Of class sizes, pay cuts, and putting administrators back in the classroom…

“If a local school district wants to keep their class sizes the same, then they’re going to have to do one of two things,” Jason Hancock, aide to state schools Supt. Tom Luna, told the Senate Education Committee. First option, he said: Taking the reductions “in elementary PE teachers or reading coaches who do not have a classroom of kids,” Hancock said. “Or coming to an agreement at the local level that they’re going to reduce pay rather than give up positions, because they do have that flexibility.” Hancock said, “I think we had a number of teachers through this hearing process bring up the point that they’d rather take another pay cut, rather than see class sizes increase. That is possible under this plan.”

Committee Chairman John Goedde said if every administrator taught one class, class sizes could remain the same; there’s legislation to that effect out there, he said, but it hasn’t been introduced and is not in front of the committee today.