Reducing class sizes topped the list of priorities at the first of two school district public budgeting forums Tuesday at Juneau-Douglas High School.
Educators, school representatives and members of the public met at JDHS’ library for early discussions on the Juneau School District’s fiscal year 2018 budget. The consensus: Reduce class sizes by hiring more teachers.
Presenting on behalf of Auke Bay Elementary, principal Lauri Hoover emphasized the reduction of the Pupil-Teacher Ratio, or PTR.
“We felt that that is the highest priority and the most important, to keep our class sizes doable,” Hoover said.
Hoover’s kindergarten classes average 25 students. Her third-grade classes, 28.
JDHS principal Paula Casperson said all three of Juneau’s high schools are collectively advocating for lower class sizes.
“We have to hold on to the people we have,” Casperson said. “Our ability to offer courses at varying levels, as well as elective options throughout the school day is completely dependent on our staffing allocations and those are directly tied to the Pupil-Teacher Ratio.”
With a majority of the district’s $85 million budget already allocated, JSD superintendent Mark Miller and the School Board have their work cut out for them in walking the budgeting tightrope. Mandatory expenses, line items like school insurance, utilities and internet access, total about $4 million.
Operating expenses — which includes teacher salaries, legal services and curriculum updates — total $63.4.
This leaves Miller and the Board of Education, which approves the budget, with roughly $17.6 million to allocate to new funding initiatives like hiring new teachers to further reduce class sizes.
Funding new teachers would eat into that pie, but if Tuesday’s testimony is any evidence, that’s what the public and school site councils want most. The question Miller and the School Board will have to work out is what schools get new teachers.
“No parent wants their kid in a class of 30. They don’t,” Miller said. “… The smaller classes get more individual attention. I totally get that, absolutely understand that.”
Middle and high school classes are currently the largest in Juneau, averaging 29 students to one teacher from sixth through twelfth grade. Primary school, or third through fifth-grade, currently average 27 students per class.
Training teachers on new STEM curriculum, adding new counselors at the high school and updating Mendenhall River Community School to American Disability Act codes, were all brought forth as worthy priorities for the board to pursue.
Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School Principal Molly Yerkes asked the board to consider updating the school’s leaking roof, for which she said they are “running out of fingers to plug up.”
The school board’s next budget work session will be Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in room 206 at JDHS.
Leaders from Mendenhall River Community School’s Parent Teacher Organization, Tiara Clark, right, Andrea Petrie, middle, and Kayla Wisner, left, speak at a public forum on the Juneau School District’s budget on Tuesday at Juneau-Douglas High School. Clark asked the district to address class sizes and MRCS’ non-compliance with American Disability Act standards in their upcoming budget discussions.
