jsisser posted on April 08, 2011 07:33
It’s truly a great time to be a senior.
End of the year banquets are being scheduled, senioritis is more rampant than allergies and the graduation countdown is reaching its final weeks.
But the best part about grabbing the cap, gown and diploma and saying farewell to high school is that seniors won’t face the wrath of Ohio Senate Bill 5’s (SB 5) elimination of class size limits.
Okay, so most seniors may not see that as the best part. The point is, though, a lack of class size limits is possibly the most dangerous aspect of the controversial SB 5.
The legislation, which essentially takes away most collective bargaining rights for public employees, has been in the news for months.
Class size limits are set by individual district administrators, not politicians. But the number of students in each class are part of teachers’ collective bargaining rights.
Now that state politicians have taken away those rights with SB 5, classrooms could quickly become overcrowded.
Why does this matter, you might ask? Simply put, smaller class sizes are more effective from an educational standpoint.
The book School Class Size: Research and Policy by Gene V. Glass states that smaller class sizes significantly help improve student performance, provide more opportunities and boost teacher morale.
I can speak from experience when I say that some, not all, of my most beneficial classes have been those with only 10 or 15 students.
Add in five or 10 more students and educators are unable to individualize their teaching styles and help children learn better.
But this is all about something much bigger than how many students politicians allow districts to cram into a classroom.
Sooner or later, elected officials must realize that cutting costs at the expense of educational quality is just trading one problem for another.
In an education system where test scores are slipping, some schools are facing a 40 percent drop out rate and students are pressured to compete with kids in Finland and South Korea, allowing for class size increases is a major step backward.
Maybe I’m overreacting. Just because districts no longer have a limit to the size of classes doesn’t mean every classroom will overflow with 40 or 50 kids.
However, putting this option on the table as a viable cost-saving measure is a scary political mentality and doesn’t bode well for the next generation of students.
States like Florida have passed mandatory limits of 25 students per high school classroom. It’s discouraging to see Ohio moving in the opposite direction.
Elected politicians consistently say they have education’s best interest at heart. But until they practice what they preach, all I can say is it’s a good time to be moving on.