School districts use legal loopholes to ensure classes have enough teachers
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - In Martazia Badger's second grade classroom, there are 25 students and it's often a tight squeeze.
"They're used to scooting over or making room for someone," Badger said. "As long as they're spread out, hey, get in where you can get in."
For grades four and under, state law sets a limit of 22 students per class, but there are plenty of ways to get around that.
Like many districts, Mesquite ISD, where Mrs. Badger works, said it has no choice.
School districts can ask for a waiver.
CBS11 found 23 across North Texas that have in 2022: Fort Worth, Arlington, Garland, Richardson, Frisco, Denton Duncanville, Northwest, Rockwall, Irving, Burleson, Wylie, Quinlan, Melissa, Lovejoy, Palmer, Whitewright, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Lipan, Mansfield, and Crowley ISDs.
In most cases, the districts said a lack of teachers prevents them from hitting the required ratio.
Garland ISD, which received waivers for 19 campuses, explained the Texas Education Agency's "commissioner found that the class size limit of 22:1 created an undue hardship on the district."
The TEA, though, hasn't denied a single district's request in 2022 to put more kids in classrooms. In fact, it approved nearly every request the same day it was made because it already knows they all meet the standard.
In a statement, the agency stated: "Class size waivers are generally approved unless the campus fails academic accountability. As there were no failing academic accountability ratings this year, there have not been any denials."
At Central Elementary in Duncanville ISD, waivers were granted for pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, third grade, and fourth grade classrooms.
"We have an elementary campus classroom that can go upwards to 30 students in a classroom," said Kathleen Brown, the district's chief HR officer.
Sometimes, Brown said, that's the district's best option.
"The opposite side of that is a student not having a teacher and having what they need," she said.
The Texas House Public Education Committee and the Teacher Vacancy Task Force commissioned by the governor are both expected to release reports in the coming months recommending ways to address the teacher shortage.
In the meantime, districts are getting creative.
"We're so excited that the state is working on that, but in Duncanville, we're trying to figure out what we do today because these students will never get this year back and we have to meet their needs today," said Brown.
Duncanville is offering bonuses to teachers with more than 22 students and hiring aspiring educators still working on their certification to help out in schools. The competition to hire, though, is tougher than ever.
"This year does feel much different than previous years. It seems like each year it gets a little more challenging to find staff. So, this year doesn't feel like any year we've experienced thus far," said Brown.
Scrolling through the list of districts with waivers like Duncanville, though, doesn't give the full picture.
Mesquite ISD, for example, doesn't have one, despite classrooms like Badger's.
It's what the state calls "a district of innovation."
"District of innovation gives flexibility to a district in certain areas," explained Mesquite ISD superintendent Angel Rivera.
Created by the Texas legislature 8 years ago, the designation allows a district to be exempt from rules governing, among other things, how long the school year runs, whether all teachers are certified, and how big class sizes can run.
The point is to allow, as the name suggests, innovation.
The designation is so common, though, only four out of the 81 North Texas school districts we looked at didn't have it, and that makes it virtually impossible to track how many schools across the state have crowded classrooms.
Rivera said, if not for the DOI, he'd be filing waivers.
"If not for the DOI, I would be filing a lot of waivers this year," he said.
With fewer teachers, the Mesquite superintendent says students get less individual attention, just as many, still recovering from the pandemic, need it more than ever.
"It's been a lot of learning missed. Teachers feel a lot of responsibility to cover those gaps and it puts a stress on the system," he said.
Badger admitted it can get overwhelming, but she focuses on the positive.
"I was upset at first, but I was like, you know what, it could always be worse," she said.
Her students, she said, are learning to adapt. Thus, she pushes forward, unwilling to give up.