An intelligent man is capable of overcoming problems and difficulties a wise man would have avoided in the first place.
There is only one China
A new level of religious tolerance
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Washington learns from...Florida!
Sniperphobia spreads
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Make smoking unconstitutional
Pregnant Pigs
Tuesday, October 22, 2002Questions about class size reductions
Floridians are voting on a constitutional amendment intended to reduce the size of classes in public schools. But even supporters of the concept should be asking a few questions about this amendment.
Why did the authors choose rigid maximums rather than more flexible averages? Reductions do not benefit all areas equally, and caps reduce the ability to target those that will benefit while wasting resources on those that do not.
Does a gym class or a chorus really need to be capped at 25? Extracurricular classes are exempt, but what exactly are they. Here in Seminole County, extracurricular seems to mean a class that is not graded, receives no credit and usually meets outside regular school hours so band, chorus, and phys ed would not be exempt. Maybe the authors meant to say non-elective. Or maybe they meant what they said.
Is this the best use of limited resources? Perhaps Florida does need to commit more resources to education, but are there more effective ways use them? Research shows that increasing teacher training and targeting less affluent student populations are two approaches that usually work better than simply reducing class size. Regardless of the source, resources have limits, and this amendment will steal them from more effective uses.
Should this be in Florida’s constitution? Constitutions are exceedingly difficult to change, and they are supposed to be. If unintended consequences of this amendment (and there will be some) create problems, or if a greater opportunity is found, any necessary modifications are likely to take years. Initiatives like this usually take place when supporters don’t think the legislature has been responsive. Nearly 600,000 voters petitioned for this amendment. If each of them had called or written their legislators, might they have responded differently?
Other information
Text of Amendment Proposal 9 and ballot summary - save time on election day, read it now.
RAND et al report on California’s experience with class size reduction - especially background research pp 4-6 and recommendations beginning on p 27. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free here)
