Education

Group: Pay for class size plan by ending tax breaks

The group that successfully campaigned for a constitutional amendment to reduce class sizes said Thursday the governor and lawmakers should repeal corporate tax breaks to pay for the initiative and stop talking about cutting services.

In a report released Thursday, the Coalition to Reduce Class Size and People for the American Way offered guidelines for shrinking classes, providing a stark contrast to a plan the governor released last week.

"The voters are waiting for the Legislature to take some meaningful steps," said state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. "We need to make sure there is real class size reduction, not the kind that has been proposed in the last few weeks."

The report took issue with Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal to exempt charter schools from the class size requirements and to allow school districts to use vouchers to relieve crowding. It also faulted Bush for offering a budget full of cuts and blaming the class size amendment.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Miami Democrat who led the citizens initiative, called the governor's proposals "the anatomy of a devious plan."

Meek was referring to Bush's "devious plan" comments made before the November election in an unguarded moment when discussing how he would deal with the amendment. Bush said he was joking.

The amendment would require that by the year 2010, class sizes in prekindergarten through third grade would be limited to 18, grades 4 through 8 would be limited to 22 students and high school classes to 25.

Most of Thursday's recommendations were made even before voters passed the amendment. For months, the Coalition to Reduce Class Size has urged lawmakers to repeal some "special interest tax exemptions" and corporate tax breaks.

The report cites some $1.3-billion that a tax reform group identified as annual revenue lost to special interest tax exemptions.

The report also cites corporate tax breaks that add up to an estimated $20-billion over the eight years that it will take to implement the class size reduction plan.

Some Democratic lawmakers have raised similar questions.

"We can reduce class size by looking at some of these tax exemptions and getting rid of them," state Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa, told the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Miller cited tax breaks on movie making equipment brought into the state by Hollywood film studios as an example of exemptions that could be eliminated.

"I think we have to look at these exemptions and ask, do they still have a purpose?" Miller said.

The governor's spokeswoman defended Bush's proposals.

"Gov. Bush has made a thoughtful proposal on how to move forward with implementation," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Hirst.

"It complies with the intent of the amendment and provides flexibility for local school districts in a way that doesn't destroy their focus on rising student achievement."

-- Times staff writer Candace Rondeaux contributed to this report.

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