Guest Column by Representative Bill Heller (D-St. Petersburg)
It is time to end the days of packing 30 or more students into a classroom with one teacher.
Florida is a step away from permanently fulfilling the constitutional mandate voters approved in 2002 guaranteeing that students learn in smaller classes. Unfortunately, the mandate is under siege by Amendment 8 on the 2010 General Election ballot. Voters should reject this misguided attempt to cut money needed to keep class sizes small in Florida’s already underfunded public schools.
Amendment 8 comes at the worst possible time for our public schools. Per-student funding is at its lowest level since the 2005-2006 school year. The Legislature has forced school districts to finance public education by increasing local property taxes rather than complying with the constitutional mandate to properly fund schools with state resources.
The Class Size Amendment has saved public education from massive cuts during these difficult times. While Florida’s overall budget declined by about $6 billion in the last five years, public education received almost $19 billion since 2002 thanks to the Class Size Amendment. Of that, $16 billion went to hiring new teachers, buying classroom supplies, upgrading classroom technology and other things needed to teach students in a more individualized and supportive environment.
Some advocates for weakening the amendment say there is no evidence that smaller classes help students learn. They are wrong. In 2009, University of London psychology and education professor Peter Blatchford found “a clear case” for the benefits of smaller class sizes. He found student performance in math and reading improved in smaller classes, especially in the earliest grades, and that children were more engaged and less disruptive in smaller classes. Minorities did especially well in smaller classes. His findings were published last year in the Psychology of Classroom Learning: An Encyclopedia.
Research released earlier this year suggests the benefits of smaller classes follow students into adulthood and their careers. Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist, and others found that students who participated in Tennessee’s Project Star experiment with smaller class sizes in the 1980s had higher incomes, were healthier, and had significant social gains than those who were taught in larger classes.
Researchers and teachers will confirm without equivocation that small class size in the early grades is critical to success in middle school and high school. Still, Amendment 8 dismisses the value of small class sizes in all grades. I believe the greatest investment Florida could make is to sustain small class sizes, especially in the early grades.
Instead of listening to politicians who want to weaken the Class Size Amendment, I urge you to listen to the teachers who recognize the importance of giving each child more individualized attention. Keep the guarantee in the Florida Constitution that public school students will be taught in smaller classes, and demand that the Legislature meet its responsibility to fund smaller classes by voting NO on Amendment 8. It’s the right thing to do.
Representative Bill Heller serves Florida House District 52 in Pinellas County. He is the Democratic Ranking Member on education policy in the Florida House of Representatives.
