For the eighth time in 12 years, Florida lawmakers are looking to roll back voters’ wishes for smaller class sizes.
Backed by school districts that struggle annually to meet the strict caps, the Legislature is poised to end penalties for school districts when classes get too big. Instead, fines would apply when schools don’t reach the counts as a campuswide average.
It’s a goal that class-size opponents have long sought. They have argued that classes would remain small, while also saving money and avoiding the pitfalls of shifting children when their numbers exceed an arbitrary level.
The House bill (HB 665) faced only token opposition on the House floor: three Democrats voted against it, including Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura.
“I’ve heard from literally hundreds of parents, and they’re upset about it,” he said during debate. “It’s one more time we’re going to say class size doesn’t matter at the classroom level.”
