James Call
Count Florida TaxWatch among those supporting schoolwide averaging rather than the specific number of students in a class for compliance with Florida’s class-size amendment. The government watchdog group Thursday said the state could save billions of dollars by adjusting the way it calculates the number.
TaxWatch has produced two research papers on the subjects available here and here.
“Adjusting the class-size calculation to a school average would maintain small class sizes for Florida students and teachers without putting handcuffs on Florida principals and administrators,” said Dominic M. Calabro, CEO of TaxWatch.
The TaxWatch study concluded that smaller classes had the most effect on learning from kindergarten through third grade and little effect in high school.
“By adjusting the way our state’s schools calculate their class sizes, billions of taxpayer dollars would be freed up for use on parvenu tools to increase student learning gains,” Calabro said.
The class-size amendment has been a contentious political subject since it was approved by voters in 2002 over the objections of then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush revisited the dispute Tuesday when he spoke at an education seminar in Tallahassee.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with student learning,” Bush said, suggesting the money would be better spent on teacher salaries than on construction. “There is some evidence if you put a highly effective teacher in a classroom irrespective of the number kids in it you are going to get better results.”
Under the law, districts are penalized for each classroom over the mandated limit; 18 students for pre-K through third grade, 22 students for fourth through eighth grade and 25 students per class in high school for core curriculum.
The Florida Education Association promoted the 2002 amendment and has steadfastly fought off attempts to weaken it. Voters defeated a 2010 proposal to allow schoolwide averaging to calculate compliance.
“What’s being proposed by the business-backed Florida TaxWatch would mean larger classes — exactly what the class-size amendment sought to alleviate,” said Mark Pudlow, an FEA spokesman. “We should work to implement what the voters directed our political leaders to do. Smaller classes have been proved to be better for learning and help teachers provide more individual attention to students.”
School districts can be penalized up to $3,000 per student for each classroom over the mandated limit.
HB 665 would shift the way class-size compliance is calculated to a schoolwide average. It has yet to be referred to a committee.
