Small classes, big costs

I wonder if voters understood how much money was at stake when they voted to instruct the Legislature to appropriate more money to lower K-12 class sizes in Washington.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, the cost of reducing K-12 class sizes by one in Washington was over $200 per student per year. With approximately 1 million students in Washington schools, the cost would have been over $200 million. One would assume that similar figures would be true today.

The question then arises: Would value received be sufficient in terms of cost expended?

Noting the high cost of reducing class size, maybe teachers might agree to forgo a salary increase and apply that sum to further class size reduction. They truly would then be demonstrating that the strike was not for themselves, but for the kids.

Gene Sivertson

Spokane