Florida lawmakers are trying again to reduce the penalties school districts face when it comes to class size limits. Fort Lauderdale Republican Representative George Moraitis’ proposal would base the fines on a school average, instead of levying penalties based on the number of classrooms out of compliance. Moraitis says It’s the same break charter schools and special public schools currently receive.
“In our area, that’s about a quarter of schools, but we’re not satisfied with that. We want to change it and give the maximum flexibility for computing the penalty for all schools as a matter of fairness," he told the House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee Tuesday.
School districts have complained in recent years that the class size amendment in Florida’s constitution can’t effectively be applied on a classroom-by-classroom basis. The state tried to change the amendment through a ballot proposal, but it failed in 2010. School districts are currently fined if any class has more than the state maximum number of students in it.
