Freshmen are attending larger English and math classes this school year as a result of increased enrollment and lack of funding for the Class Size Reduction Act in the state budget.

“Freshman English and math classes have been the most affected,” assistant principal Kim Diorio said. “Science and social studies classes have been larger in past years, so math and English classes have been the most affected.”

The average class size increased to 25 students per freshman English class and 25.7 students per freshman math class this year, according to English Department Instructional Supervisor Trinity Klein and Diorio, respectively. In previous years, the maximum class size was 22 students per freshman English or math class, in accordance with the Class Size Reduction Act. In addition to the increase in class size, four class periods of freshman English and math were cut this year, according to Diorio.

Before the 2009-2010 school year, Paly received extra funding under the Class Size Reduction Act for maintaining a maximum class size of 22 students in freshman English and math classes. The state budget cut money for the act this year.

Increased enrollment has also affected the size of freshman classes.

“There are 489 freshmen this year,” Diorio said. “That’s about the same size as last year. But the district only projected 442 freshmen for this year, and we’ve gone over that.”

Increased enrollment and class size is affecting the TEAM program as well as regular coursework.

“Because the freshman class is bigger in general, we had to increase the number of kids in TEAM,” English teacher Denise Shaw said. “For my three ninth grade classes, the range is two to six more kids than usual, depending on the period. My third period is the most impacted with a total of 28 students.”

TEAM math classes have also been hard hit, and some TEAM students are enrolled in combined TEAM and non-TEAM math classes. According to Shaw, this has been the case for the past few years.

The Palo Alto Unified School District mandates an average 28.5 students to one staff member, but some individual English classes exceed that ratio, according to English Instructional Supervisor Trinity Klein. Some upperclassman English classes have as many as 35 students, and some freshman English classes have reached the 28 student mark.

“Having nearly 30 students in a ninth grade English class can be a bit chaotic at times,” Shaw said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t have enough seats or desks for all of my students. Physically, it feels a little cramped and ninth graders can get fidgety in cramped environments.”

English teachers are experiencing the strain of having more students in each class.

“The biggest change I’m going to experience is the paper load,” Shaw said. “Ninth graders need more feedback when learning how to write and it can be very time consuming. I’m not looking forward to a couple more papers per class- that can add up to hours of more grading.”

The district projects that class enrollment will continue to increase, which will likely result in larger classes next year, according to Diorio.

“There’s a change in the wind,” Diorio said, “and it all has to do with state budgeting.”