Wilson Plan Would Pare 2 Grade Sizes in Ventura

For Ventura’s school principals, Gov. Pete Wilson just settled a nagging debate: whether to invest in smaller classes for kindergarten students or for third-graders.

Wilson’s announcement Thursday that he would provide $488 million in state money to help reduce class size in four primary grades allows Ventura to do both.

“That’s fantastic,” Ventura Unified School District Supt. Joseph Spirito said. “We were in a difficult situation of whether we were going for kindergarten or third.”

But the proposal met a chillier reception from other school districts, namely Simi Valley and Conejo Valley, that have already invested millions from their own budgets to pay for shrinking class sizes.

“The proposal isn’t going to meet our needs, and I will not recommend that our board move into another grade at that funding level,” said Conejo Valley Unified Supt. Jerry Gross, whose school district is already spending about $3 million.

All of Ventura County’s eligible school districts took advantage of the governor’s summer initiative to reduce class size in as many as three primary grades. But now that he is offering to fund a fourth grade, school officials are wary of the hidden costs.

“I had such high hopes that the [existing] program would be fully funded,” scoffed Simi Valley trustee Carla Kurachi. “Silly me.”

While Wilson’s proposal would reimburse schools $666 for every primary-grade student in a class of 20 or fewer, school districts still make up a substantial difference.

Depending on the district, county schools are spending between $700 and $800 per student, said County Supt. of Schools Charles Weis.

“It’s a great program, and I’m glad that it’s moving ahead,” Weis said. “But it’s still going to be a monetary squeeze--and a facilities squeeze--for school districts.”

While appealing, school officials in the Simi and Conejo valleys said they would likely refuse Wilson’s offer unless the state offers more money.

Reimbursing school districts $666 per student, up from $650 in last year’s initiative, only represents a cost-of-living increase, said Thousand Oaks’ Gross. “We’re maxed out at this point.”

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Kurachi predicted much of the same for the Simi Valley Unified School District.

“I don’t see how it would be possible to add another grade for us,” she said. “I don’t see how, with our budget, that would be possible.”

Both districts--each has more that 18,000 students--have fully embraced the popular state initiative until now. Thousand Oaks trimmed grades one through three in September. Simi Valley, meantime, took a staggered approach--cutting class size at the start of school for first- and second-graders, while waiting until next month to shrink third-grade classes.

The school districts’ trepidation is understandable, Weis said.

“Each one of the county’s school districts is in a different fiscal condition,” he said. “Simi was on our watch list a few years ago, and the Conejo Valley, while a large district, carries a small reserve. Some of the mid-size and smaller districts carry a larger reserve and can better afford to move forward.”

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The debate over whether to add additional grade levels with partial funding or simply increase funding for the current grades, he said, has been a hot one among educators in recent months.

“The best solution would be to fully fund it, and to expand a grade level a year for the next couple of years,” Weis said.

In addition to the cost of providing teachers and materials for the smaller classes, school districts must also find extra classroom space in already crowded schools.

Recognizing the space crunch the popular initiative has caused, Wilson promised Thursday to sponsor a $2-billion school construction bond measure in 1998. But many Ventura County districts are feeling the squeeze now.

“We sure need some more money for facilities. Just cutting first grade was quite a chore,” said trustee James Suter of the Oxnard Elementary School District. “I don’t know what we can do for second [grade] unless we can get some more facilities.”

The district has placed a $57-million bond measure on the March ballot in hopes of borrowing the money needed to build new schools. Ventura is also contemplating a bond measure to address overcrowding and the demand for smaller classes.

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But Wilson’s proposal Thursday resolves one of Ventura’s concerns.

With all their first-grade classes reduced and one-third of their second-grade classes done, district administrators had recently gathered elementary school principals to figure out which grade to select next for pared-down classes.

Opinions seemed to lean heavily toward third grade, where students are gearing up to learn new material and advance to the upper elementary levels, Spirito said. But some principals still argued strongly that kindergarten students who are just starting out need the extra attention, Spirito said.

In Fillmore, where administrators haven’t started reducing class sizes, officials have also debated whether to include kindergartners or third-graders.

“To jump-start all those kids to be successful readers by third grade, it’s important to get those basic communications skills behind and speaking skills early,” trustee Joanne King said, explaining the argument for smaller kindergarten classes. Others argue, though, that children shouldn’t be dropped from smaller classes at third grade, she said.

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Governor proposes expanded class-size reductions and a bond issue for facilities. A3