[Vision2020] MSD financial condition

[Debbie Gray]

On Thu, 27 Mar 2003, Dale Courtney wrote:

> First, what is the ideal classroom size?

I don't know. What is it at the private school you are using for
comparison?

>
> Second, just how far does the MSD student enrollment need to decrease before
> we start lowering our variable costs? I'd really like to hear a private
> business owner (who manages people and budget) give rational for this? Only
> in the government would we consider increasing the budget when the demand
> for services decreases 13 percent.

What about the situation where a class size might decrease by 13% but that
class section still needs to be taught. Eg. there is an advanced biology
class that had 20 students last year. This year it has 17.4 students.
There still needs to be a teacher to teach the same amount of hours, even
though there are less students. Or should the teacher teach at only an 87%
level of his/her skill or time? Even if class sizes shrink, you can't go
about melding the biology class with the history class just because there
are less students. And what if last year there were 20 students crammed
into a classroom that was built to accomodate 15?


Debbie

%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%
  Debbie Gray      dgray@uidaho.edu      http://www.uidaho.edu/~dgray/
  We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to
  have the life that is waiting for us." --Joseph Campbell
%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%