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Escambia Meets Class Size Caps, Santa Rosa Does Not
December 2, 2010
The Escambia County School District officially complies with Florida’s class size amendment, but Santa Rosa does not.
In a state report released late Tuesday, Escambia was among 32 of Florida’s 67 school districts that met the mandate that dictates how many students can be in certain classes at each grade level.
Santa Rosa County had a total of 393 classes not in compliance, according to the state report.
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, with the hard numerical caps going into effect this year. The state has struggled to pay for the constitutional mandate, making it, in turn, difficult for schools to meet the requirement.
Districts not in compliance have until December 17 to file an appeal to the Florida Department of Education. Those still not under the caps have until February 15 to present the state with a plan to meet the mandate.
The districts that remain in of violation of class size standards laid out in the state Constitution potentially face hefty fines. A percentage of the fines will be awarded to those district in compliance. A spokesman for the department said the exact amount in fines has not yet been calculated.
In November, voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have repealed those hard class size caps, allowing class size caps to be calculated at a school-wide average, rather than on a per-classroom basis.
Comments
2 Responses to “Escambia Meets Class Size Caps, Santa Rosa Does Not”
Thank you Esc. Cty. SB for being in compliance with state law. I’m sure Santa Rosa Cty. has as much money as we do. They just need to do the right thing for the children and not have to pay the state for noncompliance. Hard caps on classroom size is the only way keep classes from overcrowding. That old saying ” give them an inch and they will take a mile” applies here.
Here we go again SRC School Board, What are you getting us into now??