a student per classroom teacher. The Loudoun County, Va., school board went further when it approved giving each teacher one additional student, for a savings of $7.3 million. Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George county schools are seeking to combine smaller classes or cut support staff and teaching specialists.
The aim in all cases: to make do with fewer teachers.
Washington Post, May 7