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House and Senate education leaders said Tuesday they hope to hold school
funding cuts to less than two percent. The amount is significantly less
than the rest of government, which could see 10 percent cuts. The plan
is to shift money around, and allow each school district flexibility to
shift money from non-critical areas into the classroom. The plan also
hinges on weakening the class size amendment, allowing class sizes to be
counted as a school average rather than actual class sizes. Bill Montford of the School Superintendents Association says the change is the only way to make a bad year better.

“This will be one of the toughest that we’ve had in recent history. What
complicates it even more is the requirement of the class size reduction
amendment. That changes the rules considerable. That makes it much more
difficult. But with the flexibility the legislature is providing us, it
makes it much easier to meet these demands in a much much more
responsive way,” said Montford.

Votes approved the class size amendment in 2002. The plan for measuring
class sizes was developed by lawmakers and can be changed without
another vote of the public.