LISTEN: State Senator supports class size caps

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Senator Kathleen Riebe is throwing around the idea of a cap for the number of students assigned to one class.

Listen to Sen. Riebe’s full interview on Dave and Dujanovic 👇

 

Sen. Riebe (D-Salt Lake City) is a teacher herself. So, she knows firsthand how exhausting it can be having up to 40 kids in one class. 

She told Dave and Dujanovic on Friday that she would gladly support a class size cap on kindergarten through second grade classes. 

“If we have to mandate a cap, at 27, 25, I would be in favor of that,” she said. “If it’s a matter of putting more money to that, maybe we should find it,” she said. 

Riebe says without a bill or regulation, different districts are handling crowded classrooms in different ways. Some have more classrooms, some have more teachers, and others have teacher aides.

“It’s at a local decision, you can put two teachers in a classroom, you can put a teacher there half-time… We [should] have the flexibility to do whatever is needed to make sure our kids are learning,” Riebe said. 

Riebe says districts often can deal with extreme class sizes on their own. But if the issue doesn’t improve, legislative action may be necessary. She says her and Representative Carol Spackman Moss have looked at a bill like this before.

“We have the flexibility to do whatever is needed to make sure our kids are learning. It’s a local control-decision, but when we don’t have the controls locally, sometimes the state steps up and says ‘this is our priority as a state.'”

Read more: Relief from school fees at least a year away for Utah families