Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Class size tweak defeated

By LETITIA STEIN and STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 28, 2006

TALLAHSSEE -- Six moderate Republican senators joined with Democrats Friday and defeated an effort to weaken Florida's voter-approved class size amendment.

The measure went down on a 20-20 tie, four short of the 24 votes needed to place the issue on the November ballot. The result preserves the original class size limits that voters passed in 2002, and deals a harsh setback to the Republican leadership's four-year battle against the highly expensive but popular limits on class sizes.

"We got some support from moderate Republicans and we worked hard to talk to people about why class size is important," said Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the teacher union that worked to get the amendment approved. "I think lawmakers probably thought that (class size) had more support than it did in 2002."

The six renegade Republicans were Sens. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon; Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland; Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah; Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach; Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island; and Alex Villalobos, R-Miami.

All but Jones are senators who remain loyal to Villalobos' efforts to claim the Senate presidency in the 2008-2010 term.

Gov. Jeb Bush has been one of the most outspoken critics of the class size amendment, saying its cost and rigid requirements block other improvements such as higher teacher salaries. But in his final year in office, Bush's higher priority has been preserving school vouchers, which have been invalidated by the Florida Supreme Court.

The class size overhaul was thought to have a chance of winning because this is Bush's final year in office, and it was championed by Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, who will succeed Tom Lee as Senate president in November.

Late Friday afternoon, Lee surprisingly called the class size proposal for a vote with no more debate -- a clear signal that the bill was doomed to defeat.

Pruitt made one last fruitless effort to change his fellow Republicans' minds.

"The facts speak for themselves. The data screams out to us loud and clear that we need a more flexible and sustainable plan," Pruitt told the Senate.

The latest proposed adjustment would have frozen current class sizes at the district level and raised maximum classroom caps by five students at each grade level. Supporters of the change called the original standards overly rigid, but opponents said the will of the voters should be honored.

This year's general election would have marked the Republicans' last real chance to ask voters for a re-do, because they're unlikely to call a special election and a new governor who'll take office next January is not likely to have the same determination to alter the class-size limits as Jeb Bush has.

At the same time, the clock is ticking to shrink class sizes -- a multi-billion dollar program to reduce the number of students in every public school classroom.

Times staff writer Jennifer Liberto contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 18:01:02]