Spokane Public Schools proposal to increase class size draws fire at forum

Spokane Public Schools turned to its staff and community during forums on Monday and Tuesday for ideas about handling its “$12 million problem.”

“The value of the forums is what we hear from you all,” said Superintendent Nancy Stowell. “It does inform our thinking.”

Community members and teachers, some in tears, made their voices heard: don’t cut instructional assistants in resource rooms, keep middle school sports, don’t reduce custodians, don’t raise meal prices, but overwhelmingly the message was don’t raise class size in primary grades. Over two days, about 300 people weighed in.

“I’m so opposed to raising class size that I’m suggesting my grandson be sent to a private school,” said Rebecca Franklin, a Sacajawea Middle School teacher. “Please don’t raise class size in primary schools.”

Kim Gortsema, a special education teacher, said: “We can wear layers, turn our heat down. We can do lots of things, but please don’t touch our kids.”

But the ideas of where to make trims were sparse. “Cut from the top down,” and suspend state testing were the only specific reductions suggested Tuesday night.

District administration and the school board have been working on the school’s budget since January. The only decision so far has been suspending class-size limits, which was forced by a May 15 deadline to notify certified employees of potential layoffs. However, the decision was made with the qualification that administrators look at every possible option before increasing class size.

Dozens of options amounting to nearly $17 million have been put out for consideration.

They range from cutting administrative pay by 3 percent to eliminating high school instructional coaches to raising school meal prices.The district plans to move forward with investments in credit retrieval programs in grades 7-12, starting a data warehouse project and a K-8 online learning program.

In addition to speaking publicly, people could participate in a group discussion and fill out a detailed survey.

“What will be interesting is to look at the surveys and see where the community made priorities in terms of class sizes and other places in the budget,” Stowell said. “We’ve almost always had a response sheet, but this is more specific and extensive.”

After considering community comments and reviewing the surveys, Stowell plans to present a budget to the board by June 22.

“The investments I want to see is in teachers,” said Jenny Rose, Spokane Education Association president. “Not the ones they are proposing.”