Hillsboro schools experience largest student-to-teacher ratio of all metro-area districts | OregonLive.com

Hillsboro schools experience largest student-to-teacher ratio of all metro-area districts | OregonLive.com:

Hillsboro schools experience largest student-to-teacher ratio of all metro-area districts

 Hillsboro has the highest average class size of the 11 largest school districts in the metro area.

That's according to an analysis by The Oregonian earlier this month, which found that crowded classrooms, few options and short school days or years have essentially become the norm in across the region.

Hillsboro schools with the most students per teacher:

Jackson Elementary School -- 28.1

R. A. Brown Middle School -- 27.7

Century High School -- 27.4

Orenco Elementary School -- 27.4

Glencoe High School -- 27

Liberty High School -- 27

Hillsboro High School -- 26.8

Imlay Elementary School -- 26.8

Butternut Creek Elementary School -- 26.7

Paul L. Patterson Elementary School -- 26.7

The state's fourth-largest school district, with a total enrollment of nearly 21,000, sees 24.3 students per full-time equivalent teacher. Comparatively, Portland, the state's largest school district, has 18.2 students per teacher -- the lowest, on average. 

Steve Larson, Hillsboro's assistant superintendent, said large class sizes are a direct result of several years of budget cuts. 

"Teachers do everything they can every day to meet the needs of each of their students," he said in a March 11 email. "We work with parents, paraprofessionals and administrators to address the needs of each child. It is exceedingly difficult when our class numbers get as high as they are."

Local-option levies and construction bonds have helped offset those budget cuts in other school districts, Larson said, but have not been part of Hillsboro's solution. Voters turned down a $25 million bond last November that would have largely paid for technology improvements.

Chief Financial Officer Adam Stewart said the district has reduced its general fund by nearly $70 million since 2008, when the economy tanked. That means the district would have needed millions extra to keep services at the level provided six years ago.

Among the losses are 139 full-time equivalent teachers, more than 13 percent of the district's total staff at the time. Those losses translate into class sizes that top 30