H.R. 361·Elementary Intermediate
A Bill to Cap Elementary Class Size at 22 Students
Rep. Owens (D-WI)
Federal funds tied to capping K-3 class sizes at 22 students, with phased compliance.
Sec. 1 — Mandate
Districts receiving Title I funds shall cap K-3 classes at 22 students per teacher.
Sec. 2 — Exceptions
Districts may exceed the cap by up to 2 students with state approval and an aide present.
Sec. 3 — Funding
$2.3 billion over 5 years for additional teachers.
Sec. 4 — Enforcement
Annual class-size reports to the Department of Education.
Tournament Prep
Mechanical parts, sourced & timed
Use this as your pre-round checklist. Memorize the source citation. Time yourself to the delivery target.
- Bill / Number
- H.R. 361 — A Bill to Cap Elementary Class Size at 22 Students
- Funding source
- $2.3B over 5 years for additional teachers.
- Timeline
- Phased compliance.
- Tight — teacher shortages are real, but Tennessee STAR ran a comparable scale.
- Enforcing agency
- Department of Education (Title I).
- Yes — ED already enforces class-size reporting.
- Penalty for non-compliance
- Title I funding adjustment.
- Source citation
- Tennessee STAR study, Krueger (1999), Quarterly Journal of Economics — princeton.edu.
- Delivery time (read aloud)
- 1:00 (60s)
Strongest counter-argument
Reducing class size from 25 to 22 is too small a change to matter.
Your pre-emptive answer
Krueger's Project STAR (1999) showed effect sizes appeared even for modest reductions in K-3 — and persisted into adulthood (Chetty 2011, NBER) as higher college attendance.