Current status of amendment

The Florida Education Association has filed suit on this amendment alleging that it confuses voters by not specifically indicating that by passing this amendment voters will be rolling back the class size amendment passed in 2002.  The case went to court and the judge has kept the amendment on the ballot.

Background

Passed originally by constitutional amendment in 2002 (prior to the higher 60% supermajority criteria for constitutional amendments since mandated), the class size amendment has only now in 2010 become fully implemented.  Many have been concerned since the amendment passed that the criteria are far too rigid and, as a result, are too expensive to implement.

Amendment 8 would ease the class size criteria to an average per school instead of a rigid limit for each classroom. 

According to The Collins Center , Amendment 8:

...would set the average pre-K through third grade class size at 18 students, but allow a maximum of 21 students in any one class provided it was balanced at that school by a class with fewer than 18 students; set an average of 22 students for fourth through eighth grade but allow a maximum of 25; and set a high school average of 25 students but allow a maximum of 30.

Ballot Language

"The Florida Constitution currently limits the maximum number of students assigned to each teacher in public school classrooms in the following grade groupings: for prekindergarten through grade 3, 18 students; for grades 4 through 8, 22 students; and for grades 9 through 12, 25 students. Under this amendment, the current limits on the maximum number of students assigned to each teacher in public school classrooms would become limits on the average number of students assigned per class to each teacher, by specified grade grouping, in each public school. This amendment also adopts new limits on the maximum number of students assigned to each teacher in an individual classroom as follows: for prekindergarten through grade 3, 21 students; for grades 4 through 8, 27 students; and for grades 9 through 12, 30 students. This amendment specifies that class size limits do not apply to virtual classes, requires the Legislature to provide sufficient funds to maintain the average number of students required by this amendment, and schedules these revisions to take effect upon approval by the electors of this state and to operate retroactively to the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year"

Collins Center video

Florida Education Association opposition

According to the FEA, the Florida Teachers' Union:

Implementation of class-size reduction has been the? surest way to target needed dollars directly at the classroom level. These dollars go directly to funding students, classroom space, teachers and teacher salaries – not bureaucracies. Implementing class-size reduction is an affordable and effective use of our school money.