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Analysis: Division defeated a Bush priority

A vote blocking the governor and GOP leaders from asking voters to ease class size caps can be traced to a power struggle in the Senate.

By STEVE BOUSQUET and LETITIA STEIN
Published April 30, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - For the fourth straight year, Republican legislators have tried and failed to weaken the class size amendment.

The latest result on Friday suggests that smaller classes are here to stay, whether Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican leaders like it or not.

Six moderate Republicans joined all 14 Democratic senators to block a proposed constitutional amendment asking voters to give school districts more leeway in enforcing rigid class size caps. The amendment needed 24 votes. It failed, 20-20.

Friday's defeat can be traced to two factors: the public's desire for smaller classes and a bitter backstage struggle for future GOP control of the Senate.

Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland was one of the six Republicans who broke with her party.

Dockery paid Texas pollster David Hill $6,500 to gauge voter attitudes in her five-county district, which includes part of Hernando County.

"I really do think the constituents in the state of Florida want smaller class sizes," Dockery said.

Joining Dockery in rejecting a GOP-sponsored class size overhaul were Republicans Nancy Argenziano of Dunnellon, Rudy Garcia of Hialeah, Dennis Jones of Treasure Island, Evelyn Lynn of Ormond Beach and Alex Villalobos of Miami.

Argenziano called it "hypocrisy" for the Senate to propose 42 constitutional amendments this session while tinkering with the voters' will on class sizes.

"The voters wanted to have lower classroom sizes and I don't really have a problem with that," Jones said.

Five of the six dissenting GOP senators - excluding Jones - support Villalobos in his bid to become the Senate president 2008.

An effort to wrest that post away is being led by Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and the resulting infighting has hurt cohesion among Republicans.

The present Senate president, Tom Lee, R-Valrico, said the power struggle played a role in Friday's vote. He also singled out the success of Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, a candidate for governor, in uniting Democrats and dissident Republicans to torpedo the class size overhaul. "It's a very dangerous situation to find yourself in as a presiding officer, so I wanted to address it as soon as I saw it beginning to happen," Lee said.

As Republican support on other issues melted away, Lee disappeared from the rostrum for long stretches, working to save a working majority.

Lee's dilemma could be a political boost for Smith. It reinforces a theme of Smith's gubernatorial campaign that he can get things done, despite being in the minority. "We were able to put together a coalition here and hold that coalition for success on this issue," Smith said.

Now it remains to be seen whether the divisiveness that surfaced Friday will jeopardize votes on unresolved issues in the last week of the session.

In the long-running and highly partisan debate over smaller class sizes, Friday's result was all too familiar. After Gov. Jeb Bush failed to persuade voters to reject the amendment in 2002, he called for a repeal vote in 2003. Senators balked. The next year, a senator suggested applying the smaller class mandate only to Grade 3 and below, but the idea went nowhere.

Last year, Bush proposed linking a watered-down class size amendment to a starting teacher pay of $35,000, but the Senate rejected that, too.

The class size reduction amendment, approved by 52 percent to 48 percent in 2002, requires a limit of 18 students per class in prekindergarten through third grade. The caps are 22 students in fourth through eighth grades, and 25 in high school. A school district average is in use to apply the size limits through 2006, giving way to a school average and finally a room-by-room count by 2008-09.

The latest class size makeover proposal would have relaxed class size caps to the district level immediately while mandating that school boards spend 65 percent of their budgets in the classroom.

The outlook for passage was shaky from the start. A proposal with tepid Senate support needed an overwhelming Republican consensus (24 of 26 GOP votes) because every Democrat was opposed. Such unanimity among Republicans was unattainable in the current atmosphere, poisoned by the bitter, intensely personal backstage fight for power that has divided the Republican caucus.

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, a former Senate president, said potential for acrimony to damage the Republican control of the Legislature is "scary."

"The way that we got to be the majority party is by the Democrats doing what we are now doing," King said, "and that's fighting amongst ourselves, and having different cliques within the caucus."

How members of the Florida Senate voted Friday on a bill (SJR 1150) to relax standards in the class size amendment. A yes vote (Y) is a vote to relax the standards and a no vote (N) is a vote to uphold the original amendment, approved in 2002. No Democrats voted for the proposal. Tampa Bay area senators are in bold.

REPUBLICANS FOR (20)

JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales; Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach; Carey Baker, R-Eustis; Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton; Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey; Charlie Clary, R-Destin; Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs; Victor Crist, R-Tampa; Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami; Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey; Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne; Jim King, R-Jacksonville; Tom Lee, R-Valrico; Durell Peaden, R-Crestview; Bill Posey, R-Rockledge; Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie; Burt Saunders, R-Naples ; Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg; Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden; Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville.

REPUBLICANS AGAINST (6)

Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunellon; Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland; Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah; Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island; Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach; Alex Villalobos, R-Miami.

DEMOCRATS AGAINST (14)

Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres; Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami; Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale; Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale; Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach; Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville; Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton; Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee; Gwen Margolis, D-Aventura; Les Miller, D-Tampa; Nan Rich, D-Sunrise; Gary Siplin, D-Orlando; Rod Smith, D-Alachua; Frederica Wilson, D-Miami.

[Last modified April 30, 2006, 00:58:16]