Classroom size has been an issue for many years. Although there is little hard evidence to support their case, many politicians and professional educators claim reducing the number of students per class will improve performance.

According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, there were about 1.35 million public school students in the state in 2003-2004, the last year for which figures were available. There were 87,947 full-time public-school teachers.

Simple arithmetic shows there is about one teacher for every 15 students in the state. Most classes are far larger than 15 pupils .

In addition to teachers, there are nearly 18,000 administrators, principals, counselors, librarians, and other employees classed as “professionals.”

Over 63,000 additional full-time employees are classified as “nonprofessionals.” They include teacher assistants, maintenance workers, and clerical and secretarial workers.

In total, N.C. public schools have about one employee for every 8 students.