Senate votes for class-size changes

Wednesday, April 25, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Senate by a vote of 17-4 Tuesday approved a bill that critics say will water down the class-size reduction program in the primary grades.

Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said Senate Bill 127, which goes to the Assembly, allows counties to carry out demonstration projects in which the ratio of students to teachers would be 22 to 1 through the fifth grade.

Present law requires grades one and two to have 16-1 ratios, and there is flexibility in the third grade for using other methods.

Two years ago the Legislature authorized Elko County to install the 22-1 ratio, and the school district said it was successful.

Rawson, who described himself as a strong advocate for class size reduction, said the demonstration projects may develop "something better," but Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the bill "is a backdoor attempt to undermine class size reduction."

Titus said the 1999 Legislature showed a willingness to allow the Elko County district the flexibility to carry out a new program, but the bill would permit all districts to have demonstration projects without the consent of the Legislature.

SB127 provides that a school district would petition the state Board of Education for approval of its demonstration program. The proposal must then be approved by the state Board of Examiners and the Interim Legislative Finance Committee.

Titus objected that the full Legislature would not have a chance to review the plans.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, also expressed reservation. He said there was nothing in the bill to limit a district such as Clark County to scrap the class size reduction and put its schools on the 22-1 ratio.

Rawson said Clark County has testified it would be used only in a limited number of schools, "less than a dozen," and the whole district would not go to the 22-1 ratio in grades first through fifth.

Rawson also said the districts would not go beyond the 22-1 ratio because that would result in a loss of federal funding. The bill requires those school districts that undertake the demonstration programs to report the results to the 2003 Legislature.

Voting against SB127 were Titus and Democrats Maggie Carlton of North Las Vegas and Joe Neal and Terry Care, both of Las Vegas.