Class-size exemptions made easier

AUSTIN (AP) — Financially-challenged school districts will find it easier to get exempt from a Texas law that holds most elementary school classes to no more than 22 students.

The Texas Education Agency created a new provision that allows districts to get class size waivers because of financial hardships after lawmakers approved massive funding cuts to close a budget shortfall without raising taxes.

Districts can apply for the hardship waivers through Oct. 3.

The Dallas Morning News reports in Tuesday editions that Texas American Federation of Teachers president Linda Bridges says "we need to be careful" about the new waiver because some districts may use it as an excuse to scrap the 22-student limit in kindergarten through fourth grade.

The class-size requirement has been law since 1984.