Hey Nancy,
You voted against the higher student / teacher ratios. But yet you voted against increasing taxes. How do you reconcile these two positions?
What’s up with that?
I agree with you that home office administration needs to be reduced. I found it staggering that we spend $10,000 per student. Compared to private schools, we are not getting a great value for this $10,000 per student.. In fact I would say that we are getting a terrible product for that $10,000 per student. I am now for school vouchers. Again, I would like the board to focus on the magnet schools. I think it is fair to close these schools and if that is not possible, change their class sizes to be consistent with the rest of the county.
Is there a spreadsheet that shows money flow from property tax + state + federal funds and how it gets divided/split all the way down to being spent? I am trying to figure out how I just averaged $45 for my four kids in school on school supplies. I am just trying to learn how all this works and would appreciate any guidance you have. Thanks so much for all of your hard work!
Thanks for posting all this information on your website. My only open question is this: if there are two teachers in the class room does that change the maximum class size?
I know of a class where a number of the students in the class have IEPs. There are 2 teachers per core class and the class size is ranging from 34-39 students right now. Is this allowed?
If max class sizes have increased, why are we not opening up more slots for kids on the waiting list for Kiitredge? They are nowhere near the max there.
What are the class sizes at Kittredge looking like?
Kittredge class sizes …
Ms Jester published all sorts of funding information. You’ll notice that gifted students receive 1.6 times as much money from the state.What happens if a class exceeds the maximum? Can a parent report it?
I have heard that Kittredge has around 18 students per class. I don’t understand why there is such a huge disparity between the magnet schools and the regular schools. Someone needs to address this issue.
@GK
Taking a look at the QBE funding table, students classified as “Gifted” get 1.6 times the state funding as regular students.DSW had a good discussion on this subject. Kittredge does not use the pull-out resource model. Using differentiated instruction they can lower the student-teacher ratio.
My friends at Tucker High School tell me there were an inordinate number of last minute registrations. Many of their classrooms are overcrowded and/or over the limit. They tell me their principal is working with the administration on it. Our teachers are constantly reminding our principal who is doing everything possible to fix it.
I would encourage any parents to email Dr Atkinson and Ms March regarding these problems.
The administration has been working on fixing the classrooms currently over the maximum allowed size.
Can anybody confirm these classroom sizes are being fixed?
To: Class Size, Taxes and Millage Rate poster on Aug 15th
Nancy’s voting for smaller class size & no tax increase is sensible. The two are not coupled. Some of us abide by this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beastEdward
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Nancy Jester, DeKalb County Board Of Education says on August 15, 2012 at 1:14 pm Edit
Class size limits
I’ve received a number of emails about the class size limits for this school year (2012-13). I’ve placed two documents on NancyJester.com detailing these guidelines.
The post above is a terrific question, but it assumes that in order to keep class size at last year’s limits, one would need to increase the millage rate. I disagree. According to data submitted to the Georgia Department of Education by the school districts, Henry County, Cherokee County, Cobb County, Decatur City, Forsyth County, Clayton County, Marietta City and Fulton County, all spend less per student on general administration than DeKalb and have lower millage rates. You can see the numbers by going to my documents page and downloading the “Per student spending” spreadsheet.
Funding Information
I added a new tab to my website that discusses how the state funds education. I hope you find it useful.