Mr. President and Members of the Council:
My name is Kenneth Colburn. My two children attend Montgomery County public schools.
Overly large classes remain a problem in Montgomery County public schools. The Council-approved budget for this year makes some progress. Nonetheless, there is growing evidence that too many classes remain too large.
There may be fewer classes over policy guidelines maximums, but those maximums remain too high. There are some small first and second grade reading classes, but many schools still have to wait a year or two and for new appropriations to see those smaller reading groups. Some seventh grade math classes may be small, but other middle school math classes are still large.
September 30, 1998 class size figures for Pyle Middle School demonstrate that the problem persists. Nearly 17 percent of students in Pyle social study classes are in classes with 33 to 36 students. In Pyle science classes, 12.4 percent of students are in classes with from 33 to 35 students.
We can do better. Take a look at the figures for Fairfax County elementary schools as an example. In Montgomery County grades 1-3, only 5.9 percent of classes had 20 students or fewer. In Fairfax County, 33.9 percent of grade 1-3 counties were that small. In Montgomery County, 21 percent of grade 1-3 classes had 27 students or greater compared to 11.3 percent of classes that large in Fairfax County (these are '96-'97 figures for Fairfax and '97-'98 figures for Montgomery).
The issue is the political will to commit financial resources sufficient to resolve the problem. Despite continuing local, state and national attention to education generally and class size specifically, our elected officials have not yet caught up with the popular will on this issue. There remains too much concern about tax cut and anti-government fever. Councilmembers support class size reduction, but when faced with a proposal earlier this year to use an unexpected $5.5 million in tax revenues for class size reduction, the council voted 8-1 to provide a $23 per family tax rebate instead.
I have heard too frequently that 75 percent of county residents don't currently have children in the public schools and that they are therefore are not concerned about our county's schools. Now there is tangible evidence to the contrary. At its September 1998 meeting, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) unanimously passed a resolution stating:
senior residents of Montgomery County are as concerned about maintaining an outstanding public education system in the county as those residents with children currently in the public schools.
Chapter 258 calls on the Board of Education, the County Council and the County Executive to provide adequate resources to substantially reduce the size of classes in the county public schools
I believe that a substantial majority of county residents would agree with the policies set forth in the 1500-member NARFE chapter's resolution. The Spending Affordability Guideline cap for education must be substantially increased.
Failure to resolve the class size problem and the continuing dispute over teachers' pensions will hurt the county. Parents looking for a place to move will get the word, whether from the press or from friends as Montgomery County's reputation for first class schools is weakened and potential tax revenue is lost.
With the political will and political leadership, we can ensure that Montgomery County's public schools are among the nation's best.