The West Burlington School Board is planning on revising the school’s grade cap policy in order to keep class sizes small.
Superintendent David Schmitt says that by raising the maximum number of students in each grade from 63 to 72, the district will actually be able to shrink overall class size.
“It’s the board’s intention for grades K-3 to have four sections. With a cap of 72, that comes out to 18 students per classroom, which is an excellent class size,” said Schmitt, “I think we have an excellent track record of addressing our enrollment concerns and then taking action on them.”
West Burlington is among the schools with the highest percentage of students taking advantage of open enrollment in the state. Schmitt says that the small class sizes and low teacher to student ratio wouldn’t be possible without the money brought in through open enrollment.
The cap of 63 students was set in November of last year. Schmitt says that growth hasn’t been explosive and has been “managable” since the cap was put into place, leading him to push for a higher cap. The tentative policy revealed during a Monday board meeting targets an 18 to 1 student-teacher ratio in grades K-3. West Burlington school district residents will always be served by the district, even if the cap is reached.
Board members will meet on March 2nd to discuss the cap further. They hope to give first-reading approval to a new cap policy at their March meeting.
