February 9, 2006

VANCOUVER – The first-ever report on class sizes in B.C. public schools shows that nearly nine out of 10 classrooms have 30 or fewer students, and that more than half of all classrooms have 26 or fewer students, Education Minister Shirley Bond announced today.

“This report confirms that the vast majority of our classes are of a reasonable size, and that many of them are small,” said Bond. “In fact, almost 15,000 classes – or more than one out of every five – have 20 or fewer students.”

The report is the most comprehensive information on class size and composition ever in B.C. and fulfils an election commitment to report annually on class size. For the first time, parents and students in every school in all 60 B.C. school districts have easy access to class-size information about their school. Data on more than 67,000 classes are included in the report.

The report shows that, on a provincial level, there is an average of 17.7 students in kindergarten; 20.8 students in grades 1 through 3; 26.3 students in grades 4 through 7; and 25 students in grades 8 through 12. The report further shows:

• Eighty-six per cent of all classes have 30 or fewer students.
• Fifty-six per cent of all classes have 26 or fewer students.
• Twenty-two per cent of all classes have 20 or fewer students.
• One-third of classes have no students with special needs; only five per cent of classes have five or more students with special needs, and the vast majority of those have additional classroom supports.
• More than half of all classes have no ESL students; only 10 per cent have five or more ESL students.

The class-size data also determined that 15 school districts were not in compliance with provincial average class-size legislation in at least one category.

“School boards must be held accountable for class sizes in their schools,” said Bond. “It is unacceptable that 15 districts are in violation of the provincial average class-size legislation, and I will be requiring each of those boards to report immediately on how they intend to meet the legislated class-size limits.”

Bond further noted that the Province will be pursuing an enforcement mechanism in legislation that will include sanctions for boards that don’t comply. This will be done in conjunction with mediator Vince Ready, who will discuss this issue with the parties and recommend an appropriate mechanism for government’s consideration.

The Province has also launched a pilot review process in the Langley school district to look at how classes are structured, who is involved in decision-making, how teachers are involved and how well the system is working, for use in other districts in the future.

This year, the Province increased funding to school districts by $150 million. The Province provided an additional $20 million to address class size and composition, as recommended by mediator Ready and agreed to by the provincial government and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. Public schools and school districts also received $56 million from savings realized due to the teachers’ dispute.

“This additional funding is going directly into classrooms for priorities like lower class sizes, students with special needs, textbooks and learning resources,” said Bond.

The Learning Roundtable reviewed and approved the accuracy of the class-size report. The roundtable includes representatives from the provincial government and education groups representing teachers, parents, school trustees, superintendents and principals.

“This information will ensure that we have an informed debate on class size as we move forward with teachers, parents and administrators through the Learning Roundtable,” said Bond, who is also co-chair of the roundtable. “It will provide a baseline as we work together to address issues about class size and composition, and for developing workable solutions.”

All 60 school districts provided information, resulting in more than 13,800 pages of data. Class-size information for each school is now available on the AchieveBC website, under the school profile tool. The figures are current as of Sept. 30 and have been verified by school districts. Information on class size and composition will continue to be collected and reported annually.