The Republican Women’s Club of Duval Federated met Thursday at the Radisson. Florida Secretary of Education Jim Horne spoke on the progress and future of the state’s education programs, including its challenges and his strategic plan to deal with those challenges.
“The number one challenge is finding qualified teachers,” he said. Issues concerning training, vocational education, technology and the future implementation of recently passed amendments were other topics of discussion.
The amendment implementing the reduction of two students per classroom on average is scheduled to start next year. Still in the data gathering phase, his department is taking steps to define the implementation of the amendment. Such an amendment necessitates the construction of new schools, a process Horne said takes approximately four years.
“The ability to meet that probably means a shifting of about 250,000 students next year alone without permanent structures in place,” said Horne.
Speaking from the perspective of a certified public accountant with four children, Horne maintains he did not endorse the amendment.
“I think it was terribly flawed,” he said. “I don’t think one-size-fits-all is a particularly good approach. Most superintendents will tell you that in some environments, 18 is too many; others may say 23, maybe 25. Taking away flexibility and innovation is not a very practical or efficient use of our resources. There’s not much research that says reducing class size really works. We do know that highly-trained, enthusiastic, high-quality teachers makes the biggest difference.”