School board boosts Bridgewater Academy’s class sizes

An area charter school can now have 19 students in each class, as opposed to 17 in the past.

The Horry County Board of Education unanimously approved an amendment Monday allowing Bridgewater Academy – a charter school in Myrtle Beach – to boost their student-to-teacher ratio by two.

“We’re trying to keep it small but still flexible,” said Tom Cecala, Bridgewater’s board chairman.

Bridgewater officials reviewed their class sizes over the past few months while preparing for the new budget year, Cecala said. The new class sizes will be applicable for kindergarten through eighth grade.

“We also have a committee that includes parents and teachers, and the new classes were approved through that committee first,” Cecala said.

Bridgewater currently budgets for about 145 students but enrolls a little more than 130, Cecala said. The addition of 18 or 19 students will help the school meet its budget goals and allow an extra two students into the filled-up classes; the kindergarten and third grade classes are already at their size limit, Cecala said.

“A charter school’s budget is very much determined by how many students we have, and with an extra two students per class we can get closer to our goal,” Cecala said.

The school currently averages 11 students to each class, Cecala said.

The district is the sponsor for the charter school and, as such, is responsible for negotiating and executing a contract with the school. Heather Sheehan, director of assessments for the district, said charter schools ask for amendments to their contract for various issues.

“It just depends,” Sheehan said. “We’ve done it in the past for them and for other charters.”

The change will not cost the district anything, according to Chief Financial Officer John Gardner. The amendment will also not affect the charter school’s funding from the district, he said.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 8:16 PM with the headline "School board boosts Bridgewater Academy’s class sizes."