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Senator Ragan warns of larger class sizes if school funding falls short

MASON CITY – Senator Amanda Ragan warned again that if the state doesn’t adequately fund schools, class sizes will grow.

Here is her statement:

State Senator Amanda Ragan
State Senator Amanda Ragan

Another year of inadequate state funding for K-12 schools will result in larger class sizes. That’s what school administrators tell us in a new survey. Superintendents, principals and other school officials completed the survey in recent weeks to help us better understand the consequences of shortchanging public schools, and to determine the impact of the Governor’s veto last summer of bipartisan school funding.

In addition to packing more students into classrooms, school leaders say underfunding schools will force them to:

· Delay purchasing books and classroom materials (77 percent of respondents).

· Leave positions unfilled (71 percent).

· Delay new technology purchases (56 percent).

· Cut back on programs that help kids learn to read (43 percent).

An increase of at least 4 percent in basic state aid to schools is what’s needed for the next school year to avoid these types of drastic cuts, according 88 percent of school leaders who responded to the survey. Michelle Arneson, Elementary Principal at Nashua-Plainfield, says, “We are a small rural school district. Increased state support for education is EXTREMELY important for our district.”

We can afford to make public schools a bipartisan priority of the Legislature again. Our state savings accounts are at a record high level of $719 million, equal 10 percent of state budget. In addition, we expect to end the year with a surplus of $264 million.

To view complete results from the school administrator survey, go to here.

ALSO:

Mason City legislative listening post – February 6, 2016 @ 10:00 am at Mason City Public Library, 225 2nd St SE, Mason City.

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