Funds haven't put much dent in class sizes, audit says

Utah has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make public schools' classes smaller, but that cash hasn't put much of a dent in what's become some of the country's biggest class sizes, Utah's Legislative Auditor General's Office found.

That's partly because the money isn't rising at the same rate as enrollment in Utah's public schools, states a performance audit of class-size reduction money, presented to legislative leaders on the Audit Subcommittee of the Legislative Management Committee today. That's even though the law says it should.

"Essentially, for the last six years, (class size reduction) funds functioned as maintenance funding rather than providing for new class-size reduction efforts," auditors wrote.

The audit came after lawmakers last winter questioned districts' use of class size reduction money.

Annual class-size reduction money has risen from $4.4 million in fiscal 1993 to $74.4 million in 2007.

The national average teacher-to-student ratio is 1 to 15.8; Utah's is 1 to 22.6, according to the State Office of Education.

That's partly due to the rising costs of salaries and benefits. From fiscal years 2000 to 2006, both money for class-size reduction and average teacher compensation went up 25 percent, the audit states. Between 2001 and 2004, health insurance premiums went up between 11 and 14 percent. And in tight budget years of 2003 to 2005, the state's investment in class-size reduction only slightly increased.

Also, all schools get class-size reduction money, even if they "do not appear to need to reduce class sizes," the audit noted.

Utah Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington hopes the audit directs lawmakers' attention to program needs.

"It will take strong determination and a large, sustained infusion of funding tied to enrollment growth to reach the national class size average," Harrington wrote in a formal response to the audit. "This is vital, in order to attract teachers to the workplace by enhancing their working conditions, to provide a competitive or comparable learning advantage to students who now compete globally, and to provide learning options for individualized help and acceleration for students."

The audit did not find evidence school districts misspent the money.

But it did find 22 of Utah's 40 school districts don't track the money, because the law doesn't say they must.