Darin Underwood and Leslie Marks from the legislative auditors department presented information to the committee on the “Performance Audit of Class Size Reduction Funds” December 2007.  The full report is available in the attachment at the bottom of the page.

 

Discussed at length was the following information showing enrollment growth was not funded each year, resulting in the class size not being reduced further:

 

Number of Teachers in Fiscal Year 2006 as in 2000. Each years’ total CSR appropriation was divided by average total compensation to provide annual estimates of the number of teachers the funds could have supported.

 

Fiscal Year Statewide CSR Funds Avg Total Salaries & Benefits Estimated CSR Teachers Supported* Increase or Decrease

 

Fiscal Year	Statewide CSR Funds	Avg Total Salaries & Benefits	Estimated CSR Teachers Supported	Increase or Decrease
2000	$56,225,877	$47,868	1,175	-
2001	59,331,462	50,710	1,170	Decrease
2002	62,584,932	52,117	1,201	Increase
2003	63,441,924	53,891	1,177	Decrease
2004	63,977,550	55,649	1,150	Decrease
2005	65,902,946	57,826	1,140	Decrease
2006	70,162,440	59,630	1,177	Increase
FY 2000-2006 Change:	24.8%	24.6%	+2

 

  

In summary, the auditors recommend these policy reviews to the Legislature and the USOE as steps that should begin to address the concerns raised in this report and enable this important program to function more effectively.

Recommendations

1. The auditors recommend that the Legislature revisit the desired outcome for the class-size reduction program and funding and determine whether to implement changes to this program and/or its funding levels.

 

2. The auditors recommed that the Legislature decide whether to annually adjust the class-size reduction funding to reflect kindergarten through eighth grade enrollment changes (see Utah Code 53A-17a-124.5(7)); alternatively, the language could be removed from the statute.

 

3. The auditors recommend that the Legislature reconsider the practice of allocating CSR funding to every school district and qualified charter school based on enrollment and direct the Utah State Office of Education to set policy allocating CSR funding on a need basis rather than solely on enrollment.

 

4. The auditors recommend the Legislature determine if they want reporting on CSR expenditures and the desired level of accountability by answering the following questions which may require changes to the Utah Code:

 

• Should districts specifically track CSR expenditures and show that the district is in compliance with the requirement to spend 50 percent of the CSR funding on grades K-2?

• Should districts specifically account for CSR expenditures, tying the expenditure to teachers by name, grade, and salary and benefits costs?

• Should districts produce a report for the Legislature on the reported uses of CSR funding?

 

Jean Hill, Law and Legislation dept of the USOE came and explained the current Class Size Code available to view at the link below.

 

Sen. Bell requested that local effort in class size reduction be added to the agenda of a future meeting. 

Discussed Utah Code Section 53A-17a-124.5. Appropriation for class size reduction.

Tasks for next meeting: