Teachers union challenges Florida class size amendment wording

A lawyer for Florida's statewide teachers union asked a judge today to block the counting of votes cast on the Legislature's proposed state constitutional amendment to loosen class size limits.

It's too late to remove the measure from the Nov. 2 ballot because it already has gone to the printers.

Chief Circuit Judge Charles Francis said he hoped to rule by the end of the week after hearing arguments from Florida Education Association attorney Ron Meyer and the state's lawyer, Jonathan Glogau.

Regardless how Francis rules, the case will wind up before the Florida Supreme Court, Meyer said later.

Meyer argued Amendment 8's ballot summary and title are unclear, ambiguous and misleading because they fail to say the proposal's chief purpose is to change school funding. The Florida Constitution now requires the Legislature to "make adequate provision" for meeting the class size requirements.

"Their whole case revolves around their allegations that there's going to be a substantial reduction in state appropriations for class size," Glogau responded. "They can't prove that and so it's speculative, and I submit that we don't put speculation in the ballot language."

Glogau said the summary and title accurately describe Amendment 8's chief purpose, which lawmakers say is to make the class-size requirements more flexible, not change school funding.

Meyer disagreed.

"To paraphrase the saying, your honor, if somebody says, 'It's not about the money, it's about flexibility,' trust me, it's about the money," he told Francis.

The Supreme Court already has knocked three proposed amendments, all offered by the Republican-controlled Legislature, off the ballot because their summaries, titles or texts were misleading or unclear.

Critics said one of those amendments would have overridden anti-gerrymandering provisions in a pair of citizen initiatives on redistricting, which the Supreme Court has cleared for the ballot. Lawmakers sponsoring the proposal argued it would merely have clarified the initiatives.

The other stricken measures would have given voters a chance to express opposition to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and provided addition tax breaks to new home buyers who hadn't owned a house for at least eight years.

The teachers union strongly supported a 2002 citizen initiative that placed the current class size limits in the constitution. They've been phased in on district average and then a school average basis. Starting this school year, the caps are being applied to every classroom - 18 students in the first through third grades, 22 in fourth through eighth and 25 in high school.

Amendment 8 would allow three more students in first through third grade classrooms and five more in the higher grades while requiring the existing limits to be met on a school average basis.

Many Republican politicians, led by then-Gov. Jeb Bush, and local school officials opposed the 2002 class size amendment, contending it would be too expensive and take money from other educational needs. The state so far has spent $19 billion for more classrooms, teachers and other class size expenses.

Meyer also represents two individual plaintiffs, teachers union president Andy Ford and fifth grade teacher Lynette Estrada of Miami-Dade County.

"As a teacher, and I teach special ed, I see the difference when the class is smaller," Estrada said after the hearing. "As parent I see the difference when the classes are smaller. My daughter who's 12 sees a difference when the classes are smaller."