The target option is a more flexible policy where schools minimize the difference between their actual class size and the class size goal. The total number of classrooms needed to meet a class size goal using the target method is estimated by rounding the quotient of enrollment divided by the class size goal to the closest integer. Changing the number of grades to be reduced simulates the changing the number of students affected by the policy. The rules essentially provide an average cost per student for a given enrollment range and existing class size and only apply to schools that need to add classrooms to meet policy goals. The range of applicability is for schools with existing class sizes between 20 and 32, and enrollments between 50 and 750.
Costs are higher for the ceiling method and are related to enrollment.
Costs are significantly higher for enrollments under 100 for all methods. The final cost for low enrollments is the sum of the first three rules of thumb multiplied by the low enrollment multiplication factors in Table 1 below. A legislator w ho is elected from an area with a large urban school district and several smaller rural districts wants to understand how class size measurement will effect costs in these districts. Assume all districts have an average class size of 25, with average enrolment in the urban district of 150 students and 75 students in the rural districts. Costs are also always higher in the rural schools.