State waives penalties for schools who exceeded class size rules

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Nearly 50 Oklahoma school districts facing penalties for exceeding class size have some good news. <br><br>The state Board of Education waived fines yesterday totaling $13.23-million

Friday, February 20th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Nearly 50 Oklahoma school districts facing penalties for exceeding class size have some good news.

The state Board of Education waived fines yesterday totaling $13.23-million for 47 districts. Next month, board members will decide if penalties for nine more districts should be waived.

State law limits the number of students in elementary classrooms to 20. Secondary teachers can't have more than 140 students a day.

Districts that exceed the limit would usually get less money from the state.

Some districts have had to cut down their number of teachers because of state budget cuts. The 47 districts asked for waivers because of economic hardship.

They're considered to have hardship if their fund balance from 2002 or 2003 was lower than in 2001.