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MARY SPICUZZAA sponsor says it will save co-teaching. Others say it's about costs and flexibility. Critics have a more sinister theory.
PORT RICHEY - More than just about any other school district in the state, Pasco County relies on co-teaching.
Local educators say the practice, which involves putting two or more teachers in the same classroom, is crucial to helping students with disabilities.
But, as of next fall, co-teaching can no longer be used to help districts comply with the class-size amendment, according to the state Department of Education.
That could cost Pasco about $5.5-million.
Now state Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, is co-sponsoring legislation that he says will help save co-teaching.
"It will preserve the integrity of co-teaching," Legg said. "If we don't preserve that integrity, some students who really need that extra help won't get it."
But other sponsors of House Joint Resolution 447, and the companion Senate Joint Resolution 1150, say they are more focused on reducing the cost of the class-size amendment, which voters approved in 2002.
"The main goal of the resolution is to put on the November 2006 ballot an alternative form of class-size resolution that is affordable and practical," the resolution's sponsor, Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, said. "If it's passed, it gives districts a great deal more flexibility."
Pickens added that the legislation is also "designed to address the co-teaching issue."
Only, it doesn't actually mention co-teaching.
And the measure has left some educators furious.
"I think it's about doing away with the class-size reduction," said Lynne Webb, president of the United School Employees of Pasco, which represents about 8,000 teachers and school personnel. "They're using the issue of co-teaching like a bait and switch.
"It's like asking us to trust the Legislature to do the right thing," Webb said. "If the Legislature had been doing the right thing all along, there would never have been a need for an amendment in the first place."
Webb said the legislation is not about co-teaching but rather "violating the trust of the voting public."
Even Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said he hadn't thought the resolutions addressed co-teaching.
"I'm not aware that those resolutions have anything to do with co-teaching," he said.
Fasano said he questioned the motives of the state, which ruled during the summer that co-teaching could not be used to meet the requirements of the class-size amendment.
"I believe that co-teaching is being stopped by the Department of Education in Tallahassee," Fasano said, "to put more pressure on some of the legislators in supporting the joint resolution."
Reducing the cost of the class-size amendment has been a top priority for Gov. Jeb Bush, who in February unsuccessfully attempted to scale back the amendment by linking it to a boost in teacher salaries.
The class-size amendment requires Florida school districts to limit the number of students assigned to each teacher to 18 in Grade 3 or lower, 22 in Grades 4-8 and 25 in Grades 9-12. The law is being phased in and will take full effect in 2010.
The bill Legg and Fasano are co-sponsoring would increase the numbers of students allowed in an individual class to 23, 27, and 30 respectively.
Co-teaching and the class-size amendment overlap when one calculates the size of a co-taught class. For example, if Pasco has two teachers in a classroom with 30 kids, it is counted as two 15-person classes. But next fall, it will be counted as a single 30-person class.
So, Pasco would need to buy about 100 new portables by next fall, which cost about $54,000 each, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructional services Sandra Ramos said. There would be some other expenses as well.
Legg's measure would allow a school district, in "exceptional circumstances," to request from the governor a temporary waiver of the class-size requirements. It would also require that at least 65 percent of total funds received by school districts for operational expenditures must be spent on classroom instruction.
There is no percentage spending requirement.
"We're trying to give the school districts flexibility," Legg said.
A spokeswoman said Bush supports the measure.
"The governor appreciates and applauds the members for addressing the class-size amendment issue," spokeswoman Alia Faraj said. "It's a very important issue."
As of Friday, the House resolution had 12 sponsors, and the Senate version had 21, according to the state Web site.
It also has the support of the Florida School Boards Association, which is working with local school boards to sue over the state's ban on co-teaching as a way to meet the amendment's class-size requirements.
"We believe it's reasonable," the association's executive director, Wayne Blanton, said.
While co-teaching is not mentioned in the resolution, Blanton said, he thinks "that's the intent of the language."
But Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, said he thinks the legislators' intent is to "muddy up the issue" of co-teaching and class-size requirements.
"I think they're trying to come up with another attempt at trying to get voters to see it their way," Pudlow said.
He added that the 65 percent classroom spending requirement doesn't address that Florida schools are underfunded.
"You can have 65 percent of nothing," he said. "And that's nothing."
Pasco school superintendent Heather Fiorentino said she also has concerns about the spending requirements but added that she thinks legislators are "heading in the right direction" by trying to work with co-teaching.
"I'm appreciative that the Legislature is looking at it," Fiorentino said.
Co-teaching is used in 790 Pasco classrooms, according to state figures. Local educators say its crucial to working with exceptional education students.
"We're not doing it to escape anything," said Frank Roder, behavior specialist at F.K. Marchman Technical Center. "We're doing it to help kids."
Still, some co-teaching supporters say legislators should not attempt to weaken the class-size amendment in the name of saving the practice.
Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, who sponsored a bill that would allow co-teaching to be used to help meet class-size requirements, said Floridians should not have to vote on the issue again.
"I think they were pretty clear," Vana said. "They were not smoke signals."
Mary Spicuzza covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is mspicuzza@sptimes.com