We already knew that Jeb!’s cynical attempt to overturn the class size amendment would not be decided with its own special election.
Democrats, showing a rare bit of spine, managed to shoot down Jeb!’s scheme to gut the voter mandated class size amendment. In an attempt to split supporters of smaller classes, Jeb! proposed raising teacher salaries slightly in exchange for relaxed rules on class sizes.
His plan called for an amendment to be decided by special election – the class size question would be the only one on the ballot, thus ensuring ultra-low turnout, which, Jeb! hoped, would ease the task of overturning a popular measure at the polls. Now, if the proposal is to be decided, it will be during the regular 2006 election cycle, presumably in November.
And the fact that support was waning has been impossible to hide. Jeb! even canceled a recent rally scheduled to sell his scheme when leading education groups refused to attend.
But this is still surprising: the whole plan is dead. The attempt to undo the class size amendment is over – the voters will not have to reaffirm their support for the measure that Jeb! hates.
In an extraordinary rebuke of Gov. Jeb Bush, the Republican-controlled Florida Senate today killed the governor’s proposal to send the controversial class-size amendment back to voters.
It is an embarrassing defeat for Bush, who has enjoyed unprecedented success with the Legislature during his six years in office. Bush had steadfastly argued that the cost of carrying out the class-size requirements approved by voters in 2002 would cost the state billions of dollars over the next few years.
”I think that future governors and future presidents of the Senate and future speakers are going to have to deal with the enormous magnitude of the financial costs and I wish them well doing it,” said Bush, who will leave office in January 2007.
Voters in 2002 narrowly approved an amendment that requires that by 2010 all public school classes in Florida be capped at no more than 18 students for kindergarten through third grade, 22 students for the remaining elementary and middle grades, and 25 students for high school. The amendment also required school districts to lower class sizes an average of two students each year between 2003 and 2010.
Bush pushed a plan to have voters approve a freeze on the class-cap efforts at current levels, and free up the money that would have gone to reduce class sizes to offer teachers a minimum starting salary of $35,000 and a permanent $2,000 raise.
In order to put the class-size measure back on the ballot, Bush needed a three-fifths vote in both the House and Senate. But Bush could not even get a simple majority: The Senate defeated the amendment proposal by a 21-19 vote, with seven of the No votes coming from fellow Republicans.
