Last fall, 52 percent of Florida voters supported a constitutional amendment that would cap class sizes in public schools throughout the state. Now, given the severe budget crunch and high cost of class-size reduction - more than $1 billion this year and next - Florida's State Board of Education has voted to join Governor Jeb Bush in an effort to roll back part of the amendment. Though the Board supports smaller classes in kindergarten through third grade, its members believe that everything beyond that is money better spent on other reforms. As we've long said, smaller classes are nowhere near as important to improving student achievement as quality teachers - and may actually have the perverse effect of putting more incompetent teachers in front of classrooms by forcing districts to hire from deeper into the talent barrel. In any case, it is clear that such class-size reduction amendments are no quick - or cheap - fix for struggling schools.
"State board seeks repeal of class-size amendment," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 20, 2003
"Let's rethink the class size amendment," by Dom Armentano, Foxnews.com, August 6, 2003