Teachers' dreams of smaller classrooms give nightmares
Small classes make administrators squirm
" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(87, 108, 54); ">SAM COOK • SCOOK@NEWS-PRESS.COM • MARCH 14, 2010
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1:10 A.M. — It seems like a no-brainer, even for those of us lacking acumen.
Surely, smaller class sizes are more conducive to success for Lee County public school students.
What teacher doesn't yearn for the mandate of the 2002 class-size amendment - 18 students in pre-kindergarten to third grade, 22 in fourth to eighth grade and 25 in high school?
"Our teachers love it,'' says Donna Mutzenard, executive director of Island Coast Florida Education Association, the service unit representing teachers. "You can do so much more with smaller classes.''
It's a teacher's dream, but an administrator's nightmare, says the boss.
After investing eight years and $16 billion, one-third of Florida's classrooms are too crowded and Superintendent James Browder says the law is expensive, unmanageable and needs right-sizing.
"The problem with the class-size amendment is it takes all flexibility away from the school principal,'' says Browder, 62, superintendent since 2003.
Which is like taking away the audible from the quarterback.
"It sounds really good on paper,'' Browder says. "But when you get to the mechanics of managing it, you realize real quick whoever put this together really didn't understand the long-term negative effect it could have on schools.''
KA-ching!
Browder, who endorses the right-size amendment for November's ballot, says he will campaign against the August initiation of the class-size amendment.
The right-size amendment offers flexibility, adding three, four or five extra students per class.
"We've spent $535 million locally and met the class size every year,'' says Browder about Lee's 80,000-student district. "But if we don't relax class-size requirements, it will bankrupt our state.''