McLean Classes Sizes Explained in Washington Post

The Washington Post published a story Friday that very simply explains how and why class sizes vary in Fairfax County.

Class size has become an issue in the hotly contested Dranesville school board race because the campaign manager of challenger Louise Epstein opposes the current formula used to determine class size, according to the Post.

Incumbent School Board member Jane Strauss supports the formula.

The Post school said, "In a nutshell, schools with high proportions of poor children and non-native English speakers get more teachers and thus lower class sizes than their more affluent counterparts.

"This is called “needs-based staffing,” and its proponents say it’s an efficient, flexible way to make sure that extra resources are finding their way to needy kids as those kids move from school to school.

"Critics of the needs-based staffing formula — such as Epstein’s campaign manager, Catherine Lorenze — say it’s not fair because some kids, by virtue of their school’s affluent, native-English-speaking demographics, end up in larger classes than other kids.

"Behind the back-and-forth is a fundamental question about what it means to distribute resources fairly in public schools," the Post reported.

Read the complete Washington Post story.