MAY 15, 2014Class size limits most frequent waiver request in 2013
(Calif.) Continuing a three-year trend, local educational agencies petitioned the state more often for relief from requirements to keep class sizes small than any other provision of the Education Code, according to a new report.
Overall, districts filed 560 waiver applications with the California State Board of Education in 2013 – up from the 499 filed in 2012 but well short of the nearly 900 applications made in 2011 or the recent high of 1,243 submitted in 2010.
As it has almost every year that the waiver option has been available, the state board largely complied with LEA requests, granting them exemption from the law 89 percent of the time in 2013. Over the past four years, the board has approved about 80 percent of the applications brought forward.
The state board’s waiver authority is defined under sections 33050-33053 in the Education Code, giving the board the ability to provide relief when no other remedy is available. The board also has some oversight of parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act under agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.
Largely because of the state’s fiscal crisis, districts have in recent years used the waiver process as a means to get relief from class size requirements. A key provision at issue is EC Section 41376, which includes penalties for LEAs if class size goes above certain levels in kindergarten through grade Class size limits most frequent waiver request in 2013 :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
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