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35 School Districts Face Penalties For Violating Florida’s Class-Size Law

By: BigGator5 (Diary)  |  December 1st, 2010 at 10:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Why am I not surprised:

More than half of Florida’s school districts have not complied with the state’s class-size law and now face steep penalties, the Florida Department of Education announced late Tuesday.

If the state moves ahead with those fines, which could run as high as $16 million in Palm Beach County alone, the Florida School Boards Association has threatened to sue. The association argues the fines are not fair, as the Florida Legislature did not provide districts enough money to meet the law’s demands.

Across Florida, 35 of 67 school districts fell short of the class-size rules put into place following a voter referendum in 2002.

Yeah, and we could have prevented this if we would have aproved Amendment 8.

I warned you. Many people warned you. Now the people of Florida have no one to blame but themselves at the unnecessarily loss of money at the school board level. I live here in Lake County and they are (luckly) in full compliance. We won’t lose millions in needed dollars like other counties.

Exit question: How long do you think, after a couple years of massive mulit-million dollar fines, will the entire state of Florida calls for another vote on Amendment 8?

[Cross-Posted On Practical State.com]

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  • conservativecurmudgeon

    …,and I quote: “Any teacher that can’t handle forty kids in her classroom shouldn’t be in the business”. Of course, this was from a matronly old 1960′s and ’70′s teacher, back before tenure, when there was still the expectation that teachers had a job to do, or they lost that job. Let’s also remember: The largest classes ever to go through most American schools occurred in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s, when the crest of the baby-boom hit. In 1960, the average age of an American was 19. Today, it is 48. Classroom population will never again be an issue in America, unless we go back to the 1950′s marriage model, where ever two adults have four children.

    This has all been about creating more dues-paying and premium-paying union members. It is also about bonded capital improvement to create more physical classrooms, and shunt operating expenses onto long-term debt instruments. Classroom population density guidelines long ago were shown to have little impact on student performance, just as dollars spent has no straight-line impact. It makes even less sense in a state like Florida, where the population is aging more quickly than in other states.

    • http://www.facebook.com/BigGator5 BigGator5

      I support small class sizes, to a point. The hard cap was a very bad idea, one that school boards accross the state are now beginning to understand. The damage it will do might move the state to revote on Amendment 8 and hopefully pass it.

  • danduck

    I completely support small class sizes. I attended high school classes averaging with around 20 people to each class or less. In college it drastically increased. I became overwhelmed and disconnected. The main reason behind this was because my class size was so big, I felt unimportant and simple.

    • JSobieski

      Back in the day when teachers had better control over the classroom and parents backed up the teacher, students learned despite larger class sizes.

      A lot of people lose themselves in college. You really think class size was why?

      • danduck

        I strongly feel class size was why. I dreaded my lecture classes and lost focus easily. I enjoyed my online classes, and smaller classes towards my major, because they were not overwhelmingly big.

        • JSobieski

          Statistically speaking, class sizes don’t correlate close to strong results.