Class sizes under the state’s microscope

BUFFALO — Ideal class size has been on legislators’ minds as they recalibrate school funding in the state, and educators say that there is a balance between classes that are too small and those that are too large.

The magic number appears to be 15 students, according to educators in the state and based on research, at least for the younger grades. 

Kaycee School Principal and former educator, Liz Fauber, said that’s the number she has found to be the sweet spot, especially after teaching classes with fewer than 10 students.

“Teachers that have 20 kids in their classroom are like, ‘You’re so lucky, I have 20 kids.’ There’s a happy medium between that, and 15 in my eyes is the magic number,” Fauber said. “Fifteen

kids because you can make three good groups, whether you’re doing intermixed (skill) groups or you’re doing high and low groups.”

Fauber said one of the challenges in a small classroom is that fewer students mean fewer opportunities for them to build on each other’s learning.

“It’s really awesome as a teacher to have kids at all levels and put them into a group, so you have your high, your medium, your low, and then you watch them interact and teach each other. And when they can teach each other, they’re learning it at a deeper level,” Fauber said. “… When you have small classes, though, you don’t get that.”

Meadowlark kindergarten teacher Jessica Kavitz loves the number 16, because she can make four groups of four.

“Four students in a small group is a number that seems to allow for a lot of positive student- teacher interactions and allows for students to get strong instruction to meet their needs,” she wrote in an email.

She has felt the difference between having 19 students in her class last year and 15 this year.

“Every class of students is made up of very unique individuals and individual needs, and it is ‘easier’ to meet all of these needs with a class of 16 or less,” she wrote.

“Another thing to consider, especially in the lower grades, is (the) amount of time it takes to assess students. A lot of assessments are done one on one in kindergarten, and so the time it takes to assess your class is more manageable with smaller class sizes.”

Fifteen is a number backed up by research for kindergarten through third grade, according to the third-party consultants, Picus, Odden & Associates, the consultantcy firm the state has contracted with to make recommendations on recalibration. 

The state has considered ideal class size as it recalibrates the state’s school funding model, as it does every five years. Class size is an important part of the funding model, because class size will determine how many full-time employees a certain number of students generate within the model. 

For example, if the funding model based its funding on a class size of 25 instead of 15, 75 students would generate three instead of five full-time core teachers.

The current funding model is based on a 1-to-16 student-to-teacher ratio from kindergarten through fifth grade and 1-to-21 from grades six through 12.

The school funding model does not require districts to follow the class sizes it is based on, however, but leaves each district to decide that on its own.

As part of the recalibration process, consultants have recommended decreasing the model’s ratio in kindergarten through third grade to a 1-to-15 student-to-teacher ratio to match what research and education leaders recommend.

However, consultants have also recommended increased class sizes in fourth through 12th grade to a 1-to-25 teacher-to-student ratio, which would decrease the amount of funding districts receive and potentially the way classrooms look.

Consultants argued that there is a dearth of randomized control trials to prove that a 1-to-15 ratio leads to noticeably better outcomes for students in fourth through 12th grades. 

The “gold standard” of studies are randomized control trials, which randomly assign study participants to an experimental or control group, the associates wrote in their draft recommendation to the state. The consultants said that multiple randomized control trials show that 15 students per core teacher in kindergarten through third grade improves learning outcomes.

However, consultants could not find similar research related to the upper grades.

“Like elementary class size, the public and educators continually press for smaller secondary class sizes. Many professional judgement panels in the past have also proposed class sizes in the high teens or low 20s for secondary grades,” according to the consultants’ report. “However, there is, to our knowledge, no RCT research on the impact of small class sizes in grades 4-12.”

Without RCT research on class sizes in fourth through 12th grade, the consultants wrote that they would follow the “standards and practices from various professional groups” for their recommendation on those class sizes. They cited class sizes in high-performing charter schools, which are 25 students per one core teacher in fourth through 12th grades, to base their recommendation.

Johnson County School District No. 1 Superintendent Charles Auzqui said he hopes that legislators retain the current class size ratios used within the funding model. However, if they’re changed, the district may have to move to follow them in order to keep educator salaries competitive.

Class sizes and salaries are almost on a seesaw when it comes to funding. Many districts in the

state already have class sizes larger than what the funding model is based on so that they could increase teacher salaries.

Johnson County hasn’t increased class sizes to increase salaries but may need to if legislators move forward with the recommended changes during the upcoming legislative session.

“The driving factor for me is getting a competitive salary,” Auzqui said.

The district’s base salary for educators increased ahead of this school year from $47,500 to $49,000, but the district still lags behind other school districts in the area, such as Campbell County School District No. 1, which has a $56,000 base educator salary. 

Sheridan County School District No. 2 is also still ahead at $54,000 as its base salary for educators.

Lawmakers won’t approve a recalibrated funding model until the upcoming legislative session, however, and historically haven’t enacted all of their consultants’ recommendations. 

This story was published on Nov. 20, 2025.