Teachers paid extra where classes exceed the agreed limit

What happened

At the March 23, 2026 meeting a member pressed the administration on payments to teachers who have more students than their contract allows, saying the provision does not appear in the contract and asking who negotiated it. The superintendent explained that it should have come up as a scheduling recommendation the previous year, that the district had worked to bring class sizes down but some classes were still over the limit, and that the negotiations provide monetary compensation for the extra duties those additional students create.

Why it matters to families

This is a direct measure of class size in Garfield: the district is paying for classes that are over the agreed cap rather than opening more of them, which tells families that some rooms have more children in them than the teachers' agreement contemplates. It sits alongside a budget that removed about 60 positions, so the pressure on class size is unlikely to ease on its own.

The evidence

The March 23, 2026 meeting recording carries the exchange: a board member saying they went through the contract and did not see the provision for paying teachers extra for extra students and asking who negotiated it, and the superintendent replying that it should have been a scheduling recommendation the previous year, that the district worked to reduce enrolment sizes but some class sizes were still over, and that the negotiations provide monetary compensation for the extra duties of those students.

The source