Letter to the Editor: San Lorenzo Education Association Concerned About Class Size

Letter to the Editor submitted by: Donna Pinkney, President, San Lorenzo Education Association 

Teachers in San Lorenzo are fighting the School Board to lower classes. The San Lorenzo School Board has a history of fighting against small classes, hiring lawyers in 2012 to fight an unfair labor practice charge filed against the school district over the lack of class size caps. 

Despite the huge influx of new money provided to the school district by the state’s new funding formula and a state requirement for school districts to reach a K-3 student/teacher ratio of 24:1, the San Lorenzo School Board is once again choosing to fight lowering class sizes. 

Teachers have asked for a straightforward cap of 25 students in all K-3 classes. The School Board countered with legalese that would only require the district to make progress toward an average of 24 students and provided legal loopholes for the District to pay a fiscal penalty, or fines, instead of actually lowering the class sizes.

We as teachers are surprised that the Board is choosing NOT to spend money the way the State and taxpayers intend – to lower class sizes. 

This November, School Board members Isabel Polvorosa and Helen Randall are up for re-election - I challenge them to explain why they do not support a straightforward cap of 25 students in all K-3 classes.