Class size compliance could be tricky this school year, commissioner says
posted by LesliePostal on Nov 13, 2009 10:07:34 AM

Florida school districts are worried -- make that very worried -- about complying with the state's class-size law next year, when there will be a head count in every "core" classroom. The Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition is even drafting a "white paper" to explain to the state all its concerns.

But Education Commissioner Eric Smith said this week it looks like some Florida districts, after years of making "steady improvement" in reducing class sizes, are having trouble this school year.

That's a bit surprising because this year they can still calculate class sizes on a school-wide average. Smith said his concerns were based on "early indications" and he would have more information in January. But he told the State Board of Education he was worried that some districts were having "more difficulty with compliance" because of budget constraints.

The class-size law comes from a constitutional amendment voters approved in 2002. It is is being phased in, with full implementation to be finished in 2010.

Many school administrators and Republicans in the Florida Legislature have been working to modify the law, so far without success. But they will try again this spring.

They think calculating classes on a school-wide average is reasonable, leading to somewhat smaller classes but not creating the scheduling and budget problems of the law's hard caps on "core" classes (no more than 18 students in the earliest grades, no more than 22 in grades 4 to 8 and no more than 25 in high school courses).

The state estimated districts would need 6,447 new teachers next school year, at a cost of more than $391 million, to fully implement the law.

Some local administrators say those estimates are too low. Volusia County officials, for example, say they would need 369 new teachers next year, not the 221 the state estimated.

Expect a lot of discussions about class size in the coming months.

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