Texas Bill Would Set Class Size Average, Increase Class Size (TX)

April 29, 2011

Current Texas law places a limit of 22 students per teacher on classes from kindergarten through 4th grade. Chron.com reports that a new bill under consideration by the state legislature would replace the current limit with a 22-per-class average and would prohibit more than 25 students to be enrolled in one class in lower grades.

Currently, schools can exceed the 22-student limit by getting a waiver from the Texas Education Agency. Elizabeth Moore’s second grade class in Aue Elementary, which is part of the Northside Independent School District, is one of seven at her school that have such a waiver. Moore calls it “a sign of the times”:

    “We’re going to work with whatever we need to work with. … I just know that it’s going to take me longer to complete things.”

With additional education budget cuts likely coming next year, more school districts say they are planning to ask for waivers even if the budget bill fails to pass. Although teachers oppose adding more students, research on the true effects of small increases in class sizes has been mixed. According to David Thomson, chairman of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas San Antonio, there is little effect from replacing the strict limit with a district average, although he recommended that districts explore alternative cost-saving measures before rushing to increase class sizes.

Chron.com says that the TEA has typically granted the majority of waiver requests, and there’s no indication that its approach would change in the coming year.