One of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations between the Kent Education Association and the Kent School District during negotiations to end the teacher strike has surrounded class size.
Over the past two weeks, class sizes have emerged as the number one issue for the union, which is seeking what it calls a “hard cap” on the number of students allowed in any classroom.
“In most contracts a hard cap means a class shall not exceed that number,” said KEA Spokesperson Dale Folkerts. “What we want is hard caps.”
The district has refused to add a hard cap to its proposals and said earlier this week that the district receives funding from the state for the total number of students, not the number in a classroom.
District Communications Director Becky Hanks also said the district has neither the money or the space to create any new classrooms – the fallout of having class-size caps.
Several local districts contacted by the Kent Reporter – including Puyallup, Auburn and Federal Way – also said their teacher contracts do not include hard caps, mainly for the reasons Hanks laid out.
However, unlike Kent, the contracts at those districts all contain set “trigger” numbers of class size, which would result in some relief or compensation for the teachers once their classes hit that “trigger.”
The language in the current Kent contract bases class-size relief on the district average for a class, instead of using a hard target number.
The KEA has proposed hard numbers for goals that trigger relief, as well as a second hard cap, at which point a $10-per-student, per day, pay increase for the affected teacher kicks in.
The class-size limits KEA is proposing are 24 students per class in kindergarten through third grade, and 29 students per class in grades four through six. Seventh- and eighth-grade triggers are proposed at a daily limit of 145 students, and high-school teachers would be capped at 155 students per day.
The district’s most recent proposal (dated Sept. 1) includes class-size numbers, the first to do so. The district proposed 27 students per class K-3, 29 in grades four through six and daily class loads of 150 and 160 for middle school and high school, respectively.
For other schools in the Puget Sound, class-size numbers vary.
In Federal Way, for example, there is no hard cap on class size, but Federal Way’s contract includes class-size “goals” of 26 students in K-3, 29 students in grades four and five, 31 students in grades six through eight, and no more than 151 students per day at high school.
According to Charles Christensen at the Federal Way School District, the limits trigger either having the district transfer students, adding paraeducator time to help the teacher, or paying the teacher an extra $25 per week, per student.
In Puyallup, class-size goals are set at 18-22 students in kindergarten and first grade, 23 in second grade, 24 in third grade, 26 in fourth grade, 28 in grades five and six and 150 per day for grades seven through 12.
In addition, there are four levels of relief per the number of students over the limit. At the first, the teacher receives a $750-per-semester stipend; at level two it jumps to $1,000 per semester. After that, paraeducators are added for three or four hours a day.
In Auburn, the class-size triggers are set at 25 students for K-2, 27 students for grades three and four, 30 in grade 5 and 30 in grades six through 12.
According to Deputy Superintendent Mike Newman, the elementary limits trigger either assistance or a stipend.
“If a teacher exceeds that trigger number, they have an option of three hours of classified assistance or what we call “incentive,” which is overload pay,” he said, adding that the stipend is $18 per day per student.
Newman said Auburn’s contract language focuses on remedies, but does not include hard caps because that does not “meet the needs of kids.”
“Class size is a tough issue,” he said. “teachers would love to have hard caps until it’s their kid who has to be shipped to another school.”
In Kent, the district is resisting any additional pay and characterizes the additional pay as not helping the students and only the teachers. The district has proposed additional help in the classroom to increase the number of adults in the room and to allow teachers more time with smaller groups.
Union Chief Bargainer Mike McNett said Wednesday that the language in the KSD proposal includes a section about when those class sizes were invalid, which includes years in which there are layoffs, as well as years when I-728 money is removed by the state, which has already happened.
“They sent us something that is already invalid,” he said, adding that the money was not designed to add to teacher wallets, but act as an incentive for the district to lower class sizes.
The two sides were scheduled to be back at bargaining Thursday morning.
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