State Board of Education calls for smaller class sizes after Detroit News investigation
Lansing — Michigan's State Board of Education approved a resolution Tuesday calling for limits on class sizes to be put in place by the 2030-31 school year, including a cap of 20 students per class for kindergarten through third grade.
The proposal, if enacted by state lawmakers, would represent a sea change for Michigan schools as leaders look to boost struggling literacy rates. Across the state, elementary school classes featuring more than 20 students have been widespread.
Mitchell Robinson, a Democratic member of the State Board of Education, authored the resolution and said action on class sizes was "overdue."
"Smaller class sizes are going to be a better learning situation for kids and a better teaching situation for teachers," said Robinson of Okemos, a former music teacher.
A months-long Detroit News investigation published in April found 206 elementary classes — ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade — across 49 schools over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 years that had at least 30 students in them. Among them was a kindergarten class at Bennett Elementary, where the Detroit Public Schools Community District said 30 students were enrolled.
Less than a month after The News' probe, the Democratic-led State Board of Education, which advises state policymakers on education standards, voted 6-1 on Tuesday in favor of Robinson's resolution. The resolution said lawmakers should provide funding in the next state budget for school districts with high rates of poverty to lower their student-to-teacher ratios in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.
By the 2030-31 school year, the resolution said, limits should be instituted to cap class sizes at 20 students per class in kindergarten through third grade, at 23 students per class in fourth grade through eighth grade, and at 25 students per class in high school.
"Many studies show that class size reduction leads to better student outcomes in every way that can be measured, including better grades and test scores, fewer behavior problems, greater likelihood to graduate from high school on time and subsequently enroll in college," the resolution said.
The resolution added that the Legislature should increase funding to ensure schools are "able to lower class sizes to the mandated levels."
In an interview, Pamela Pugh, the president of the state board, labeled the resolution an "urgent call" for action. Pugh said the board hasn't made a similar request in the decade she's served on the panel.
All five Democrats who were present for Tuesday's meeting voted in support of the resolution. One Republican, Nikki Snyder of Goodrich, voted yes, while another Republican, Tom McMillin of Oakland Township, voted no.
McMillin said he's generally supportive of lowering class sizes but he unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would have directed that the money for shrinking class sizes come from current administrative costs instead of new funding.
"I am certain that we could achieve a significant reduction in class sizes merely if districts redirected their funding and their expenditures away from administrative costs and toward the classroom," McMillin argued.
Snyder said she "definitely" supports smaller class sizes and believes decreasing the rate of students per teacher would improve outcomes.
The resolution calls for exceptions to the proposed limits for physical education and performing arts classes and career technical education.
At least 31 of the 50 states have laws about class sizes, tie funding to small classes or set goals for their schools to attempt to meet and to be accountable to. Michigan currently doesn't have such a standard and the state doesn't track how many students are in each classroom.
The News used Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain data from individual school districts on class sizes. Of 797 elementary school classes The News examined for the 2024-25 school year, 63% had at least 25 students in them.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called for action on class sizes after the reporting from The News and as Michigan's reading scores have fallen behind other states.
During her State of the State address in February, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said just 24% of Michigan fourth graders were able to read proficiently. Michigan invests more per student than most states but achieves "bottom 10 results," the governor said.
Asked, in April, if she thought having 30 students in a kindergarten class was appropriate, Whitmer, a Democrat, said, "No. Of course, I don't."
"I think the science would tell us that we've got to bring down class sizes," Whitmer said in April.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, said he was open to a conversation about timelines for implementing class size limits and about how schools could achieve the proposed standards with staffing and physical space.
He noted the Senate Democrats' budget proposal for next year features nearly $500 million that could be used by school districts to lower class sizes.
"I think it's going to be a culture change," Camilleri said.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: State Board of Education calls for smaller class sizes after Detroit News investigation
