ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150115
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: Why does Roanoke city have more school employees, even though it has fewer students than Roanoke County?
W.B., Roanoke
A: Actually, the county has more students and more employees than the city.
That doesn't mean it's easy to compare the two systems; they don't have the same needs, nor the same programs to meet them.
In Roanoke, about half the pupils qualify for free lunches. This fact activates a state program called Primary Class Size Reduction, which adds teachers to schools in low-income areas. The state pays half the $2.5 million cost, and this lowers the pupil-to-teacher ratio.
Schools where half of the pupils receive free lunches must keep the pupil-teacher ratio at 18-to-1 from kindergarten through third grade. At schools where three-fourths of the pupils get free lunches, the class size can be no higher than 15 in K-3.
Roanoke County has only one school that qualifies for state aid under the class-size reduction formula.
The city also has a Title 1 program that helps students in economically disadvantaged situations, and 22 reading and math teachers are assigned to elementary schools.
Roanoke County has nine Title 1 teachers.
Comparing the two by sheer numbers, as provided by Assistant Superintendent Richard Kelley of the city and Berkley Lucas, the county personnel director:
City schools this year have an enrollment of 13,215; Roanoke County has 13,907.
The city has 1,128 teachers. Altogether, 1,871 employees draw a paycheck from the city school system, including teachers, administrators, part-time workers and bus drivers. Substitute workers are not included.
Roanoke County has 1,085 teachers and a total of 1,950 full-time-equivalent school employees. The total number of county school employees is slightly higher than 1,950 because in some cases two part-time staffers are counted as one worker.
The city has 118 special education teachers and a number of teaching aides; Roanoke County employs 135 teachers in special education.
The city's pupil-to-teacher ratio is 16.24-to-1 in elementary schools when specialty teachers for art, music, reading and physical education are included. The basic classroom size is 17.9-to-1 in elementary schools.
Roanoke County's pupil-teacher ratio is 17.6-to-1 in elementary schools - when specialty teachers for art, music, reading and physical education are counted. The basic classroom ratio is 20.6-to-1.
In middle and high schools, the county's ratio is 15.5-to-1 and the city's is 18-to-1.
These per-pupil ratios exclude special education teachers, librarians, guidance counselors and gifted resource teachers, who are counted as teachers in some reports from the state Department of Education.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or e-mail RayR@Roanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.
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