Bill to Change Class-Size Penalty Calculations Survives House Appropriations

School officials in Broward and Miami-Dade counties heaved a sigh of relief Tuesday morning when HB 189, the bill that revises the method for calculating the penalty for failure to comply with the state constitutional class size requirements, moved forward.

The bill calls for calculating at the school average instead of the classroom level.

Broward and Miami-Dade are the two Florida districts most out of compliance, and the two that would gain most by the bill's success. Representatives for each said they respect the law, but they probably will never be in compliance.

Broward schools' lobbyist Georgia Slack said all her 236,000-student district wants is a "level playing field" with charter schools.

"Broward added $39 million of local funds this year, and it was all for more teachers," Slack said.

Nevertheless, members of the House Education Appropriations Committee expressed their concern that the district received $5 million to reach compliance but publicly stated it is cheaper to pay the $1 million penalty and keep the $5 million.

Charter schools do get money for class-size compliance, but only 65 percent of the amount other public schools receive. Nor did charters get the start-up money the state provided in 2002, when the class-size amendment first was passed.

"I'm voting for this now," said Rep. Janet Atkins, R-Fernandina Beach, a charter school advocate, "but going forward, I don't know if I'm going to be able to.