Unknown costs for schools with Initiative 1351

MOSES LAKE - It's still unclear how the state, or local school districts, would pay for the changes required by an initiative mandating smaller classes in public schools, and that's the problem, according to local school administrators.

Initiative 1351 would require smaller classes and additional support staff for all students, with the biggest impact for students in kindergarten through third grade, according to the Washington Secretary of State office. The initiative would limit kindergarten through third-grade classes to a maximum of 17 students. Fourth-grade through high school would have a maximum of 25 students.

Funding the additional teachers and support staff would cost an estimated $4.7 billion by 2019, $2 billion by 2017, the Secretary of State's office said. There's no estimate of how much it might cost to build new classrooms.

"I love the idea of smaller class sizes. I'm wondering where the money is coming from," said Quincy superintendent John Boyd.

"There is no funding mechanism tied to it," Moses Lake superintendent Michelle Price said.

She estimated Moses Lake would have to add about 40 teachers in the primary grades to meet the initiative mandates. The new teachers would need additional support staff, books and teaching materials, she said. The district also would need to find 40 classrooms, she said, and right now there aren't 40 classrooms to spare.

District officials haven't estimated the cost to Moses Lake, Price said, because the district can't generate the revenue locally. Funding would have to come from the state, she said.

Boyd said Quincy would have to add eight to 10 teachers to meet the mandate, plus staff and curriculum. Like Moses Lake, the current facilities are reaching capacity, Boyd said. "We just don't have any empty rooms," he said. One option is additional portable classrooms at the elementary schools, he said.

Soap Lake superintendent Danny McDonald said the district shouldn't be affected much, if at all, by the initiative. Most classes in Soap Lake already meet the mandated levels, he said, and the district has room to grow if necessary. "You have to wait and see what the fallout is going to be," he said.