CLASSES MAY BE ENLARGED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A state Senate committee on Wednesday endorsed legislation that would let the Lancaster School District make classes bigger in kindergarten through third grade in order to reduce fourth- and fifth-grade class sizes.

Lancaster Superintendent Steve Gocke, board President John Miller and teachers union President Cheryl Eslick testified in support of the legislation before the Senate Education Committee.

``The Lancaster School District board, in a partnership with the Teachers Association of Lancaster, has requested consideration of this special legislation to allow Lancaster School District to return to a traditional school schedule in an effort to have all teachers together as a team in the planning and implementation of school improvement,'' Gocke said in a statement.

The legislation, introduced by state Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, passed with a committee vote of 7-0. The legislation will be heard next in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Lancaster receives about $6 million a year in state funding to maintain classes of no more than 20 pupils in grades kindergarten through three, but classrooms in grades four and five can have as many as 35 students.

Officials want to increase class sizes in the lower grades and reduce it in the upper grades to 25 pupils.

Putting a maximum of 25 students in every elementary-school classroom would free up enough classrooms to shift schools from a year-round calendar to a more traditional schedule, adding 10 days to pupils' school year.

Lancaster has been gradually shifting its schools from the multitrack year-round schedule because of difficulties in scheduling training sessions for teachers and other staffers and in doing maintenance and campus improvements.

About half of Lancaster's 18 elementary and middle schools have changed to a traditional calendar.

The district is seeking legislation that will allow the district to use the class-size reduction state funds for all six grades, not just the lower primary grades.

If approved, that would enable the district to move all its schools to a traditional schedule, which would lengthen the school year by 10 days, to 180 days, district officials said.

If the legislation is approved, the changes would start in the 2007-08 school year. The plan has the support of the teachers union and the school staff.

While other school districts, such as Palmdale and Westside, have increased class sizes in grades K-3 because of budget cuts, Lancaster does not want to abandon the concept.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com