Assistant Superintendent Mike Mauws

The Portage School Board may be implementing a class size cap as early as next year.  Superintendent Hazen Barrett says there is a lot of evidence to suggest smaller class sizes during the early years has a very positive effect on the background and skills required to get the children through the later years in school.

He adds the province is perusing the initiative to cap class sizes at 20 students for kindergarten through grade 3. 

Barrett tells us the Department of Education has appointed a coordinator for the initiative and is in the process of gathering information about the best way to introduce the cap. 

Barrett says the initiative is still in its very early planning stages.  He says the extra costs don't just apply to the hiring of more teachers, but also extra classroom space, equipment, and other issues yet to be determined, which is what the province is trying to figure out right now.