Arizona class sizes average 25 students per teacher, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. These large class sizes are already affecting the chances of school returning to in-person learning this fall.

As Arizona schools districts make plans for the upcoming school year, following CDC social distancing guidelines might not be possible with the space available in a standard Arizona classroom, according to Chris Kotterman, director of Governmental Relations for the Arizona School Boards Association.

“Those [classrooms] are generally optimized for classes of 24 or 25 student," said Kotterman. "And a lot of places now we have class sizes that are upwards of 30, 32, 35.”

Kotterman said that there’s not yet a model in place across the state for schools to return in person while social distancing, and that right now it is still up to individual districts on how they choose to proceed.