There another group that speaks for superintendents?

What's the 22-1 snapshot date now, so to speak?

Thanks.

W. Gardner Selby
Editor, PolitiFact Texas
Austin American-Statesman

512-445-3644

On 9/22/2010 4:41 PM, Jenny Caputo wrote:

Hey Gardner,

I hunted down Amy Beneski, our assistant executive director of government relations, and got an answer for you.

While this is something that is sometimes discussed among our membership, TASA does not have an official stance on one side or the other on this issue. That's because, according to Amy, our membership is pretty evenly divided over it - some wanting some relief from the 22:1 and some wanting it left alone.

That, coupled with that political realities of the topic, makes it a bit of a red herring when talking about a legislative agenda. It's a tough sell - even if a bill could get passed, which isn't likely, parents would certainly fight it and having larger-than-average class sizes is not something that attracts teachers in droves to your district either.

TASA does support a Class Size Snapshot Date which is a date set in the fall for the purposes of determining compliance with class size limits. That gives districts a little relief from the rule when you have kids moving in and out of schools during the year. Adding one kid to a class already at 22 is much less disruptive than creating a whole new class, yanking kids out of already established class to do so.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need anything else.

Jenny