Florida voters pass an amendment to limit class size
11/19/02 - After Florida voters passed a referendum mandating smaller class sizes, education leaders are wondering who will pay for it.
Amendment 9, which was narrowly passed Nov. 5, requires all Florida classrooms in prekindergarten through grade 3 to be limited to 18 children. Classes would be limited to 22 students in grades 4 though 8 and 25 in grades 9-12. No other state has such a restrictive law on class size.
It's a "disaster," says Miami-Dade County school board member Betsy Kaplan. "It's probably going to be another unfunded mandate," and paying for it "will probably come at the expense of arts or sports."
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) who was re-elected, campaigned against Amendment 9, while his Democratic challenger, Bill McBride, supported it.
State economists estimated it could cost anywhere from $8.5 billion to $27.5 billion to implement the class size measure over the eight-year phase-in period.
Most high school classes are within the limit, but many elementary school classes are over the maximum. For example, the state education department reports the number of students in the average elementary school class exceeds 26 in Flagler County and Broward County.
When asked during an interview on NBC news about how the state might pay for the initiative, Bush said, "you either have to cut spending or you have to increase taxes, and that's a dilemma I posed to the people of the state."
The Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) did not take a position on the class-size measure because local school board members were split on it, says Ruth Melton, legislative liaison.
While there is universal agreement on the benefits of reducing class size, Melton says the main concern is the expense. She says the "inflated price tag" of more than $27 billion might have been used as a tactic to derail the amendment, along with threats to cut core education programs, increase taxes, and provide no salary raises to teachers.
Florida's annual budget is only $50 billion, Melton notes, and the state already is in an economic slump, with "some economists predicting there is already a $3 billion to $4 billion hole in the budget now."
And while there has been at least one study demonstrating the benefits of smaller classes - the Tennessee Education Department's evaluation of Project Star (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) - Melton says some school board members believe improving professional development of teachers could be just as effective in raising student achievement.
Some educators expressed concern that the need to hire many new teachers when the state already is struggling to find enough credentialed teachers could result in reducing the quality of the state's teacher force.
FSBA expects to work on a task force being assembled by the state secretary of education to work on implementation.
Many issues need to be worked out, Melton notes. For example, the new law is a constitutional requirement, but there are no specific sanctions. That means if an elementary school classroom reaches the maximum of 18 students, and a 19th child is assigned to that class, his or her parents could sue.
The measure does not allow districts to use aides to reduce the student-teacher ratio; it strictly limits the number of children per classroom.
If a class begins the school year in compliance, and then because of student mobility or students returning late from vacation, the class is two students over the limit, Melton says: "Does that mean the school is in immediate violation? Is there some degree of flexibility or a grace period allowed? The legislature will have to address this issue."
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| Reproduced with permission from the Nov. 19, 2002, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2002, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |