Work on smaller classes begins

With no clear idea how much it will cost, educators and lawmakers cast about for ways to implement the measure.

By STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 7, 2002

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The fourth-grade classes are a little crowded this year at Garrison Jones Elementary School in Palm Harbor, with one class holding 32 kids. That's just a few kids more than the Pinellas school district goal for fourth grade.

But in light of the class size amendment approved by voters Tuesday, it is one very crowded class -- 10 kids over the amendment's maximum.

"We are nowhere near what the amendment calls for," said Ed Guy, the school's assistant principal. "I guess we have to look at it in a different way now."

Educators across the state on Wednesday began thinking of class sizes in new ways, though they have eight years to meet the class cap requirements. And law makers who worked to kill the amendment suddenly stopped their dire predictions to work on a plan.

Cost estimates for range from $8-billion to $27.5-billion over the eight-year phase-in period. No one knows yet how the state will pay for it, or what incremental steps must be taken before the 2010 deadline for full implementation.

State leaders are short on answers.

Gov. Jeb Bush , spoke of cuts in services and increased taxes only moments after declaring victory Tuesday night, said Wednesday that he does not have a plan.

"It will be a while before I give you a specific answer because this is a big, big deal," Bush told reporters.

Education Secretary Jim Horne, who meets with Bush next week to talk about the issue, said he expects some of the toughest questions will be resolved in court.

Hillsborough County school officials will start devising their own plan today. They need to decide how many new teachers they will need and what it will cost. They need to know how they can use teachers aides in the future, and whether they can use a "co-teaching" strategy that would put, for instance, two teachers with 34 students in the same classroom.

State Sen. Kendrick Meek, who spearheaded the class size initiative, said he would hold lawmakers and the governor accountable for carrying out the wishes of the voters.

Meek said that when Bush and newly elected lawmakers are sworn into office, they will "put their hand on a bible and swear to uphold the constitution." The class size amendment will be part of that constitution.

And lawmakers raised the possibility of reviving a radical plan that would give a school voucher to any student to attend private school. The plan was pushed by state Rep. Johnnie Byrd, the Plant City Republican, last year, but died in committee. Byrd, the incoming speaker of the House, said Wednesday "everything is on the table."

One thing seemed clear Wednesday: If ignoring the initiative or seeking a repeal are options, no one is talking publicly about them.

"That would be a slap in the face to the voters of the state of Florida," said Republican Sen. Ken Pruitt, the Senate's finance and taxation chairman. "They spoke loud and clear on this issue. We are definitely going to have to change the way we operate."

Pruitt said lawmakers will have to make decisions soon. For one thing, the amendment phase-in begins next school year. And it requires considerable school construction, tasks that take months and years before showing results.

The amendment requires that by the year 2010 no more than 18 students can be assigned to each teacher in prekindergarten through third grade, 22 students in grades four through eight, and 25 in high school classes. Schools must make incremental progress toward that goal starting next school year, reducing classes by an average of two children per year.

In an unguarded moment last month, Bush said he had a "devious plan" to kill the amendment. He later said he regretted the comments and meant them sarcastically. On Wednesday, Bush said that before proposing a plan to pay for Amendment 11, he would seek input from school districts, lawmakers, even the teachers union leaders who supported the amendment and opposed Bush.

Meek said he expects that voters will be watching to see how Bush and lawmakers handle this matter. Even though he has been elected to Congress, Meek said he and his supporters would do "anything we have to do to see that the people's will prevails."

-- Staff writers Anita Kumar, Lucy Morgan and Alisa Ulferts contributed to this report.

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