Court: Class Size Amendment To Stay On The Ballot

October 8, 2010

The Florida Supreme Court will allow voters to weigh in on the state’s class size law in the November election, rejecting a challenge Thursday from the statewide teachers’ union that the proposal was misleading.

The Florida Education Association attempted to persuade the court’s seven justices that the Legislature’s attempt to soften the class size provision in the constitution was not being accurately portrayed in the ballot summary that voters will read on Election Day. The language clearly explained that the actual number of students in Florida classrooms could change, union lawyers said, but it did not say that schools would likely receive fewer dollars because of it.

The court, in a unanimous opinion only a day after hearing the case, acknowledged that the funding for schools could change because of the amendment but they disagreed that the ballot language was defective.

“We note that a voter would be able to draw a common-sense conclusion from a review of the ballot summary that the amount of funding needed to sufficiently fund the revised class sizes will likely be reduced,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

In effect, that’s the point. School districts, including Escambia County, have said that in a tight economy they need a little flexibility to make classes larger in some cases. If they have to add a teacher to meet the strict interpretation of the class size law, the school would need more money.

In 2002, voters passed a constitutional amendment that capped individual classrooms at 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school. The limits have been phased in since the amendment was passed. The hard numerical caps went into effect this year.

But it’s been problematic from the beginning for lawmakers and school district officials. As revenues declined, the state could not pump the needed money into the schools and administrators, in turn, voiced concerns they might not be able to comply with the law.

The amendment put on the ballot by lawmakers would allow class size caps to be calculated at a school-wide average, rather than on a per-classroom basis.

The court’s decision marked a victory for legislative leaders, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and some education groups that have been lobbying for passage of the tweak. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who sponsored the Senate version of the amendment, said now the battle transfers to the public sphere where supporters have to persuade 60 percent of voters to favor the measure.

“Sixty percent is a very high threshold and the unions are pouring millions of dollars into a campaign to misinform the public,” Gaetz said. “I think it’s going to be up to the grassroots parents’ groups, teacher groups.”

The Escambia County School Board has held public meetings — including one at Northview High School — to encourage support for Amendment 8. The district also released a position statement: “The School Board of Escambia County, Florida, recognizing the need for smaller classes and the need for flexibility at the school level in providing the best education for students of this District, encourage citizens to support proposed Amendment 8 in the 2010 general election.”

Ron Meyer, the lawyer for the Florida Education Association, said that he was disappointed that the court had voted down the union’s challenge, but said that the court’s opinion was not a total loss.

“The Supreme Court didn’t deny the fundamental premise that we brought forward: that passage of Amendment 8 will seriously reduce the amount of money that the Legislature will give to public schools,” he said.

Pictured: The Escambia County School Board lobbied for Amendment 8 during an August meeting at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

One Response to “Court: Class Size Amendment To Stay On The Ballot”

  1. David Huie Green on October 10th, 2010 9:37 am

    another DUH moment, the whole idea was to spend less on the children than otherwise

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News