Fiscal Year 2024 → Question 1

What are the staffing ratios for the high school and middle school METS programs? What would be the cost to lower the high school ratio so it is the same as the middle school ratio?

Question#: 45

BUDGET PAGE REFERENCE: 4-55

ANSWER:

The Multidisciplinary Education, Training, and Support (METS) program provides additional support to English language learners who have had limited or significant schooling gaps due to interrupted or disrupted formal education.

The middle school METS program has 10 classes in nine middle schools, with one middle school having two METS classes. The staffing formulas for middle school METS are shown in the table below.

Middle School METS Staffing Allocations
METS Student Enrollment per Class Number of METS Teachers per Class Number of METS paraeducators per Class Total number of METS teachers Total number of METS paraeducators
15 1 .75 10.0 7.5

The high school METS program is offered in 12 high school ESOL centers. The staffing formulas for high school METS are shown in the table below. This model requires 16.0 METS teacher positions and 8.5 paraeducator positions for FY 2016.

High School METS Staffing Allocations
METS Student Enrollment METS Teacher FTE METS Paraeducators
52+ 2.4 0.5
45–51 2.0 0.5
38–44 1.6 0.5
32–38 1.2 0.5
25–31 1.0 0.5
18–24 0.8 0.5
11–17 0.6 0.5
4–10 0.4 0.5
0–3 0.0 0.5

To replicate the middle school METS staffing model of 15 students per class in high school, an additional 10.6 ESOL teacher positions and 11.45 paraeducator positions for $1,186,266 would be required.