Class Sizes for K-2 Raised in West Contra Costa Schools

Classes sizes for grades K-2 in El Cerrito, Kensington and other West Contra Costa County public schools are going up under the new school spending plan that takes effect tomorrow, July 1.

Faced with a looming deficit and the election defeat earlier this month of the Measure K parcel tax for schools, the school board of the West Contra Costa Unified School District voted Wednesday to increase class sizes for all three grades to 28.

The were kindergarten 24, first grade 20 and second grade 20. Those class sizes would have been preserved if Measure K had passed, and the class size for third grade, which was 28 this past year, would have been reduced to 24 under Measure K, according to board President Charles Ramsey. Under the board action Wednesday, third grade will remain at 28.

The increase in class sizes was part of the fiscal year 2012-13 budget approved by the board. 

This table summarizes class sizes for this past year, what was proposed under Measure K and what was approved in the new budget:

Actual for
2011-12

The 28-student class size remains smaller than the state average of 31 because of the revenue the district receives from an existing current parcel tax, Ramsey said.

Measure K would have raised an estimated $4 million a year by increasing the current parcel tax of 7.2 cents per square foot of building area to 10.2 cents. It would also have extended the tax for an additional three years past its current expiration date of June 30, 2014. The current tax was first adopted by voters in 2004 and renewed with 79-percent voter approval in 2008.

"The immediate impact of the loss of Measure K revenue," said District Superintendent Bruce Harter in a statement on the district Web site, "will be increased class sizes in kindergarten, first and second grades. Without a renewal of the parcel tax, we’ll also lose our counselors, library staff and the funding for our athletic programs and textbooks for the 2014-15 school year."

The school board will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito to decide whether to conduct a public opinion survey to gauge potential support for a new revenue measure in the November election.

Police officers in schools

As expected, the approved budget also includes funding to continue paying for local police officers to be assigned to El Cerrito High and Portola Middle schools, as well as several others schools in the district.

However, the district and the City of El Cerrito have on the amount that the city will contribute and the number of years that the contract would last, El Cerrito Police Chief Sylvia Moir said Thursday. The agreement would continue the current arrangement of having two El Cerrito officers assigned to El Cerrito High and one to Portola.