Schools prepare for class-size cuts

As full compliance with Florida's class-size amendment looms this fall, Pasco County school district officials are hoping the state Legislature can help them avoid the staffing and financial turmoil they see as almost inevitable.

By October, schools in Florida are supposed to meet the class-size requirements on a classroom-by-classroom basis. Those requirements, approved by voters in 2002, are: 18 children in prekindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grades and 25 in high school.

"When you have a 19th child come in, you will need a portable (classroom) and a teacher," Superintendent Heather Fiorentino told the school board Tuesday. "What are you going to tell the parents when you split that class up in October?"

School districts that fail to meet the requirements could face strong penalties, including the possible removal of school board members from office.

The Department of Education "has made it clear it is a constitutional amendment, and we all must abide by the constitution," Fiorentino said.

That's where Pasco officials are hoping the state Legislature can help out.

Legislators, who began their 2010 session Tuesday, have already begun to tackle the problem. State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is helping spearhead a move to ask voters to reconsider class sizes in November.

If Weatherford's initiative gets on the ballot and 60 percent of voters agree to the change, the class-size requirement would be based on a schoolwide average, which schools meet currently.

That vote wouldn't come soon enough, though. That's why Pasco school officials plan to lobby legislators to take any reworking of class-size measures a step further.

The school district wants the Legislature to switch the official class-size head count to February, giving voters a chance to be heard before class-size requirements take effect, spokeswoman Summer Romagnoli said.

"What's their fallback position if they don't get 60 percent of the vote?" board member Frank Parker asked.

There is no fallback, Fiorentino said. School districts would need to meet the requirements. In Pasco, that would mean hiring more than 200 additional teachers, she said.

The school district also will need to come up with a plan for when a new student moves to town, putting a classroom over the limit.

One option, suggested by the state Department of Education, would be to provide online learning for that child. But Fiorentino doesn't see that as viable in many cases.

"Not every child can learn online," she said. "Not every child is disciplined to do that."