Amendment 8 - School Class Sizes

[aaapolito]

Amendment 8 did not pass the referrendum on the November 2, 2010 ballot.  Therefore, under Article IX, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution:

To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that:

(1)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for prekindergarten through grade 3 does not exceed 18 students;

(2)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 4 through 8 does not exceed 22 students; and

(3)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 9 through 12 does not exceed 25 students.

Fla. Const. Art. IX, sec. 1 (2010)


Have you checked to see if your child's school is in compliance with the class size requirements?

[Cliffs_Daughter]

My son's school IS in compliance - they did a pretty good job  balancing the kids from what I could tell. His classroom (kindergarten) has 16 kids.

And I, for one, am happy this referendum didn't pass.  It sounded very much like Tallahassee was upset about having to fund the original will of the people and tried to turn this into something that would be 'our' idea to change back. 

[aaapolito]

That's good to hear.  I am also happy the that it did not pass.  Unfortunately, I know at least one school that is not in compliance, and there are 21/22 kids in each first grade classroom. 

[Cliffs_Daughter]

That's good to hear.  I am also happy the that it did not pass.  Unfortunately, I know at least one school that is not in compliance, and there are 21/22 kids in each first grade classroom. 

Bummer. I wonder which school that is... can't be a Magnet, right?

[Miss Fixit]

There are many non-compliant schools, including magnets, and many "compliant" schools that only achieve compliance through co-teaching arrangements, a silly solution that puts two teachers in a classroom with twice the allowed number of students.  My children have suffered under this arrangement, which usually ends up with one teacher teaching while the other is out of the classroom.

[aaapolito]

That's good to hear.  I am also happy the that it did not pass.  Unfortunately, I know at least one school that is not in compliance, and there are 21/22 kids in each first grade classroom. 

Bummer. I wonder which school that is... can't be a Magnet, right?

No.  While I cannot say the same of the school, I can assure you that this is accurate as my wife is one of the first grade teachers at this school.  The most concerning thing about it though is that the school has the funding to hire another teacher, but refuses to do so because the school board only checks the class numbers once a year.

[aaapolito]

Superintendant Ed Pratt-Dannels has suggested that Duval County will pay the $2M fine for non-compliance rather than hire the teachers necessary to comply with Amendment 8.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=532318