VIRGINIA BEACH — In a perfect world, Virginia Beach City Public Schools would cap classes to just 30 students per class, School Board chair Beverly Anderson said.
During a workshop Tuesday night, the School Board considered changes to middle school class loads in the upcoming school year as a result of the proposed $742.1 million budget for 2017-18.
In addition to a 2 percent pay raise for all full-time VBCPS employees and funds for ongoing equity adjustments for the unified pay-scale, the budget included the addition of 40 new staff members to offset large classes at the secondary level at a cost of $3 million.
Currently, most middle school teachers teach four classes, but under the proposed budget, many will be expected to take on a fifth course, superintendent Aaron Spence said.
According to data compiled by the school board, the average teacher oversees 120 students. With the addition of the fifth course, the administration hopes that number will only increase to 150 students per teacher, Spence said.
Concerns have been raised about this change. Many teachers fear they won’t have enough time to plan for their classes during the day, School Board member Carolyn Weems said.
“We are adding more classes and expecting more, and the perception of many teachers is that they will have to do their planning before or after school,” she said. “A lot of them already have trouble planning, and believe adding a fifth class will make it impossible.”
While the addition of the fifth class is a new concept in Virginia Beach, Spence said most school districts already subscribe to the policy, which will result in a $5.8 million cost savings when implemented.
“We can acknowledge this is a new reality for Virginia Beach, but not the rest of the world,” he said. “The addition of a fifth class has been on the table at budget discussions since 2012.”
Currently, the average VBCPS middle school teacher has 250-400 minutes per week for dedicated planning time. That time may decrease, but it will still remain within state requirements, Spence said.
The course changes may also require some schools to modify their daily schedules, Spence said, noting that class change schedules have traditionally been determined by school principals.
According to Spence, the change will not have a negative impact on students, and will allow the board to allocate resources to other necessities, like providing raises and staffing full-time Instructional Technology Specialists in each school.
Currently, VBCPS have $46 million in unmet technology needs, and are working to attain a 1:1 ratio of computers to students. At this time, the ratio is 1:1.5.
“The challenge is costs are going up for the school district, but revenue is not keeping up,” he said. “We have a huge number of competing needs.”
The School Board will convene for another workshop meeting next Tuesday to continue discussing the proposed 2017-18 budget issues, including middle school class schedules and universal full-day kindergarten.
Pohl may be reached at mariah@localvoicemedia.com