From moneys specially appropriated therefor by the Legislature, grants shall be made to school districts pursuant to this article for projects approved by the Director of Compensatory Education involving a particular school or schools to be expended for the employment and in-service education of teachers in grades kindergarten or 1 through 6, with special emphasis on kindergarten and primary grades, and any needed teacher materials and supplies to the end that the number of pupils in these grades in relation to each full-time equivalent classroom teacher in the particular school will be reduced to a ratio of 25 to 1.
For purposes of this article a full-time equivalent classroom teacher is a person employed in a position requiring certification qualifications and whose duties require him to teach pupils in regular day classes for the full time for which he is employed during the regular schoolday. In computing the total number of full-time equivalent classroom teachers, there shall be included, in addition to the employees defined in the preceding sentence, the full-time equivalent of all fractional time for which employees in positions requiring certification qualifications are required to devote to teaching pupils in regular day classes during the regular schoolday.