Little gain on class sizes

Utah has spent more than $700 million to make public schools' classes smaller, but that cash hasn't put much of a dent in what have 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 proportionately to enrollment, according to a performance audit of class-size reduction money, presented Tuesday to legislative leaders on the Audit Subcommittee of the Legislative Management Committee. 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.

Indeed, from 2000 to 2006, the number of teachers hired with class-size reduction money ultimately rose by just two people, or from 1,175 teachers to 1,177, auditors estimated.

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

Annual allotments have risen from $4.4 million in fiscal 1993 to $74.4 million in fiscal 2007.

The national average teacher-to-student ratio is 1 to 15.8; Utah's is 1 to 22.6 — among the nation's highest, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington said.

In talking to parents or teachers, "class-size reduction is the first thing that comes out of their mouths in terms of the first thing they want to see addressed at the Legislature," Utah PTA education commissioner Holly Langton said. "If we start chipping away at it ... we could be in a decent position several years from now" in terms of class size.

Class sizes typically are reduced by adding teachers or classroom space, the latter of which a couple districts have done within legal guidelines. Districts overwhelmingly use the money to hire new teachers, auditors said.

But the cost of those hires has gone way up. 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.

Some years, the number of teachers in the program dropped, from 1,201 in 2002 to 1,177 last fiscal year.

Also stretching finances: All schools get class-size reduction money, even if they "do not appear to need to reduce class sizes," the audit noted. Charter schools, for instance, are getting around $4 million, even though they have enrollment caps.

Harrington hopes the audit directs lawmakers' attention to program needs.