Jeb Bush To Florida: Never Mind That Pesky Constituion

Our esteemed governor launched a new constitutional amendment initiative two weeks ago aiming to amend the very bothersome class size reduction amendment that voters approved in 2002. Let's take a look at how the amended constitution reads, shall we:

SECTION 1.  Public education.--

(a)  The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require. To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that:

(1)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for prekindergarten through grade 3 does not exceed 18 students;

(2)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 4 through 8 does not exceed 22 students; and

(3)  The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 9 through 12 does not exceed 25 students.

Wow. Them's powerful words. We must really be committed to public education here in Florida huh? A "high-quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education" no less. From the wording there you'd think that we value education above anything else here in Florida. Tax cuts and business development deals from state funds? No sirree Bob. We here in Florida are going to put our money where are mouths are and fund public education in such a way that every student gets a high quality education.

Except under Jeb Bush the constitution is merely a loose set of guidelines that you can ignore when it runs counter to your ideology. We won't even get into the voucher thing here, but suffice it to say that the guy who took an oath to uphold our constitution never met an article he felt could be ignored or circumvented when the mood strikes him.

Here's another line from what our guiding document for state government says about class sizes:

Payment of the costs associated with reducing class size to meet these requirements is the responsibility of the state and not of local schools districts. Beginning with the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the legislature shall provide sufficient funds to reduce the average number of students in each classroom by at least two students per year until the maximum number of students per classroom does not exceed the requirements of this subsection.

Well now. The voters said that funds would be allocated and that the cost was to be borne not by local school districts, but by the state. Wonder how that worked out? According to the Palm Beach Post:

During the 2002 election campaign, Bush said that implementing the (class size reduction) idea would force either massive budget cuts or a massive tax increase, and he cited an estimate by state economists of $27 billion in new, unanticipated spending for K-12 education.

But three weeks ago, Bush acknowledged that the state has not increased its payments for schools' operating costs since passage of the amendment beyond the amounts schools already had been getting. Public schools were getting an annual increase of about $1 billion a year before its passage, and have received increases of about $1 billion a year since its passage.

A Palm Beach Post review of recent education budgets found that although the state economists estimated that the first two years of class-size reduction would trigger at least $2.2 billion in new operating costs and at least $1.7 billion in new construction costs, Bush and lawmakers have spent nothing more in operating costs and $700 million more for construction.

So, what really happened? Since the state didn't fund the required construction and increase in teachers needed, and since the local districts were free from any financial responsibility, surely the districts could just ignore the law too and go on with the work of providing an education? Right?

Umm, not at all. School districts in Florida were absolutely held to the law, and since no additional funds were provided, funding for other programs had to be cut to make up the difference. Here in Palm Beach County that has meant an end to many elective classes such as art, music, and technology. And of those schools that were able to retain those classes? It's now common for a high school elective teacher to have well over 50 students per class, and sometimes as many as 80.

Now our esteemed and exalted leader has a new plan, a plan that essentially bribes teachers and parents by professing to improve education by raising teacher pay across the state. In exchange for that Milkbone, we are to accept the Gov's new plan for class size reduction, accepting a district-wide average in place of the current per-school average.

And guess what? There's no provision for funding these pay raises either. Great! Let's swap one set of mandates that have no funding behind them for another set. Now that makes sense.

I voted against the class-size amendment back in 2002, not because I think smaller class sizes are a bad idea, but because given the state's history of creating requirements without funding I knew that the costs would be absorbed by local schools. And now the Governor wants us to buy into another shell game played with high-sounding words but empty of real meaning.

No thanks. But you know what words I do wish Jeb and the legislature paid more attention to? The ones in the constitution.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel.

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