Class sizes will be getting bigger in Natrona County elementary schools.

At its regular meeting Monday night, the Natrona County School District Board of Trustees approved a recommendation to increase K through 3 student-teacher ratios to 18-to-1.

Mark Mathern, the district’s associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, says, with Natrona County’s recent growth, the district is running out of classrooms.

"We simply do not have enough classrooms," Mathern said. "We did the analysis and, if we went to 17-to-1, we wouldn't have enough space. We would need about 345 classrooms, and we have somewhere around 330."

The district’s student-teacher ratio for 2012-13 was 17-to-1. Mathern says the district has already asked the state for a waiver to allow the increased class sizes next school year.

The state mandates a 16-to-1 maximum.

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