GOP's plan weakens rule on class size
By JOE FOLLICK
Sun Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE - Republican lawmakers are plodding toward virtually ending the voter mandate to drastically reduce class sizes by 2010, promising the move would increase spending while maintaining the nation's most stringent limits on the number of students in each class.
Ever since voters in 2002 approved an eight-year path toward smaller class sizes, Gov. Jeb Bush has warned that the multibillion dollar cost to build new schools and hire new teachers would be an investment with little direct returns on quality education.
Having failed to put the matter back on the ballot last year, Bush has stepped out of the fray while House and Senate Republicans push a proposed vote in November on a measure to essentially freeze the reductions in class size while requiring districts to spend 65 percent of their money on classroom instruction.
Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, told the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday that his proposal would allow districts to avoid "drastic measures" such as rezoning, year-round schooling and double sessions in schools to meet the reduction mandate.
"It maintains the spirit of what those voters said, that they wanted smaller class sizes," Pruitt said.
But Democrats said voters wanted each class to be smaller, not simply to have each district meet the limits by averaging the number of students in each class.
"It seems to me the voters were real clear," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "When they voted for class size, they were thinking of their child's class size."
The Republican proposal would require each district to have an average of no greater than 18 students in kindergarten through third-grade classes, 22 in grades four through eight and 25 for high school classes. Already 61 of the state's 67 districts meet that level, meaning the proposal would virtually end the class-size reductions. The proposal would also put a firm cap in each class of 23 in K-3, 27 in grades four through eight and 30 in high school classes.
Effective the beginning of this school year in August, under the current constitutional guidelines, each school's average class size must meet the 18-22-25 limits. If lawmakers approve the constitutional amendment and it's placed on the November ballot, the requirement to meet the limits with a school average would be postponed a year.
"There was no reason to do all of that if in fact two months later voters changed their mind," said Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota.
Unless voters change the constitution, each class in the state must meet the 18-22-25 limits by the beginning of the 2010 school year.
The inclusion of the so-called "65 percent solution" drew fire from Democrats and Republicans. With polls showing most voters support reduced class sizes, the inclusion of the requirement to spend 65 percent of each district's money on classroom instruction is widely viewed as political ploy to sway voters to support the measure.
Klein said that since the state wouldn't define what "classroom instruction" means until next year, voters couldn't know the impact of their decision.
Without knowing if guidance counselors and reading instructors, for example, would be included as expenses for classroom instruction, Klein said a vote on the 65 percent solution would be a "sham."
Pruitt, a conservative Republican, said the 65 percent solution would be an important step toward creating "a culture that stresses increased spending in the classroom."
While education groups like the Florida PTA and the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, opposed the plan, the Florida School Boards Association backs it, saying lawmakers will craft the definition of classroom instruction in a way that wouldn't harm schools.
The Senate Education Committee chairwoman, Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, voted for the measure Tuesday, but indicated she did so only so it could be considered more in the future. She said the 65 percent solution was only a political fix to win voter support and didn't belong in the constitution.
"People more and more are very concerned about changing back to what we had in class size," Lynn said.
Approval in the full Senate of a constitutional amendment requires 24 votes from the 40-member body. With Democrats in firm opposition, only three defections from the 26 members of the Senate Republican caucus would kill the measure. The measure must be considered by at least one more committee before the full Senate could consider it.
Support is more firm in the Florida House, where Republicans on Tuesday said the proposal would ensure the strictest class-size limits in the country.
Source: Gainesville Sun
Sun Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE - Republican lawmakers are plodding toward virtually ending the voter mandate to drastically reduce class sizes by 2010, promising the move would increase spending while maintaining the nation's most stringent limits on the number of students in each class.
Ever since voters in 2002 approved an eight-year path toward smaller class sizes, Gov. Jeb Bush has warned that the multibillion dollar cost to build new schools and hire new teachers would be an investment with little direct returns on quality education.
Having failed to put the matter back on the ballot last year, Bush has stepped out of the fray while House and Senate Republicans push a proposed vote in November on a measure to essentially freeze the reductions in class size while requiring districts to spend 65 percent of their money on classroom instruction.
Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, told the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday that his proposal would allow districts to avoid "drastic measures" such as rezoning, year-round schooling and double sessions in schools to meet the reduction mandate.
"It maintains the spirit of what those voters said, that they wanted smaller class sizes," Pruitt said.
But Democrats said voters wanted each class to be smaller, not simply to have each district meet the limits by averaging the number of students in each class.
"It seems to me the voters were real clear," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "When they voted for class size, they were thinking of their child's class size."
The Republican proposal would require each district to have an average of no greater than 18 students in kindergarten through third-grade classes, 22 in grades four through eight and 25 for high school classes. Already 61 of the state's 67 districts meet that level, meaning the proposal would virtually end the class-size reductions. The proposal would also put a firm cap in each class of 23 in K-3, 27 in grades four through eight and 30 in high school classes.
Effective the beginning of this school year in August, under the current constitutional guidelines, each school's average class size must meet the 18-22-25 limits. If lawmakers approve the constitutional amendment and it's placed on the November ballot, the requirement to meet the limits with a school average would be postponed a year.
"There was no reason to do all of that if in fact two months later voters changed their mind," said Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota.
Unless voters change the constitution, each class in the state must meet the 18-22-25 limits by the beginning of the 2010 school year.
The inclusion of the so-called "65 percent solution" drew fire from Democrats and Republicans. With polls showing most voters support reduced class sizes, the inclusion of the requirement to spend 65 percent of each district's money on classroom instruction is widely viewed as political ploy to sway voters to support the measure.
Klein said that since the state wouldn't define what "classroom instruction" means until next year, voters couldn't know the impact of their decision.
Without knowing if guidance counselors and reading instructors, for example, would be included as expenses for classroom instruction, Klein said a vote on the 65 percent solution would be a "sham."
Pruitt, a conservative Republican, said the 65 percent solution would be an important step toward creating "a culture that stresses increased spending in the classroom."
While education groups like the Florida PTA and the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, opposed the plan, the Florida School Boards Association backs it, saying lawmakers will craft the definition of classroom instruction in a way that wouldn't harm schools.
The Senate Education Committee chairwoman, Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, voted for the measure Tuesday, but indicated she did so only so it could be considered more in the future. She said the 65 percent solution was only a political fix to win voter support and didn't belong in the constitution.
"People more and more are very concerned about changing back to what we had in class size," Lynn said.
Approval in the full Senate of a constitutional amendment requires 24 votes from the 40-member body. With Democrats in firm opposition, only three defections from the 26 members of the Senate Republican caucus would kill the measure. The measure must be considered by at least one more committee before the full Senate could consider it.
Support is more firm in the Florida House, where Republicans on Tuesday said the proposal would ensure the strictest class-size limits in the country.
Source: Gainesville Sun
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