An article in our last issue reported that, statewide, there is about one teacher for every 15 public school students.

Some readers questioned the accuracy of that figure. When shown the data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, they said that, while the statewide figure may be accurate, the local schools had more pupils per teacher.

In 2004-05, Iredell Statesville Schools employed 1,283 full-time teachers and had had an enrollment of 19,490. That computes to 15.2 students per teacher, the same as the statewide average. The system had a total of 2,336 full-time employees, 1,540 of whom were classified as professionals. In total, there was one employee for every 8.3 students, about the same as the statewide average.

In the Mooresville Graded School District, the figures were one teacher for every 15.8 students and one school employee for every 8 students.