Schools to Receive Federal Funds

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools received funding through the Class Size Reduction Initiative. The funding is allocated specifically for hiring teachers for kindergarten through third grade. This will reduce the class sizes for students in the developmental stages.

Last year, Orange County schools received $105,000 and Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools received $128,000 from the program.

This year enough money will be given to the two school systems so they can retain the teachers hired last year and hire at least two new teachers.

Orange County Board of Education member Delores Simpson said personalized attention was necessary in the classroom.

"If teachers can't give that attention, then students miss necessary training to carry on with the developmental stages," Simpson said.

But some believe the money from the initiative program should be allocated toward more important causes.

Howard Machtinger, the director of the Teaching Fellows program at UNC, said the most important aspect of bettering education in the lower grades is to get more teachers and better teachers per classroom.

"In some ways, reducing class size isn't as important as having quality people in the classroom," Machtinger said.

Simpson also said she believes quality teachers are at least as important as smaller class sizes.

But Brad Woodhouse, press secretary for Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., said he thinks the allocation of funds is justified in being used for class size reduction.

"Reducing class size makes the classroom environment better and if the environment is better then you attract better teachers," he said.

Woodhouse also defends the initiative using the example of Wilson County schools. In that school system, officials used the program to lower class sizes by five students per classroom. Woodhouse said the schools experienced an increase in math and science test scores.

But there are questions as to where new teachers will come from because North Carolina could be on the brink of a teacher shortage.

Machtinger said higher pay as well as better working conditions are necessary for recruiting and retaining new, quality teachers.

Thomas Bates, press secretary for Rep. David Price, D-N.C., also said Price hopes to recruit teachers in North Carolina by supporting programs such as the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program.

"We need to do more to recruit and retain the best and the brightest teachers."

The City Editor can be reached

at citydesk@unc.edu.