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Regular Session, 2010 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 127
BY SENATORS ERDEY, BROOME AND WALSWORTH
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To urge and request the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to study
student to classroom teacher ratios in elementary grade classrooms across the state
and to make recommendations relative to how a student to classroom teacher of not
more than twenty to one can be achieved in each classroom in such grades.
WHEREAS, current State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education regulations
establish a maximum enrollment level in most classes of twenty-six students per class in
grades kindergarten through three and thirty-three students per class in grades four through
twelve; and
WHEREAS, current state board policy provides for a system-wide maximum student
to classroom teacher ratio in grades kindergarten through three of twenty students to one
classroom teacher, but has no such provision for the upper elementary grades and has no
requirement at all to implement this ratio in all elementary grade classrooms; and
WHEREAS, teachers with small classes are required to spend less time on classroom
management issues and are thus able to provide each student more individualized attention;
and
WHEREAS, research indicates that reduced class sizes are associated with increased
student achievement that is long lasting, especially when smaller class size standards are
implemented in the early grades and students are enrolled in small classes for successive
years; and
WHEREAS, a Princeton University study found that reducing class size in the early
grades shrinks the achievement gap by approximately thirty-eight percent; and
WHEREAS, the educational foundation laid in the early grades, especially in the
areas of reading and mathematics, is essential to student performance throughout a child's
academic career and thus influences success later in life. SCR NO. 127 ENROLLED
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to study student
to classroom teacher ratios in elementary grade classrooms across the state and to make
recommendations relative to how a student to classroom teacher of not more than twenty to
one can be achieved in each classroom in such grades.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Senate
Committee on Education and House Committee on Education not later than March 15, 2011.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
president of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state
superintendent of education.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES