Yes, Every year the school system bases their request on predicted enrollment, special needs students, and new programs. Every year the school system over estimates the projected enrollment, this is mainly due to a very incompetant individual with no formal education or training doing the projections for the school system. The state also does enrollment projections to evaluate the need for more classrooms. Their data historically is much more conservative and accurate. That being said, classrooms are built at one rate while teacher hiring is done at the county rate approved by the BOE. The BOE always go heavy on teacher hiring, in fact they really don't know where most of the new teachers will go until about ten days before school starts because that when a lot of people who move to area and enroll their kids. I can remember about five years ago when the enrollment projections were so far off(Overstated by 600 students), that the teachers were hired in July and the students did not show up. This lowered class size but had new teachers teaching students on the stage, in the library, music and art were put on carts and lost their designated classrooms. Many times new teachers assigned to one school in July are moved to another school in August or even after the school year begins. This creates a lot of split classrooms such as 2/3 grade or 4/5 grade for example. It is pure chaos at the Middle and High School level due to the need to set a class schedule. It takes a very intelligent person to create this schedule. That is why in the last few years LMS has gone through 5 or 6 schedules during the first part of the school year. There will be a new principal there this year, so that will change. Anyway, no one complains when they overhire because the school system empire grows to the delight of the Superintendent and the BOE, the parents like it because class size drops. I suspect that soon, the over hiring of teachers measured against a pathetic effort to secure school sites will keep class sizes low while putting more and more students in trailers.
Really Brian why not just move on?