Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

House panel votes for looser class size limits

Voters would be asked to revise what they passed in 2002, and also require that districts spend 65 percent of their budgets on instruction.

TALLAHASSEE - A Republican proposal that would ask voters to loosen the class size limits they set nearly four years ago won approval from a House committee on a straight party-line vote Thursday.

To sweeten the deal, sponsors included a provision that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their budgets on classroom instruction. Democrats denounced the proposed state constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 447) as nothing but a gimmick and questioned the motive for linking the two issues.

"This is an empty promise intended to deceive parents to vote against the best interests of their schoolchildren," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.

The criticism from Democrats drew a sharp response from the proposal's prime sponsor, Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka.

"To tell me that I am putting forward something that is dishonest is offensive," Pickens said. "We are not repealing class size."

Voters in 2002 amended the Florida Constitution to require schools, by the fall of 2010, to limit classes to no more than 18 pupils in prekindergarten through third grade, 22 students in fourth through eighth grades and 25 in high school.

Gov. Jeb Bush and other Republicans campaigned against the citizen initiative, arguing it would cost too much to hire more teachers and build additional classrooms needed to comply.

The Legislature passed an implementing law to phase in the requirements. Currently they must be met on a district average basis. The final interim step would be to comply by school average.

Pickens' proposal would make the current district average limits the final requirement. Individual classes, though, still could have teacher-student ratios of no more than five students above the district average.

The new amendment would state that the requirements could be met though team teaching - putting a second teacher in a classroom. Another provision would let the governor waive class size and 65 percent spending requirements in exceptional circumstances.

There is no definition in the proposal of what constitutes the 65 percent spending for instruction. That would be decided by implementing legislation if voters approve the amendment.

A formula developed by the National Center for Education Statistics indicates Florida schools are putting 58 percent of their budgets into classroom instruction. A co-sponsor of the current proposal, Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, argued that going to 65 percent would add $1-billion to classroom spending without raising taxes.

The center's formula, however, does not count librarians, guidance counselors, reading specialists and teacher training as classroom expenses. Adding those functions to the mix would put Florida's classroom spending well over 65 percent and not require any budget changes, said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

He said the association is supporting the proposed amendment. The Florida Education Association, the state's teachers union, opposes it.

It next goes to the Education Appropriations Committee. A similar proposal in the Senate (Senate Joint Resolution 1150) has not yet received a committee hearing.

[Last modified January 27, 2006, 01:20:12]