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Shelley Osterloh Reporting How many students do you think is too many in a classroom? We asked parents: Do you feel public school classes are overcrowded?
"Yes I do, because right now my daughter that's in sixth grade is on the stage at her school because the portable is not ready yet."
58% say classes are definitely too crowded and another 19% say probably. That's about three-fours of the respondents --- about 77% --- who think Utah classrooms are overcrowded.
Statistics show Utah classrooms are among the most crowded in the nation. Utah elementary school classes have an average or 23.6 students compared to the national average of 21.1, ranking us 4th highest number in the nation.
In secondary schools, Utah has an average of 27.3 students in each class compared to 23.6 nationally -- Utah is the third highest in the country.
Our KSL Deseret News Poll by Dan Jones also asked: "Would you pay more taxes to see class sizes reduced? Most respondents said yes. 39% said they would definitely pay higher taxes and 25% said probably. Thats 64% who would be willing to pay more for education.
"I think small classrooms are important so I would be willing to pay more."
"I would pay higher taxes. I just would want to make sure that's where it's going."
It's is clearly a problem Utahns would like to see improved. 74% of those asked said they favor the idea of using Utah's unprecedented growth money to help reduce class sizes. Only 18% oppose.
"If it's done responsibly certainly I think education is a good place."
"It should go the schools. We need smaller classes."
And when it comes to teacher to student ratio, Utah is still the worst in the country, with about 22 students for every teacher -- compared with the national average of 16 to one.
