Buncombe County Schools will raise class size in higher grades to cope with state-mandated budget cuts to education.

The system lost 42 teaching positions because of a $15 million budget cut, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

The school system was able to rehire almost all of the teachers who were laid off at the end of last school year, but it wasn't able to fill all vacant positions. In most cases, students will see two or three extra students in their classrooms. Class sizes vary by grade and course, from 17 to 21 students per class.

The state's school system must each decide how to cut spending.

As part of the final state budget deal, lawmakers and Gov. Beverly Perdue mandated $225 million in cuts to local school systems. Lawmakers scrapped language that would have required increased class sizes in grades 4-12. Instead the budget gave school administrators increased flexibility to move money and to spend federal stimulus dollars while encouraging officials to leave class rooms alone.

The state's teacher lobby, Perdue and certain lawmakers said they believe such cuts can be made without increasing class size, which is necessary when schools have fewer teachers. Administrators in Wake say they believe paying teachers with stimulus money, which runs out in two years, would create more problems than it solves.