Senate budget calls for class size increases

The budget touted by Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Andy Hill as “crafted to  ... prioritize education” would raise class sizes sharply in grades 4-12. 

Like the plan released last week by House Democrats, the Senate Republican budget would limit smaller classes to students in K-3 and increase average class sizes by eight to 25 percent above the new standards approved by voters in November. 

The Senate plan also ignores the new requirement to reduce class sizes in high poverty schools first, and to provide additional reductions in those same schools where kids need the most attention to succeed.

“Senate leaders’ claims that their budget ‘fully funds education’ are just plain false,” Class Size Counts Director Mary Howes told reporters. “How can lawmakers say with a straight face that this plan fulfills their duty to students? On average, they propose putting two to six additional students in grade 4-12 classrooms.”

Howes called on Class Size Counts supporters to contact Sen. Hill by email at .