Education

Atlanta class size limits set at highest level allowed

By Mark Niesse
May 9, 2014

Atlanta class size limits for 2014-2015

Kindergarten with a paraprofessional: 25 students

Grades 1-3: 26 students

Grades 4-8 in core subjects: 33 students

Grades 9-12 in core subjects: 35 students

Class sizes in Atlanta schools will remain steady next year after the city school board voted to allow classrooms to hold up to the maximum number of students permitted by the state.

Atlanta Public Schools staff will make efforts to maintain class sizes that are smaller than the maximum allowed, according to a school board document.

The school board, which set class size limits during its Monday meeting, has discussed spending money to hire more teachers to reduce class sizes, but Superintendent Erroll Davis has said that adding even one teacher to each of the city’s 100 schools would cost $8 million.

Class sizes for core subjects in Atlanta can be as large as 35 students in high school and 25 students in kindergarten.

About the Author

Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.

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