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Florida voters put class size limits into the constitution in 2002. As Matt Galka tells us, a bill passed by the Florida House would give schools a break for exceeding the class size numbers, but opponents say that’s not what voters wanted.

A little more than a decade ago, Florida voters put caps on class sizes into the constitution.  18 students from pre-K through third grade. 22 students from 4^th grade to 8^th grade. And 25 students in high school.  The limits have been costing schools. Schools are fined for every class that goes over the limit.

A bill that overwhelmingly passed the Florida House would ease the limits and base penalties on average class sizes.  The House speaker says lawmakers are still following the will of the voters.

“We’re trying to find what’s best for the districts, and the districts have found that this is a better way to go and we agree with that. And we’re going to continue to see if that’s something that the Senate will agree with us on,” said House Speaker Steve Crisafulli.

Only three members of the House opposed the bill, all were Democrats.

Representative Jose Rodriguez (D-Miami) district is no stranger to the class size penalties, but he said the problem could be fixed if the legislature was funding public schools.

“Anything that weakens the intent of the voters of the class size amendment is not something we can support,” he said.

The state has spent around $30 billion dollars since 2003 devoted to class size requirements. That money has gone towards building new schools and hiring teachers.

In 2010, an amendment was rejected by Florida voters that largely did the same thing that today’s House bill does: determining class size by the school’s average.