With more than a million dollars more in state money than expected, Fort Mill school district leaders will add 10 teaching jobs to ease crowded classrooms in several schools.

Officials said the hires will be a mix of part-time and full-time positions spread among 10 of the district's 13 schools - Sugar Creek, Pleasant Knoll, Riverview, Fort Mill and Gold Hill elementaries; Banks Trail, Fort Mill and Gold Hill middle schools; and Fort Mill and Nation Ford high schools.

Principals welcome the relief.

"This is encouraging news," Fort Mill High principal Dee Christopher said. "We're very appreciative of our district and school board for recognizing the need."

As state money for education has dwindled in the recession, South Carolina school districts have eliminated hundreds of teaching jobs in the past three years to help curb spending.

The result: Crammed classrooms.

Before budget cutting started, the average Nation Ford High class had about 24 students, principal Beverly Bowman said.

Today, many classes - including core subjects English, math, science and social studies - at Nation Ford and Fort Mill high schools seat 30 or more students.

The topic of class size is hotly debated among education researchers, and its effects on children's education aren't entirely clear.

While educators haven't identified an ideal class size, some studies show younger children tend to learn more in classrooms of fewer than 21 students, said Elizabeth Graue, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of curriculum and instruction who studies class size.

Learning in core subjects can suffer when the number of students tops 30, she said.

Practically speaking, educators say adding students can impact teacher efficiency.

"A quality teacher can teach almost any group," Bowman said. But the value of assessments can deteriorate.

With several classes of 30 students "you're not going to be able to accurately assess 30 essays a week," she said.

"It's much harder. It's just added stress to the teachers."

Bowman and Christopher plan to add teachers in January, targeting core subjects including math, English and social studies.

"We'll literally go from an average of 30 (students in a class) to 25," Christopher said.

Conservative projections

The extra money that Fort Mill schools will receive isn't a bonus.

When crafting this school year's spending plan, officials budgeted conservatively based on projections of how much money the state would send, Assistant Superintendent Leanne Lordo said.

"We had to go ahead and pass a budget based on the information we had," she said.

Instead of the $70.8 million dollars the district expected to receive, it will get $72.3 million.

At a meeting Tuesday, the seven-member school board approved Superintendent Chuck Epps' request to spend that on teachers.

For fast-growing Sugar Creek Elementary, that means a new fourth-grade teacher who will alleviate cramped classrooms.

While other grades have 21 to 22 students per class, principal Scott Frattaroli said fourth-grade classes each have 25 or 26 students.

By the end of the year, "I can foresee that turning into 28, 29, 30," Frattaroli said.

Adding a teacher will bring the number in line with other grades.

"It's a wonderful thing," Frattaroli said. "That was the one concern I had."