A proposal to relax limits on school class sizes should be thrown off the November ballot because voters may not realize the proposed change could change how much money schools will get, a lawyer for the state’s teachers union told a judge on Wednesday.
The union, the Florida Education Association (FEA), is asking the circuit court to throw the proposed Amendment 8, a centerpiece of the Republican Legislature’s agenda, off the ballot. The proposal, if it goes before voters and is approved by at least 60 percent of them, would relax the way schools count students in meeting class size caps. Currently, the caps are set at 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school. Under the amendment, schools would only have to meet an average of that number in each grade.
FEA attorney Ron Meyer told Leon County Circuit Court Judge Charles Francis that voters won’t realize that by tweaking the 2002 constitutional provision that instituted the caps, voters may also alter how much money schools receive from the state. That information is not a part of the ballot summary or title, which is the only information printed on the ballot. Meyer said that puts the proposal in violation of a state requirement that the ballot summary and title be clear and unambiguous.
“They’re making a change in the funding formula,” he said. “And again, people can do that. But the Legislature can’t conceal that.”
Jonathan Glogau, an assistant attorney general, charged that the FEA could not produce any numbers that indicate how the funding will change in the next few years.
“There is no requirement that the Legislature appropriate any particular amount of money,” Glogau said.
The class size issue has been a thorn in the Legislature’s side since voters approved the caps in 2002 because of the associated costs, particularly as tax collections have shrunk.
School administrators say they have had to become creative in order to comply with the law and have voiced concerns about situations where they are at capacity and new students enroll in the district.
Lawmakers debated those concerns over flexibility and passed a proposed constitutional amendment during the spring legislative session over the objections of the teachers’ union and many Democrats. The FEA and Miami teacher Lynette Estrada filed suit in July to knock it off the ballot.
“And as a teacher, and I teach special ed, I see the difference when the class is smaller,” Estrada said after the oral arguments. “As a parent, I see a difference when the classes are smaller. My daughter, who is 12, sees a difference when the classes are smaller.”
Francis said he would try to rule by the end of the week, possibly on Thursday. Regardless of his ruling, it is likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately be the final decider as to whether the issue should be a part of the November ballot.
By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service of Florida
