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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Class size vote hits wall

Gov. Bush criticizes Democrats for offering no alternative to his proposal to hold a special election.

By CARRIE JOHNSON
Published April 14, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - A plan by Gov. Jeb Bush to call a special election this fall to scale back the class size amendment appears dead after a rare show of political strength by Senate Democrats.

All but one of the Senate's 14 Democratic members said Wednesday they will vote against a bill calling for a Sept. 6 election to ask voters if they want to keep the class size requirement frozen at the current level.

A three-fourths vote by both chambers is required to hold a special statewide election. In the 40-member Senate, that means at least four Democrats and all 26 Republicans would have to vote for the proposal for it to succeed.

Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, worried about low voter turnout in a special election. "It's a very, very important issue and there would be very little input from the public," Smith said. "We ought to be aiming for just the opposite."

Bush has said the next round of strict classroom size requirements, which kick in during the 2006-07 school year, will cost the state billions of dollars in new school construction and teacher salaries. So he proposed scaling them back in a constitutional amendment that also would increase teacher salaries.

He blasted the Democrats for not offering an alternative.

"Unfortunately, the Democrats have reached the point where they don't have an agenda so they're just against things, which is too bad," Bush said. "Better to have said, "Okay, we're going to lock down against this, but here's our proposal ... But they didn't do that."

But Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said he opposed a special election, which could cost $18-million, and wasn't sure a majority of Republican senators supported it.

"In the overall scheme of gaming of elections, that's a pretty heady approach to try to get something into a special election environment so you can focus on a more narrow section of the turnout and drive outcomes," Lee said. "Frankly, except for emergency situations, it's somewhat undemocratic in my view."

House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, said the issue isn't necessarily dead but it would probably take some incentives from Bush to get the necessary 90 votes needed to pass the House.

If a special election is not held, the earliest voters could decide the question would be November 2006. But such a divisive issue could drive up turnout among Democrats, which Bush and other Republicans would be loath to do when voters also would be electing a new governor. The class size amendment, which was adopted in 2002, was most popular in large urban counties with high concentrations of Democratic voters.

Under the amendment, schools must meet class size caps based on district averages. Those standards tighten in 2006 to school averages and eventually class by class.

Bush wants to keep the averages locked at the current levels, which critics say would allow districts to maintain overcrowded schools instead of being forced to lower class sizes at each school.

In a bid to win over teachers, who generally favor the class size amendment, Bush's proposal also includes higher teacher pay and a $35,000 starting teacher salary.

The state's largest teachers union, the Florida Education Association, opposes the plan, though it is working with Bush on a compromise. But Lee said he might have trouble supporting the overall package without the union's backing. "My concern is," Lee said, "if the teachers that we are purporting to help with this amendment come out against it, how are we going to explain to the public that we're from the government and we're here to help?"

--Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 15, 2005, 19:33:24]