Larger classes approved for past year

ATLANTA --- School administrators in Columbia and Richmond counties were granted permission this week to exceed state class size limits for the school year that ended last month.

Richmond made requests for 13 of its 36 elementary schools and Columbia for three of 17 elementary schools.

State law limits how many students can be in each class, requiring local school districts to request a waiver when new children arrive after the first 15 days of the year -- even if classes are over by the time the State Board of Education can act on the request.

At a Thursday meeting, the board granted the requests of six school systems for 21 schools and 38 students.

For example, when a family moved to Grovetown in December, it prompted Columbia County administrators to seek waivers for their school.

"When we allocate for classes at the beginning of the year, we try to leave enough space available," said Sandra Carraway, the deputy superintendent for the Columbia County school system.

Dr. Carraway said when a child's midyear arrival pushes a class over the maximum, educators are reluctant to break a class in two, requiring half the students to get a new teacher.

"Teachers agree, they would rather have one additional child than disrupt their classes," she said.

The state board's written policy is more strict than its practice.

The formal policy states: "The State Board may approve a request only in the limited circumstances where educationally justified and where an act of God or other unforeseen event led to the precipitous rise in enrollment within that system, or led to another occurrence which resulted in the local board's inability to comply with the maximum class size requirement."