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Florida GOP aims to weaken class-size amendment as final caps take effect this year

By Dara Kam Palm
Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, Feb. 1, 2010

More than $16 billion and eight years later after voters put class-size limits into the state constitution, GOP lawmakers are once again trying to weaken the caps while teachers and Democrats are lining up to fight it.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate are proposing a bill that would ask voters to change the constitution's current "maximum" class sizes to school-wide "average" class sizes. The bill, proposed by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Destin, and Rep. Will Weatherford, R--Wesley Chapel, also would set maximums for individual class sizes but at higher rates than the current ones.

Several similar efforts have been tried and failed since voters put the class-size limits in the constitution in 2002. Last year, the House pass a weakened class-size proposal but that measure failed in the Senate.

"It's kind of a yearly thing like the swallows returning to Capistrano," said Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the state teachers union, the Florida Education Association. "In 2002, Jeb Bush was saying the cost of this would blot out the sun. We haven't seen that ... People were well aware of what they were voting for when they put it in. I think it's the obligation of legislators to enact what the voters put into the constitution."

The difference this year is that the individual class limits are supposed to go into effect for the first time in August at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

But a draft of bill proposed by Gaetz and Weatherford doesn't set the date for vote until November.

Gaetz, who said he voted against the original amendment, acknowledges his proposal, if approved by 60 percent of voters, could create logistical problems for schools.

"This should have been done last year ... Now we're into 'It's better late than never,' " he said.

Gaetz and Weatherford will need a 60 percent vote in each of their chambers to put it on the November ballot. To set it earlier than the scheduled election, they would need 75 percent of the vote in each chamber.

They have the Republican votes for the November election, but would need Democratic help to set it earlier.

Democrats, however, are expected to oppose the bill, as is the teacher's union

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who was responsible for getting the class-size limits on the ballot in 2002, said he'll keep fighting to keep them.

"Florida families cannot be shortchanged. They simply ask that their children not be packed into overcrowded classrooms. Instead of focusing on misguided priorities, Florida needs a long-term perspective to secure a better future for our children. Implementing the class size limits without delay is critical so our teachers can teach in classrooms where our students can learn. Moreover, it is important to note that our state needs to invest now in its human capital in order to reverse the tide of joblessness for tomorrow's workers," said Meek, a Democrat running for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat.

The school superintendents and school boards associations are backing the constitutional proposal, and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is also running for U.S. Senate, recently said he supports watering down the class size requirements.

Gaetz, a former school board superintendent, said he is sponsoring this year's measure to give school districts more flexibility.

The constitutional caps for kindergarten through sixth grade are 18 students. Gaetz's proposal would make the school average class size 18 students but cap the number of students in each elementary school class at 21.

Middle school classes will be capped at 22 students under the current constitutional requirements. Gaetz's bill would again allow require the school average to be 22 students per class and cap class sizes at 25.

In high school, classes will be limited to 25 students. Gaetz's bill would again keep that the school-wide average and would cap individual classes at 30.

Gaetz, who is expected to become senate president in 2012, and House sponsor Weatherford, who is expected to become House Speaker that same year, have included maximums in their proposal to keep administrators from abusing the school-wide averages, Gaetz said.

And some lawmakers may be more amenable to it this year than in the past as they try to close more than a $2 billion budget gap in this year's budget.

But Gaetz said money isn't the issue. He doesn't want students to be moved into portable classrooms or be forced to take buses across town when the 19th student starts attending school mid-year.

"If we have not put some local flexibility into the constitutional language, when the 19th third-grader moves into an elementary school in Palm Beach County, that could trigger a constitutional crisis," Gaetz said. "Then that elementary school has to find a teaching space. A well-run elementary school doesn't have a lot of empty teaching spaces. You can't just drop a curtain.

"That probably means a portable. If we go to the ballot in November, then we avoid that constitutional crisis which will repeat itself in thousands of classrooms, in hundreds of schools, in scores of school districts all over Florida every month," he said.