Florida legislators may try to move up constitutional amendment vote on amending class size

Last month, CL reported on a new proposal by some Florida lawmakers to try to scale back the 2002 class size amendment.

The move seems to be gaining momentum.  Last week Governor Charlie Crist came out in support of the proposed amendment while speaking in St. Petersburg.

As we've reported, opponents of class size have wanted to kill it (or reduce its impact) since before it was voted on, going back to former Governor Jeb Bush's "devious plans"to thwart the measure during the summer of 2002.

But there is serious concern this year, because the final step of the law goes finally goes into effect. The law  limits class sizes to 18 students per teacher in pre-kindergarten through third grade, 22 students in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 students in high school.

This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2010.