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Q&A
Deputy Chancellor explains efforts and challenges in class size compliance
0:58:51
ยท
143 sec
Deputy Chancellor Emma Vadehra details the DOE's efforts to comply with class size reduction mandates, including space and staffing challenges, and outlines plans for the upcoming year.
- Current compliance rate is 46%, aiming for 60% next year
- Working with School Construction Authority on capital budget allocation for new capacity
- 500 schools identified as unable to comply with current enrollment and space
- Surveyed principals for potential room conversions and running a new class size grant program
- Schools have requested over 4,000 new teachers for next year's compliance
- Estimates hundreds of millions of additional dollars needed to support class size work
Emma Vadehra
0:58:51
Yep.
0:58:53
Thank you for the question.
0:58:54
So as flagged, and as you mentioned in your opening, we have been doing a lot of work over the past few years, including supporting schools to hire more teachers, including looking at their programming to get to the compliance rate we are currently at for this year, which is 46%.
0:59:12
Going to next year, we need to get to 60%.
0:59:14
That's going to take money.
0:59:16
That's going to take teachers.
0:59:17
And as the council member mentioned, that is also going to take space.
0:59:20
We are working closely with our colleagues at SCA to ensure the money in their capital budget for new capacity is being allocated where it's most needed for the class size law.
0:59:33
We do know we have about 500 schools currently that we don't believe can comply with the class size law with their current enrollment and their current space.
0:59:43
So those schools are a priority as we look towards where we put those capital dollars.
0:59:49
I would say in addition to that work with SEA, which is really about the large scale capital projects, we also know there's a set of schools that we think smaller scale projects to convert non classroom space into classroom space will help them make progress locally.
1:00:04
So we've been doing a lot of work.
1:00:05
We surveyed all of our principals last year.
1:00:08
We said do you think you have rooms that can be converted into instructional space so that you can comply?
1:00:13
We're working through the projects that came out of that.
1:00:16
We're also running a whole new class size grant program for next year where we allowed schools to come in and let us know what they thought they needed for compliance.
1:00:27
Obviously the most critical piece is teachers.
1:00:30
We had close to 800 schools come in.
1:00:33
They requested over 4,000 new teachers that they believe they need next year to get to compliance, but some of them also said one of the things we need is additional space.
1:00:44
So we're also running through those, and where those are small projects, it looks like there will be eight to 10 of those, we are also working at the school level to convert some of those spaces into instructional space as well.
1:00:56
So that is funding that is not yet in our budget for next year.
1:01:00
As the chancellor mentioned, we think we need hundreds of millions of additional dollars to support that class size work at the local level to ensure we stay in compliance, to ensure we can hire these 4,000 new teachers and convert these rooms, but that's what we're looking towards for next year.