SBE waivers provide LEAs relief from class size restrictions
By Kimberly Beltran
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Requests to exceed class size limits continue to dominate the State Board of Education’s waiver calendar, with 10 districts this month seeking relief from various provisions of the laws aimed at maintaining low student-teacher ratios.
In all, SBE members approved 35 of 39 waiver requests, including those on class size but also others ranging from community day school locations to removal of a school from the open enrollment list for being ‘low achieving.’
The waivers denied by the board came from the Madera County Office of Education on behalf of four schools seeking relief from a requirement that interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing students meet certain minimum qualifications.
Despite concerns of critics, California’s State Board of Education, keenly aware of the financial stress schools are under, has since 2009 almost routinely approved class size waivers for scores of districts facing fiscal penalties under existing law generally aimed at keeping no more than 30 students in a classroom.
Even waiver requests from districts receiving special state funding to hire additional staff to reduce class sizes have been regularly granted. This month, SBE approved waivers from seven districts needing relief from class size