Class size reduction bill would add requirements for classroom aides

S.B. 31, Classroom Size Amendments, sponsored by Senator Karen Morgan would, as the name suggests, set standards for the size of classrooms in primary grades.  That's what's been getting some news coverage.  It's another example of lawmakers throwing local control out the window when local boards, elected by local voters, governing local schools, do something that other politicians don't like.

But the bigger deal here is that the bill also institutes state requirements for whom schools can hire as a paraprofessional or classroom aide.  If this bill passes, schools will no longer be able to judge what would make a quality teaching assistant; Karen Morgan and the legislature will have decided that for them.