Go on take the money and run

Yesterday the governor had to veto yet another Republican attack on the SAGE program to reduce class sizes. The legislature actually passed a bill that would let schools take funding to reduce class sizes and then not reduce class sizes.

I've lost count of the number of times the Republicans have attacked this successful education program. There is a lot of evidence that reducing class sizes in the lower grades the way the SAGE program does produces real results and they stay with kids throughout their school career. The program also helps Wisconsin comply with the No Child Left Behind Act from the federal government because it helps close the achievement gap.

Some of the research that you can find at the websites of those responsible for the ongoing evaluation of the Wisconsin SAGE program shows that states that have been reducing class sizes longer than our state has have seen dramatic results. In Tennessee they found:

--Long-term exposure to small classes (in the early grades) had generated substantially higher levels of achievement; and
--The extra gains associated with long-term exposure to small classes in the early grades) were greater the longer students were exposed to those classes.
-- The extra gains found for long-term attendance in small classes in the early grades) continued to appear when students were returned to standard classes in the upper grades;

In Indiana they found:

We begin with a trial program in Indiana that is known today as "Project Prime Time." This effort began in 1981 when the Indiana legislature allocated $300,000 for a two-year study of the effects of reducing class size in the early grades within a sample of 24 public schools. But after two semesters the results of this initial study were so impressive that additional funds were allocated to reduce class sizes in all state schools beginning with first-grade classes in the 1984-85 school year, and the program was gradually extended so as to involve grades K-3 by 1987-88.

And the Tennessee study also points to why SAGE will help us close the achievement gap and comply with No Child Left Behind.

Although all types of students experienced extra gains from long-term exposure to small classes (in the early grades), those gains were greater for students who are traditionally disadvantaged in education.

Indiana is a traditionally Republican state so this issue is not solely a "Democrat issue" or Democrats doing the bidding of WEAC as some would like to say. It's about investing in an education program that has proven results.

But here, the Republicans do everything they can to attack the SAGE program that has produced good results and has accountability measures built into it and turn around and cheer and promote a program like the Choice program that has no standards and no proof that it is doing any good. Wisconsin Republicans would be wise to follow the lead of their colleagues in other states that are leading the way on class size reduction.