State: Officials fight plan to reduce class size

Officials fight plan to reduce class size

Two prominent state education appointees target a proposed amendment to limit student numbers.

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Tallahassee Deputy Bureau Chief

TALLAHASSEE -- It seems like something parents and teachers could love as much as apple pie: a constitutional amendment limiting the number of students in each class.

But two of Gov. Jeb Bush's most prominent education appointees are determined to stop the proposal before it ever gets to voters.

Steve Uhlfelder, a trustee at Florida State University, and Phil Handy, chairman of the Board of Education, are teaming up to fight the proposed amendment. They want the state Supreme Court to stop the measure well before it reaches the November 2002 ballot.

Two weeks ago, Uhlfelder and Handy revived a long-dormant political action committee called Citizens for Budget Fairness. Uhlfelder, a lawyer, lobbyist and Democrat who supports Bush, is chairman, while Handy, a Republican fundraiser and Bush ally, is vice chairman.

The day they reorganized the committee, according to election and court records, they filed arguments with the Supreme Court opposing the class size amendment. They argue that it is a violation of a requirement that ballot initiatives stick to one subject, because it would affect many functions of local government, from land use to hiring teachers.

In subsequent arguments, Uhlfelder calls the proposal "clearly and conclusively defective." Among other things, he argues, school districts that have the largest class sizes would get the most money, causing a "significant and disturbing impact" on a formula that is intended to distribute education dollars equitably to all 67 counties.

Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, raised similar concerns in court papers.

He told the justices the class size amendment "will still have a significant impact on the decisionmaking powers of school districts." He, too, asked the court whether the proposal violates the single-subject rule.

The class size amendment could prove popular in an era when overcrowded classrooms and long rows of portables are commonplace in many parts of Florida. An effort led by former House Speaker Peter Wallace of St. Petersburg several years ago to reduce class sizes has largely been abandoned by the Legislature. And lawmakers extended the deadline this year for school districts to spend millions to upgrade or eliminate portable classrooms.

Uhlfelder, a partner with the Holland & Knight law firm and a former chairman of the now-defunct Board of Regents, considers himself a strong advocate of public education. He also is a longtime student of the complex and increasingly popular strategy of amending the state Constitution. Uhlfelder was once director of a commission that recommends revisions to the Constitution, and he opposes citizen-led initiatives.

"I don't believe we should legislate at Publix," Uhlfelder says of the petition gatherers who congregate outside supermarkets. "If people don't like the way their legislators vote, they should get rid of them. I don't believe in the initiative process as a means of circumventing the legislative process."

Uhlfelder also says class size is only one factor affecting a child's education.

"I think it's more the quality of the education than the classroom size," he says. "I would rather have one good teacher teaching 36 kids -- and using technology -- than two poor teachers teaching 18 each."

Handy, a Winter Park investor, called the class size proposal "a very big deal. If they are successful," he said, "it generates a situation many in the state find difficult."

Supporters of the class size amendment include several Democratic lawmakers and the teachers unions. They want to limit the number of students to 18 in prekindergarten through third grade, 22 students in grades four-eight and 25 students in grades nine-12.

That wouldn't be cheap.

The price could be in the billions, but the proposal does not say how the Legislature should pay for it. The proposed amendment says only that class sizes be reduced gradually until the goal is met by 2010.

Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, a leader of the movement to limit class sizes, says the issue will become even more popular as the latest budget cuts take effect and school systems try to absorb $309-million in classroom spending cuts. Some superintendents already have said they can't hire any more teachers to keep class sizes from rising.

"If we don't start protecting children, we're going to need lecture halls for third-graders. That's where we're headed," Meek said. "We're going to have a large number of school-age children that are not going to get the attention they deserve."

The Coalition to Reduce Class Size, a political action committee, is headed by Meek and Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. The group reports contributions of $129,450 since May.

The largest single donor, Vitas Healthcare Corp. of Miami, donated $20,000. Vitas is a nationwide network of hospices owned by Hugh Westbrook, who has been a leading Democratic fundraiser and was an early supporter of Janet Reno's campaign for governor.

BellSouth, AT&T and Wayne Hogan, a prominent trial lawyer from Jacksonville, contributed $15,000 each. The International Longshoremen's Association local in Miami gave $10,000, and teacher unions in Miami-Dade and Broward gave $5,000 each.

The Uhlfelder-Handy group has been successful in the past.

The first time they formed Citizens for Budget Fairness, in 1997, they helped defeat a proposed ballot initiative that would have required 40 percent of the state general revenue budget be spent for public education. The state Supreme Court killed the proposal, ruling that it violated the single-subject requirement.

After winning that battle, Uhlfelder closed the PAC last year and donated the balance in its bank account, about $2,000, to Floridians for School Choice, a group that has been a leading advocate of school vouchers.

Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments on the class size proposal Feb. 8. Meek said his group is hoping for a positive decision to pick up the pace of gathering 480,000 valid voter signatures needed to make the 2002 general election ballot.

-- Times staff writer Stephen Hegarty and researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.