Kathy Osborne, Orange County associate superintendent, and Human Resources Official Raymond Cooke presented a report that highlighted the increase in students to the Board of Education on Tuesday night at its meeting in Hillsborough.
The district has 210 more students than the figure for which it received funding, Osborne said.
Concerned about adequate resources for its students, board Chairwoman Dana Thompson said that while the district will be unable to get additional funding from the county because the budget is already set, she hopes the state will give the system adjusted money within the next month. "It's still wait and see," Thompson said.
She reinforced the board's commitment to reduce class size in the district.
"When we don't have low class size, that begins to undermine student achievement," she said.
Officials said enrollment figures are as high as 47 students in a class at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough.
One solution to large class sizes is to hire more teachers, but this action is dependent upon increased funding.
Interim Superintendent Mike Williams said state funding should materialize in the next few weeks.
He said the system hired roughly 60 new teachers for this school year, which is slightly lower than in the past. Turnover is 12 percent, just shy of the state average, he said.
