The Nexus

Though a part of Westview’s campus, California’s class-size reduction (CSR) program only affects a fourth of Westview’s population.

The program provides funding to school districts, including Poway Unified, with the goal of keeping the sizes of certain classes at a strict 20-to-1 ratio. One of the classes with this 20-student cap is freshman English.

But next year’s English classes may see their average size increase to alleviate the financial strain on the district. The most recent state budget granted the district complete flexibility with the funding for the 9th-grade CSR program for the next four years. This would allow the district, and Superintendent Don Phillips, to move that funding into the district’s general fund and use it elsewhere.

“We can receive funding, and have [9th-grade] classes be the same size as all other classes, and have no penalties,” Phillips said.

All told, the state funding for 9th-grade CSR, combined with other newly flexible state dollars, has freed up $7.13 million for the district. The other programs whose funds are bundled into this figure include GATE and arts and music programs.

Phillips said this does not mean the funding for all of these programs will disappear.

“Some of these funds are likely to go back to these core programs,” he said. “Some of these programs we need, and we have to buy certain materials by law.”

Despite the sum made available by the state’s new granting of flexibility for 9th-grade CSR and other programs, Phillips said that the state did not grant the district full flexibility. Strict CSR requirements still remain for classes from kindergarten to third grade. If the district exceeds 20 students in any class at those grade levels, they lose a portion of the CSR funding.

However, Phillips said the district will make use of the $7 million, $4 million of which will go towards offsetting cuts to teachers.

“We made a cut of $10.7 million in teachers so far,” he said. “Take $4 million away from that, and you still have a large number, but it’s a significant reduction to total teacher cuts.”

By bringing back more teachers, Phillips said that the district remains committed to keeping class sizes small. One option that remains to be settled is a 2.7-percent salary rollback for all teachers in an effort to maintain more teacher jobs. The Poway Federation of Teachers (PFT) will vote on this change tonight. If teachers accept this salary rollback, their work year will be reduced from 188 days to 183 days through the elimination of five non-student staff development days.

The salary rollback would create another $3 million in flexible funds for the district to use to pay for teacher salaries. Phillips said that if the district can save that many more teacher jobs, a spike in class sizes could be reduced.

“Class size is a priority and we’re worried that current ratios are way too high,” Phillips said. “The rollback is a temporary measure, but it might help us keep class sizes small and allow us to hold onto a lot of wonderful teachers.”

Westview English teacher Karen Lafferty has had a chance to teach a variety of English classes, some with CSR limits in place, others without it. She said that the benefits of 9th-grade classrooms with an average of 20 kids are evident.

“What CSR for 9th grade lets me do as a teacher is really hold kids to having their skills down before they go on to the next level,” Lafferty said. “If I have 20 kids in my class and they’re all working on an essay, I can walk around individually to each one and check them.”

It is still unclear exactly how the numbers in Lafferty’s English 1-2 classes will change next year. Should the freshman classes approach 30 students, however, she said that the very way the classes are taught would be considerably altered.

“With 20 students, I can be dialed in and know every kid and their skill level,” she said. “When you start adding students to a teacher’s case load, inevitably, it’s going to be harder to keep track. We’re going to see differences in how people go about managing the students and getting everybody off to a good start with their high-school English career. It’s the one class you have to take all four years.”

Besides the possibility of an increase in her freshman class sizes, Lafferty also faces possible issues as GATE coordinator for Westview. That program’s funds have the potential of being cut from next year’s budget. But Lafferty said that, despite how flexibility may impact individual programs, her greatest concern is seeing teachers return for another school year.

“It’s in everyone’s best interest to have the greatest number of qualified teachers work with students on campus,” she said. “Ultimately, my greatest wish would be to have my colleagues here with me working alongside me to teach the students of Westview.”

Although Phillips said the district was prepared to take the majority of the $7 million to bring back teachers, he also said that moving flexible funds to stem the tide of teachers leaving the district could affect their programs for schools for years to come.

“We feel good about moving in that direction [to keep teachers], but it reduces our providing some of our support services we’ve been historically able to provide,” he said.

Phillips said the district will continue to push for more flexibility from the state. California’s budget will be updated and announced in a May revise in the next few weeks.