CLASS STANDARDS COULD SLIP.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Veteran teacher Kathy DeChellis remembers a time when kindergarten consisted mostly of playtime, coloring and the midafternoon nap.

Today, there are distinct content standards that teachers in California are expected to instill and kids to learn - a responsibility that DeChellis, a kindergarten teacher at Rio Vista Elementary in Canyon Country, finds far more manageable since the state required class size to be reduced to 20 students per teacher six years ago.

However, California's budget shortfall estimated at almost $35 billion has made education a big target for cuts. Larger classes are likely again in kindergarten through third grade.

``With 20 (students), you really can identify where each child is. But if we get back up to 32-33 kids in kindergarten, it will be very hard to meet the standards the state expects,'' DeChellis said.

A 10 percent slash in funding for class-size reduction is among Gov. Gray Davis' proposals, and school officials point out that even 100 percent of such funding has never paid all expenses for smaller classes, and local districts have been forced to make up the difference.

Class-size reduction has been a Catch-22 for school administrators: Everyone agreed students would receive a better education if there were fewer children per teacher, but achieving that goal meant hiring more teachers and securing more classrooms.

According to DeChellis, the state's standards for kindergarten achievement have become more strict since class sizes were reduced.

``They need to know their upper- and lower-case letters by the time they're finished with kindergarten,'' she said. ``They have to know the sounds they (the letters) make. And that's not even including the math. With 20, you can really identify who's struggling with a certain concept or letter; whereas you're stretched that much thinner with 30 kids.''

In school districts across the Santa Clarita Valley, as elsewhere in the state, administrators say the state budget crisis is forcing them to plan their own budgets while in effect wearing blindfolds. They know budget cuts are coming, but they don't know precisely where or how deep.

Beverly Silsbee, superintendent of the Castaic Union School District, said class-size reduction could become a victim of cutbacks next school year.

``We hope we don't have to go in that direction of ending it, so maybe we'll do it with one grade level,'' Silsbee said.

DeChellis, who has worked for the Saugus Union School District for 10 years, said she and her colleagues aren't planning for the possibility of having to teach 30 or more children at a time again.

``If it happens, we'll deal with it,'' she said. ``But sometimes I want to go up to Sacramento and just talk to (lawmakers). The whole (federal) legislation of 'no child left behind' - they (state officials) can help us with that by giving us more time with each student. They can do that by (keeping) class-size reduction.''

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(color) Teacher Kathy DeChellis works with John Grall on lessons state law now requires kindergartners to be taught. She notes that kids will get less individual attention if class sizes grow.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer