Texas Witness Testifies Larger Class Sizes Bring More Dropouts

The Dallas Morning News (11/14, Stutz) reports that as testimony in the Texas school finance lawsuit continues, Clive Belfield, an economist at New York's Queens College, testifies that "larger classes typically trigger higher dropout rates and wind up costing more in the long run with less educated workers who pay less in taxes." Moreover, Belfield "said there are several steps school districts can take to increase their graduation rates, but most involve spending more money, and there has been resistance to funding increases in Texas and other states. Over the long term, he said, raising teacher pay, reducing class sizes and funding other improvements has a direct impact on how many students will graduate from high school - and he offered several examples of the return Texas could expect if it were to finance such upgrades."