Reply to APS VA Class Size Recommended Max Class Size

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Property taxes at an all time high and we have school budget concerns. Unbelievable. [/quote]

I'm the PP who noted Mary Kadera's suggestion to increase class sizes to deal with budget concerns, but given the above comment wanted to add that the school budget concerns are not crazy or made up.  Arlington spends more per child on schools than most other areas of Virginia, and has hundreds of thousands of dollars in school debt that it needs to get bonds for to pay off every year or two.  Meanwhile construction costs went up so the buildings and other construction APS has planned over the last decade or two keep coming in over budget (and some of the buildings have just been prettier/fancier etc. than the district really needed).  And we can't build a comprehensive 4th high school, but we keep hiring more people to work as staff at Syphax and I think only recently increased teacher pay consistent with what other school districts were doing?  So the budget concerns are real, and class sizes had been slowly increasing even before Kadera, but I think she sped things up in that direction where previously the board had found other ways to deal besides increasing class sizes.

Also, a huge portion of the budget mess was created by previous superintendent Patrick Murphy.[/quote]

Where did Mary call for increased class sizes? I must have missed that.

Anyways, she hasn't been on the board that long, so your focus on her is kind of odd. Class sizes went up many times before she got on the board. [/quote]

I remember reading the same materials when she was running. She did some sort of recommendation about a slight increase of classes (but increase nonetheless) and it was a knock against her when she was going up against the other candidate. But most people did not vote in that primary / caucus /etc. She seems way better than the other SB members, but she did recommend increases[/quote]

citation please[/quote]

DP and I'm not sure it's still available in her website materials, but folks on DCUM were talking about Kadera's proposals to increase class sizes back in 2021:   "She’s called for very unpopular moves before. She’s advocated to lift class limit sizes to save $ and increased hiring of admin staff, which is the last thing we need!"  https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/963457.page#top [/quote]

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