Recession Kills California Class Size Reduction Efforts

The Sacramento (CA) Bee (1/21, Yamamura) reports on rising class sizes in California, describing a kindergarten teacher with 31 students, noting that the state "launched its most expensive school reform by reducing class sizes to 20 students in the earliest grades" in 1996. "Then the recession struck, and state leaders slashed scores of programs," and allowed schools to raise class sizes. The paper quotes state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson saying, "I think class-size reduction by and large is gone. That was abandoned by most schools in the fiscal crisis the last few years."