West Chicago elementary and middle school students can look forward to slightly smaller class sizes as they settle in for the first week of school.
Last year’s largest class hit 34 but Superintendent Ed Leman said, so far, classes haven’t gone above 30.
“The exact number changes every day,” Leman said. “Over the next few days it’s going to be somewhat volatile until after Labor Day.”
The projected class sizes put the district on par with recent years, lowering the highest class size while maintaining an average of between 21 and 23 students per class, Leman said.
While the average class size has always been low, Leman said this year’s range in size is much more manageable. This year’s classes are expected to vary from 15 to 30 students compared to last year’s range of 14 to 34.
The district hired four teachers earlier this month, in part, to split up classes that had gone above 30.
Last week, they hired another part-time teacher to add a kindergarten class.
As of Monday, only one class had 30 students and four classes had 28 or 29 students.
“We need assurances those numbers are going to stay before adding staff,” Leman said.
Once enrollment settles down, usually by the end of September, the district will decide if the additional teachers are still needed.
The district will also use the end of September’s numbers to begin budgeting for the next school year.
Leman said the new teachers will not place additional financial restraints on the district because the number of teachers is now about the same as it was last year. The district budgets $45,000 for each teacher it hires. The starting salary for a brand new teacher with no experience is $35,571.
One of the new teachers will teach in the dual-language program at Gary School, which is adding one teacher per year as the increasingly popular program expands.
The program promotes biculturalism, bilingualism and biliteracy by combining native Spanish and native English students in one class, immersing them in each other’s language and cultures.
Phebe Balzer, whose older child attends the program, said the program provides invaluable lessons.
“I have a very high value for second language usage,” said Balzer. “Especially in this global world. As Americans in general, we don’t value second language learning enough.”
The district announced the tentative class sizes during a public forum on Aug. 15.
About 25 parents attended the forum to hear Leman explain space and budget restraints affecting the district.
The district is expected to maintain a balanced budget through 2009 but could begin operating in the red by the end of 2010. Leman said operating costs are rising faster than tax revenues and the district is moving closer to losing state funding as local property wealth increases.
Still, the estimates are conservative and the district has not yet included money received when the state legislature approved a budget earlier this month.
“Our board and our district do a great job dealing with the budget,” parent Kathy Cieslak said after hearing Leman speak at the forum. “It’s unfortunate more people don’t show up.”
The forum was the first of its kind in two years but Leman said he hopes to hold more in the future.
“I’d love to hold more,” Leman said. “The problem tends to be unless there’s a hot topic, people will not choose to attend a public forum.”
