Class sizes in Florida schools could grow again next fall, despite voter-mandated restrictions.
Legislation that Florida lawmakers are pursuing as part of a state education funding plan would downgrade two-thirds of the 849 core classes offered in elementary, middle, and high schools—including calculus, Florida history, and Spanish—to “extracurricular” status.
The class-size amendment that voters approved in 2002 and reaffirmed in a referendum last fall calls for strict class-size limits of 18 students in kindergarten through 3rd grade, 22 in 4th through 8th grades, and 25 in high school. However, it states that the restrictions “do not apply to extracurricular classes.”
The Republican-controlled legislature for years has sought to reduce costs of the class-size amendment, which cost an additional $3 billion this year.
