Bush is accused of racial politics

He responds that his critics play the race card by faulting his remarks on busing and the class size ballot measure.

©Associated Press
September 4, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- Black lawmakers on Tuesday accused Gov. Jeb Bush of making statements aimed at scaring white voters into opposing a ballot measure that would limit the number of children in public school classrooms.

Rep. Curtis Richardson referred to comments Bush has made that school attendance boundaries would have to be redrawn and busing would be necessary if voters approve the proposal in November.

"I think what the governor was doing there was race-baiting," said Richardson, D-Tallahassee.

Bush, speaking before a faith-based conference in Orlando, called the charge ridiculous.

"The race card is used at the drop of a hat," he said. "It's an effort to try and distort the facts."

Bush said the class size amendment would have a "disrupting impact on public education in our state," reducing the quality of teachers in schools. Supporters of the ballot measure are doing a "disservice" to Floridians by not giving clear information about its cost, he said.

School superintendents also warned that busing was a likely consequence if the amendment passes. Bush asked why Richardson did not protest that conclusion.

Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, the state senator who spearheaded the petition drive that got the proposal on the ballot, said the amendment's passage wouldn't lead to rezoning and busing. Crowded classrooms are too common to solve the problem with busing, Meek said.

Meek and state Sen. Les Miller Jr., chairman of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators, said the class size issue cuts across racial lines.

The 22 members of the black legislative caucus called Tuesday's news conference to discuss the class size amendment.

"We're not going to do this race-baiting thing the governor wants us to get into," Miller, D-Tampa, said. "We're talking about every child in this state in the public school system getting a top-quality education."

If approved by voters, the proposal would limit class size to no more than 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 students in fourth through eighth grades and 25 students in high school. The caps would be phased in between 2003 and 2010.

An average Florida classroom now holds 23 students through the fifth grade and about 26 students in middle school and high school.

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