Testimony of Kenneth S. Colburn

on the Recommended FY'99 Operating Budget

Before the Montgomery County Council

April 2, 1998

Mr. President and Members of the Council:

My name is Kenneth Colburn. I am the father of two Burning Tree Elementary school children and am myself a graduate of the county's public schools. I am here to speak in favor of adequate funding to ensure that we do not continue to have overly large classes in Montgomery County's schools.

I want to use the brief time available to make, and to emphasize, two critical points:

First, Montgomery County's average class size is substantially larger than average class size in many nearby jurisdictions. Montgomery County's elementary school classes average 25 students. Alexandria and Fauquier County's elementary classes average 20 students each. The average is 21 in Arlington and 22 in Fairfax and the District of Columbia. Montgomery County ggh Schools' average class size is 27 students. In Charles and Prince George's Counties the average is 21 students and in Alexandria, Prince William and Anne Arundel it is 23 students.

Second, the proposed budget increase for schools must be viewed in light of the deep budget cuts made in the County's FY 1996 operating budget and the resulting reduction of 123.8 teaching positions. The addition of 41.2 classroom positions in each of the FY '98, FY '99 and FY '00 budgets does not proportionately replace the positions cut in FY '96 because of an increase in student population of over 1O percent since the cuts were made. The addition of 196.8 classroom teacher positions for lower grade reading and middle school math classes is commendable, but not sufficient to address the entire problem.

Montgomery County has prided itself for many years on public school quality. Many families move here primarily because of our schools' reputation. But facts have begun to eat away at the reputation. Reasonable class sizes are an essential, if not sufficient, aspect of quality elementary and secondary school education. Investment in schools will benefit our children while expanding our local economy and tax base.

While averages suggest the problem, the detailed data in the Council's own January 15, 1998 report show that there are far too many exceptionally large classes in Montgomery County public schools. While the county sets maximum class sizes for different grade and subject groupings, these maximums are only theoretical because many classes have exceeded the stated policy standards.

As of October 31, 1997, 1,216 classes in county public schools exceeded the theoretical maximum (maximum, not average) class sizes.

For High School class size the policy for other than English academic courses was an extremely high 32 students. Nonetheless, 561 classes exceeded this already large theoretical maximum size. Sixty-two of those classes had more than 35 students.

For High School English classes, the established maximum was 28 students, yet 233 classes were larger than the theoretical maximum size as of October 31, 1997.

For Middle School other-than-English academic classes at that same time, the policy for maximum class size was 32 students, 189 classes were over that size. The policy for Middle School maximum English class size was 28; there were 160 classes over that size.

For grades 4-6 the policy sets the maximum school size at 29 students, yet there 23 classes over that size. For grades 1-3 the maximum class size was to be 28 students, but 50 classes were larger.

The class size issue hit home last summer when our school narrowly missed having a merged fourth and fifth grade class of 30 students in which our older son was to be placed. Other schools and families were not so fortunate.

What to do?

• The Council should approve the $9.3 million proposed by both the Board of Education and the County Executive for additional classroom teachers in FY'99.
• The Council should ensure that the additional $9.3 million is used solely for the additional teachers and should address teacher benefits - which I agree should be increased - separately.
• The Council should provide the funds necessary, both for additional teachers and for facilities, to reduce class sizes to be competitive with the best standards of our neighboring jurisdictions.

There are other actions which must accompany adequate funding,to reduce class size:

• Continue to press the school administration for improvements, efficiencies and cost savings.
• Ensure accurate demographic projections of school population.
• Provide adequate teacher salaries.
• Act even more aggressively to eliminate resource disparities affecting minority students and students from families with limited financial resources.

In order to further informed public discussion of the class size issue, I have established a web page on the Internet which provides public documents and news articles on this topic. The web page addresses: http://www.fortunecity/millenium/kibble/14/index.html Thoselisteningmaysend me an e-mail and I will provide that address. My e-mail address is [email protected]

Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony.