House Bill 13 proposed to modify classroom size requirements

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It is a bill designed to fix what state lawmakers call an oversight. In 2016, state legislators voted to reduce class sizes for kindergarten through third grade.

“The majority voted to reduce class size but without thinking about what the implications of that were going would be,” District 18 Representative, Deb Butler said.

As it stands now, school districts would have to start cutting non-essential classes such as art, music and PE to have enough classrooms.

“I think the creativity and the arts are incredibly important,” North Carolina Senator of District 9, Michael Lee said. “It allows our children to explore other ways of thinking. And even if you’re talking about math it’s important to be creative when you’re talking about math. Whether you’re in an architectural field or engineering field. And we need to make sure that that remains part of the curriculum for our kids.”

That is why many schools and local lawmakers are supporting House Bill 13 which would modify the average classroom size.

“I think it’s very important,” District 19 Representative, Ted Davis said. “Because as you know young children have so much energy it’s tough to have them sit there in a closed in classroom. So they kinda have to get out there and release all that energy.”

It is a bill Representative Butler along with many others support.

“Again trying to remedy that because those components of any child’s education I feel are critical. It’s shown in studies to enhance learning, behavior. That’s the last thing we want to do is get rid of those extra curricular opportunities,” Butler said.

If lawmakers do not approve House Bill 13, schools would be forced to cut classrooms from 24 students to between 19 and 21 students depending on the grade level.