With slightly more than three weeks to go before the Florida electorate begins deciding on a change to class-size requirements in public schools, state leaders say voters are getting misinformation.
Ron Meyer, an attorney for the Florida Education Association, says Amendment 8 on the November ballot does more than just change the strict requirements on class size. He says it removes language that requires the Legislature to provide money so schools can meet those requirements.
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, says that's simply not true.
"The union argument is not just misleading, it is cynically misleading," said Gaetz. "There's nothing in the proposed amendment that strikes the obligation."
The Florida Teachers Association implies the current amendment on class size, whichrequires the Legislature to fund class-size changes, would be cut out and replaced by the amendment that doesn't have a requirement written into it.
But Gaetz says it doesn't work like that.
The proposal voters will see in November only modifies the current amendment, allowing schools to meet the class-size requirement by looking at schoolwide averages, instead of on a strict class-by-class basis.
Here's how the current constitutional requirements break down:
On Oct. 15, the state will be looking to see if schools are complying with the state's constitutional mandate to have no more than --
- 18 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 3
- 22 students in grades 4 through 8; and
- 25 students in grades 9 through 12.
But, if voters approve Amendment 8 on Nov. 2, those caps become schoolwide averages, with actual caps per classroom slightly increased.
That means schools can have up to 21 students in a 1st grade class, as long as the schoolwide average for that age group stays at or below 18 per class.
The per-class caps for grades 4-8 go up from 22 to 27 and the per-class cap for grades 9-12 goes up from 25 to 30, as long as those age groups keep their averages at 22 and 25 respectively.
Over the last eight years, Gaetz says the Legislature has already spent $16 billion toward implementing the changes to class size.
The Florida Teachers Association is taking the issue up with the Supreme Court of Florida, after a lower judge ruled that the amendment is accurate as it stands.
Oral arguments are slated to be heard before the supreme court at 9 a.m. on Oct.6.
