First Class Education

Floridians may get the opportunity to remake public education in radical -- and perhaps even conflicting -ways this election season. A national organization called First Class Education is hoping to get a proposed state constitutional amendment on the fall ballot that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their operating revenues in the classroom -- presumably on teacher salaries, school supplies and the like.

Nobody can say just why 65 percent is the magic number to education reform, but the presumption behind the initiative is that too much money is wasted on school "bureaucracy." But educators worry that if it's passed it will impact a district's ability to spend money on everything from bus drivers to guidance counselors to school nurses to janitors . . . never mind vice principals and secretaries.

But let's take amendment supporters at their word that we're spending too much money on bureaucracy. What then should be made of another proposed amendment that is likely to come out of the state Legislature this session?

Florida has 67 school districts, one for every county. The amendment being considered by lawmakers would allow counties with more than 45,000 students to subdivide into school districts with as few as 20,000 students each.

If it passed, Miami-Dade County alone would have the potential to create 18 districts. If all of the largest districts (including Polk) opted to subdivide, Florida could end up with as many as 78 new districts (a total of as many as 145 districts).

That would be 145 locally elected school boards, 145 superintendents, 145 district headquarters and 145 separate district bureaucracies. (And that doesn't count charter school districts, such as the one in Lake Wales.)

Critics of the measure say it would guarantee that more money would be spent on bureaucracy and less in the classroom.

Presumably, the 145 districts would, individually, be required to spend 65 percent of their operations budget in the classroom. The question is, when you get through dividing 67 budgets into 14 budgets, do you really end up spending less money on bureaucracy, or are you simply duplicating the bureaucracy and spreading it ever thinner?

The creation of smaller school districts brings with it other concerns -- most prominently the potential for poor, inner-city and heavily minority neighborhoods to be segregated away from more affluent, white communities.

Both initiatives are based on two attractive, though perhaps simplistic, ideas: Smaller is better, and bureaucracy is bad.

But what if both attractive albeit simplistic ideas were to pass? There is no question that together they would create a whole new, and vastly more complex, set of challenges in public school financing for years to come.

65% is it a solution?
The spending plan says schools must pour most of their money into the classroom. Critics say extra cash doesn't bring students success and that other services would be cut.
By John Kennedy and Leslie Postal
Posted November 15, 2005

TALLAHASSEE -- On its face, it sounds simple: Spend more money on teachers, schoolbooks and supplies, and students will get a better education.

But maybe it's not so simple -- especially if the extra money has to come from libraries, buses and lunches and with no guarantee that the schools will improve.

That's the heart of the debate over the "65 percent solution," a Republican-backed plan to force Florida schools to spend almost two-thirds of their operating budgets on classroom expenses such as teacher salaries and student supplies.

Advocates say it's a way to boost spending on students without raising taxes. But critics call the measure, which could go before voters next fall, a simplistic gimmick that could lead to cuts in other critical school services.

None of Florida's 67 school districts is at the 65 percent level, according to the federal figures the proposal's advocates are using. In 2002-03, Florida schools on average spent 58.8 percent on classroom expenses, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That ranked it 41st in the nation. Florida House staff determined that figure increased to 59.2 percent the following year.

If the plan had been in place, advocates say, about $1 billion more would have been spent in Florida's classrooms.

"It's not just how much you spend," said Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, who is pushing the measure in the Legislature. "It's how you spend it."

The 65 percent proposal is part of a nationwide push by First Class Education, an organization started earlier this year by Patrick Byrne, founder of the online retailer Overstock.com. The group aims to make American schools more "effective and efficient" and now has campaigns under way in 15 other states and Washington, D.C.

In Florida, some see Hasner's push as an effort to distract teachers unions and Democratic lawmakers from defending the state's controversial class-size law adopted by voters in 2002. Republicans hope next year to convince voters to repeal the measure.

Nationally, the 65 percent proposal has been championed largely by Republicans, with Democrats and other critics arguing it is really an effort to divide the education community by pitting teachers against school administrators. They also don't like the one-size-fits-all approach.

"To have a nationwide idea foisted upon Florida schools and Florida teachers would be problematic," said Marshall Ogletree, a lobbyist for the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

The association argues that Florida inadequately funds its public schools, but it doesn't see how this plan would help. "Sixty five percent of inadequate is still inadequate," Ogletree added.

Defining the spending

Part of the problem, critics say, is that the approach would label as nonclassroom spending traditional functions such as food service, transportation and teacher training, as well as salaries of school librarians and guidance counselors.

That could cause districts to scale back such services in an effort to meet the standard.

"That's all part of a well-rounded educational system," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, which does not support the effort. "If you have to lay off people," he added, "you're damaging the educational system."

As lawmakers push for the measure to get on Florida's ballot next year, one of the key battles will be how to define in-the-classroom spending.

First Class Education is using federal guidelines for that calculation. Using those, House staff analyzed data for the 2003-04 school year and found classroom spending had risen slightly to 59.2 percent.

Across Central Florida, Orange County schools spent 58.4 percent of its operating budget on classroom costs; Seminole County, 62.7 percent; and Osceola County, 56.6 percent. Brevard County, with 63.5 percent, spent the most in the state, according to the House.

The Florida Department of Education calculates classroom instruction somewhat differently, determining schools spent an average of 61.2 percent of their operating money in the classroom that year.

Plan appeals to some

Seminole Superintendent Bill Vogel said his district would push lawmakers, if they proceed with the effort, to adopt a broad definition of classroom spending. Otherwise, officials fear voters might be encouraged to vote for something that sounds appealing but could end up hurting services at their children's schools.

Hasner, however, said the federal calculations are the ones he wants used. If the plan were approved, beginning in 2007, districts below 65 percent would have to start working toward that goal at a rate of 2 percent per year until the threshold is reached.

"This is a policy simple enough for everyone to understand, yet strong enough to make a difference in positive student achievement," he said.

That, like the definition of "classroom expenditure," is debatable. The troubled Washington, D.C., school system spent less than 50 percent of its operating money on classroom instruction in the 2001-02 school year. But the New York City school system, also considered rife with problems, spent nearly 75 percent in the classroom that same year, federal figures show.

Still, many like the idea of shifting more money directly into the classroom. Louisiana and Kansas recently set the 65 percent standard as a goal and Texas' Republican governor, Rick Perry, issued an executive order to make it mandatory in his state.

Republican Gov. Matt Blunt of Missouri, whom Florida Gov. Jeb Bush campaigned for last year, launched a push last week to have a referendum on the 65 percent plan next year.

Potential ballot measure

Florida lawmakers can put a proposed constitutional amendment before voters with three-fifths approval from both the House and the Senate. Republican majorities in both chambers exceed that, meaning a party line vote this spring could put the 65 percent plan on the ballot.

House Republican Leader Andy Gardiner of Orlando said the idea is gathering strength among party leaders and acknowledged the 65 percent proposal could help fuel voter interest in repealing the class-size initiative.

"I think if we want to take that away, we have to offer something as a promise for improvement," Gardiner said. "This might do that."

Bush, who has not endorsed the 65 percent plan, wants lawmakers next year to put a measure on the ballot that would repeal the class-size law. He argues the limits on class sizes are threatening to absorb most of the state's new education dollars.

The education association and many Democratic lawmakers favor keeping the class-size law in place, making them even more leery of the new proposal.

"This is a political gimmick. Bumper-sticker politics," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "And it may be basically the Republican answer to the class-size amendment."

John Kennedy can be reached at jkennedy@orlandosentinel.com or 850-222-5564. Leslie Postal can be reached at lpostal@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273.

Based on the general disinterest in the "65 Percent Solution" shown by the majority of Collier County School Board members so far, you might have assumed they don't support the measure.

Or at least you can surmise as much, if they approve the contract for Superintendent Ray Baker coming before them at today's meeting.

The 65 Percent Solution is an idea gaining support nationwide. It would mandate that 65 percent of a school district's operating budget be spent on classroom functions. State Rep. Adam Hasner of Delray Beach intends to introduce a bill in the Florida Legislature that would put the question before voters in the fall of 2006.

And what better campaign ad for a measure to increase classroom spending than an inordinately generous contract for a top administrator?

The contract discussion comes just weeks after the board disrupted high school schedules to save money; talked about asking voters for a tax increase and declined to talk seriously about raising impact fees. Giving the superintendent a 10 percent raise, the potential for bountiful raises in the future and a benefits package that would make Ken Lay jealous would cement the board's reputation as needing help getting its fiscal house in order.

It's not that Baker hasn't done a good job. Even his chief critic on the School Board, Linda Abbott, gave him a glowing review just four weeks ago. But in most professions, doing a good job for one year gets you off probation, not onto Easy Street.

Baker's contract calls for a $750 a month allowance for a car to use on business in the county. The IRS suggests a mileage reimbursement of about 40 cents per mile. At that rate, Baker could drive to Everglades City School and back every day. He could also stop for lunch courtesy of the taxpayers. And dinner. The contract gives him $400 a month for unspecified in-county expenses.

The contract allows Baker what amounts to seven weeks of paid vacation and another 24 days in sick leave each year. But don't expect the superintendent to miss that much work. If history is any guide, lavish vacation packages are actually bonus payments in disguise. School employees are able to accumulate unused vacation and sick days and cash them in at the end of their tenure. Former Superintendent Thomas Richey took more than $200,000 with him when he left the district in 1992. Bob Munz got almost $100,000 six years later. Dan White, $194,000 in 2003.

There's a 5 percent annual raise payable upon receipt of satisfactory evaluations from three of five board members, an additional cost of living raise beyond that, lifetime prescription drug benefits, professional dues to groups outside the realm of education, like Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce.

Of course the board can get out of the agreement at any time. All it has to do is grant termination pay amounting to the remainder of Baker's $186,560 annual salary due under the three-year contract. Only if the superintendent refuses to come to work or is convicted of a felony is the termination pay forfeited.

Those supporting the contract will argue that other superintendents in Florida receive similar packages. Supporters of the 65 Percent Solution certainly hope so. It will make their job that much easier come next fall.

E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com. To order "Batten 100," a compilation of some of Brent Batten's best humor columns, visit http://web.naplesnews.com/batten/. The book is also available at area bookstores.

Political consultant Tim Mooney addressed a group of Neapolitans gathered at the Athletic Club of Naples July 14. Attendants of the informational meeting shared the same common wish: to seek first class education for the new generations.

Every year there is new money destined to education, but the amount spent in the classroom continues to decline because administrative costs grow higher, Mooney explained. Only four states Utah, Tennessee, New York and Maine are presently spending more than 65 percent of their operational budgets in the classroom. "It's a problem of prioritization," he said. "The students' test scores are directly related to the percentage you spend in the classroom."

Mooney supports the 65 percent solution, a national movement led by Patrick Byrne who is Overstock.com's CEO. Byrne, who studied moral philosophy at Cambridge and has a doctorate from Stanford, also tried a boxing career.

From the standpoint of a successful businessman who looks for efficiency and has profited from other companies' excess goods, he advocates for an education reform also called First Class Education, where no less than 65 cents per dollar are spent in the classroom. The national average is 61.5 and the 3.5 percent difference amounts to $13 billion. "The name is about what we want and how we're going to get it," Mooney explained. In countries like China and Japan everybody is looking how to get a better education for their children in order to prop up a better economy. "World economy competition is global. We need to provide the best education possible," he said.

After Mooney, Delray representative Adam Hasner, spoke to the audience. He said, "We want better students, more competitive teachers and to prepare the new generations for the future."

As the son of parents who were public school teachers and a person who himself attended a public school, Hausner reflected about one of the most important things the country has today: free education. He said he was a great believer in education, but the system has disappointed him. "We have continued to pump in more money into the (educational) system each year," he said. "It's not about increasing the money we spent but how you spend it."

Presently, Florida is spending 58.8 cents per dollar in the classroom, a figure below the national average. Hasner questioned: "are we doing the right things with the tax money in education. We need to make sure that we do the right thing." He said that Florida is 42nd in the nation according to the money the state spends in the classroom. "It's not good enough. We could do better."

The extra operational money allocated to the classroom could mean a new laptop computer per student. It could also mean introducing new teaching technology, better training for teachers, more art, music and athletic programs.

But Hasner insisted this would be done without costing taxpayers a nickel, which was the proposition that intrigued him and made him join the movement.

School District superintendent Ray Barker and two members of the school board, Steve Donovan and Linda Abbott, attended the meeting. The superintendent said Collier County is already close to the 65 percent spent in the classroom (64.7 percent). "It's not whether we can do it but whether we will spend the dollars more wisely. As Floridians, do we have the will to make it happen?" Hasner asked.

Hasner said he would be traveling around the state seeking support for an education ballot initiative. "We need a constitutional change so that we don't have to fight every year for the same," he said.

In the past decade Florida voters have passed several mandates to reform education and insure adequate resources for education. The Florida FCAT test and A+ accountability system have been used in other states as models to implement the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Lousiana's legislature was the first to pass the 65 Percent Solution. Similar measures are on the ballot in Arizona and have been proposed to the legislature in Minnesota. In 10 states' polls First Class Education has received overwhelming support.

To know more visit: www.firstclasseducation.org or call Doreen McShea at 649-4709.

The Collier County School Board is considering a series of ballot questions asking voters, essentially, for a $15 million tax increase.

Sharing an interest is the local teachers union, which plans to conduct a public opinion poll to determine support for things like higher teacher pay.

But barely mentioned at last Thursday's School Board meeting was an idea gaining acceptance nationwide that would accomplish much of what the teacher's union ostensibly wants, without a tax increase.

First Class Education is a nationwide movement that seeks voter approval in all 50 states for laws that would require 65 percent of each school district's operating budget be spent on classroom functions.

Teachers' salary is the biggest of classroom expenditures and would stand to increase if the First Class Education initiative passes. According to First Class Education's figures for Florida , only about 59 percent of operating funds go to classroom expenses. The rest of the money goes for support services, like administration, maintenance and transportation.

If the percent of classroom expenditures went to 65 percent, it would mean about $1 billion statewide each year for things like teacher raises and classroom equipment.

At a meeting with First Class Education's national coordinator earlier this month, Collier School Superintendent Ray Baker said Collier is already spending close to 65 percent of its operating budget on classroom expenses. But Baker was basing that on a state formula that gauges classroom expense.

First Class Education uses a formula set by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. Frank Johnson, an analyst for the NCES, says state formulae frequently differ from the one the NCES uses, usually yielding a higher number. Collier School officials say they don't have a readily available breakdown according to the NCES formula.

Assume for the moment that Collier County is in line with the rest of Florida , by NCES standards. So if Florida would see $1 billion more going into classrooms, Collier could expect a proportionate share of that figure to come here.

In the just concluded school year, public school enrollment in Florida was 2.63 million. Collier County had just over 41,000 students.

As a proportionate share of $1 billion, Collier County would redirect about $15.5 million toward classroom expenses, enough to give each of the 2,500 members of the teachers' union a $5,000 annual raise with money left over. It is also eerily close to the amount taxpayers would shell out under the plan discussed by the School Board last week.

The goal of First Class Education is to have a measure for voters to consider on the November 2006 ballot.

As union leaders prepare to launch their public opinion survey and as school board members consider placing a tax increase before voters, possibly on that same ballot, it would behoove them to know where they stand in relation to the NCES spending formula.

Voters are loath to burden themselves with more taxes, especially if they suspect more could be done without raising taxes at all.

Either way, a provision of the so-called "65 Percent Solution" to education funding boosts its chances of success in sports-happy America.

First Class Education, an organization rushing to get laws passed in all 50 states that would require at least 65 percent of each school district's operating budget be spent on classroom activities, uses the formula employed by the National Center for Education Statistics to measure spending.

That formula includes athletics, including extracurricular varsity athletics, as classroom spending.

Tim Mooney, the point man for First Class Education, said the NCES, with a few adjustments for new technology such as computers, has been using the same formula to determine classroom spending since the 1950s.

So it wasn't First Class Education or its founder, former pro boxer and current Overstock.com chairman Patrick Byrne, who decided sports could be counted as a classroom expense.

If athletics weren't included as classroom spending, it would give opponents of the initiative a powerful rhetorical weapon. Focusing 65 percent of school spending on the classroom means non-classroom spending will have to be cut in places such as Florida, where about 59 percent of operating funds go to the classroom and Texas, where the figure is just more than 60 percent.

Imagine a state representative in Texas standing before the Legislature and saying, "The 65 Percent Solution could mean we'd have to cut football!"

But without the sports argument, critics will have to resort to Plan B. "The 65 Percent Solution could mean we'd have to cut administration!" Not nearly as persuasive.

While not exactly "Friday Night Lights" territory, Florida also cherishes its high school sports. And sports pay off for students, evidenced by the long list of local athletes who earn scholarships to colleges across the country.

Mooney, in Naples on Thursday to get the effort started in Florida, mounts a defense for counting sports as classroom spending, noting, whether you're "teaching a kid to read a book or read a pass pattern," you're still teaching.

Sports help keep youngsters interested in school and the lessons of sports carry over into life. "Some would say (sports) teach many important life skills," Mooney said.

One reason First Class Education selected the formula of the NCES, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education, as its standard was to quell the debate over what should be counted as classroom spending and what shouldn't. If you disagree with counting the costs of sports as a classroom expenditure, "Talk to them, don't talk to us," Mooney said.

A special session of the Texas Legislature is set to pass education spending reform. Mooney is confident the 65 Percent Solution will be part of it. Had athletics not been insulated from possible cuts, he realizes that might not be the case. "If Johnny doesn't play football, nothing happens," Mooney said. He says he's encountered similar sentiments in each of the dozen other states where First Class Education has been active. Except, he said, in Minnesota. There, it's "If Johnny doesn't play hockey...."

And Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, came to Collier County on Thursday to muster allies in his campaign to convince state lawmakers to put more money into classrooms. "Here's how you put over $1 billion in public classrooms without raising taxes," he told an audience of 34 county community leaders.

In the upcoming 2006 legislative session, he wants Florida lawmakers to approve a ballot initiative that would go before the public.

Voters would then decide if school districts would be forced to spend at least 65 cents of every dollar "inside" the classroom — pumping money into teachers' salaries, books and other supplies tied directly to teaching students.

This has been the focus of Hasner's life for the past two weeks, and in the coming eight months, he'll crisscross the state seeking support.

The 65 Percent Solution idea has been leapfrogging across the country. Four states recently passed the measure — New York, Tennessee, Utah and Maine — and Texas could become the fifth state this week.

"We've got to do something new in education," said Tim Mooney of Scottsdale, Ariz., who's a spokesman for the group spearheading the 65 Percent Solution, called First Class Education.

Inside the Collier Athletic Club conference room, Hasner and Mooney pitched the idea for more than an hour. They explained schools spend 61 cents of every dollar inside classrooms across the nation, according to figures they cited from the National Center for Education Statistics.

"Four little pennies means over 14 billion without new taxes (nationwide)," Mooney said, while holding up his four fingers.

Its 67 school districts on average spend just less than 59 cents on the dollar in classroom operations, according to NCES figures.

Most likely school administrators who would have to make the cuts in other areas or come up with new ideas for running the district bureaucracy, Hasner said.

Mooney of First Class Education has run 12 such ballot initiatives throughout the country. His polls tell him there's support for the 65 Percent Solution across the political spectrum: Republicans and Democrats, young and old, white and black.

Collier schools Superintendent Ray Baker attended the meeting and noted his district spends 64.7 percent in the classroom, according to Florida Department of Education figures.

But Rep. Hasner criticized the state DOE, saying the agency has made it difficult to get figures to assess school spending. He also questioned the state's definition of "inside" classroom spending.

He'll propose the state education agency use the definition of the federal National Center for Education Statistics. "That way we can compare apples to apples," Hasner said.

Two of the five School Board members attended, Linda Abbott and Steve Donovan, who both favor the measure.

Education activist Shawn Black asked how the 65 Percent Solution could affect the current class-size reductions.

Florida remains the only state to have a voter-approved measure requiring reductions in class sizes, which, in coming years, state lawmakers have said, will cost billions to implement.

Mooney answered the extra money naturally would go toward hiring more teachers, but he didn't know all the ramifications.

Everyone praised education activist Dorene McShea, who organized the event. "It's about priorities. Are (school administrators') priorities in order?" Mooney asked. "The priority should be the students."

Those interested in the 65 Percent Solution may call Rep. Hasner's office at (561) 279-1616 or e-mail him at adam.hasner@myfloridahouse.gov.

It is an unlikely road that has led Patrick Byrne to head up First Class Education.

Of course, whatever Patrick Byrne ended up doing right now, it would have been an unlikely road that led him there.

A bachelor's degree from Dartmouth, a teaching degree from the University of Beijing, a stint as a professional boxer and time spent learning business at the knee of billionaire investor Warren Buffet isn't exactly a normal resume. Add starting the online marketplace Overstock.com and you've got a unique individual.

Byrne took that turn, founding First Class Education in February with the goal of affecting education policy nationwide by 2008.

The goal is simple. Have each state pass a law dictating that 65 percent of a school district's operating budget is spent on classroom function. Nationally, the figure stands at about 61.5 percent. In Florida , the figure is just less than 59 percent.

First Class Education has efforts under way in a dozen states, ranging from acts pending in state legislatures to initiatives to amend state constitutions.

Thanks in part to Collier County education activist Dorene McShea, First Class Education is about to get busy in Florida .

McShea has set up a July 14 meeting at the Collier Athletic Club and invited elected officials and community leaders. Tim Mooney, Byrne's point person in First Class Education, will be there.

It is an early step in what advocates hope will be a grassroots movement to get the Florida Legislature to take up the First Class Education cause in 2006.

Adam Hasner, a state representative from Delray Beach , joins McShea as one of the early proponents of the plan in Florida .

"This is going to be a movement in Florida ," Hasner predicted Wednesday, a day after he issued a press release announcing his intention to bring the matter before his colleagues next year.

First Class Education has taken hold quickly because it brings together elements that don't always work well with others in the battle over education funding.

Teachers like the idea because it can mean pay raises and better classroom support. Taxpayers appreciate the way it focuses funding on students without increasing the burden on them.

The extra few percentage points would mean $1 billion more going to Florida classrooms annually. Nationally, the amount would be enough to buy every student a new computer, or to hire 300,000 teachers at $40,000 a year.

Research Byrne has compiled indicates there is a positive correlation between the percentage of budget going to the classroom and student performance.

Mooney acknowledges that proving cause and effect is difficult, but says common sense suggests the plan will work. "If you're overpaying your superintendent, how's that going to help your test scores?" he asked.

Hasner said critics in his district already have started complaining that the 65 percent solution can't be done. "We can put a man on the moon, we can spend 65 percent of operating dollars in the classroom. It's a matter of finding the will to do what's right for the students."

To learn more about First Class Education, visit the group's Web site at firstclasseducation.org

E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com . To order "Batten 100," a compilation of some of Brent Batten's best humor columns, visit http://web.naplesnews.com/batten/. The book is also available at area bookstores.

State Rep. Adam Hasner wants to put more money into school classrooms, but he doesn't think it should come from Florida taxpayers.

Hasner, R-Delray Beach , is pushing an initiative that would require school districts to spend more of their budgets on teachers and supplies, and less on administrative functions. A national group called First Class Education has spearheaded the effort, urging all states to devote at least 65 percent of their education dollars for classroom expenses.

"It's not just about how much money you spend. It's how are you spending it," Hasner said.

"This provides for strong accountability measures to make sure we're putting our education dollars into the classroom and not into bureaucracy."

He plans to form an advisory committee with educators, business leaders and other residents. He would like the issue to go before the Legislature or voters as early as next year.

Florida spent 58.8 percent of its operating budget for classroom expenses during the 2002-03 school year, placing it 42nd in the country, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures for 2003-04 show that has risen to 61.3 percent, according to the state Department of Education, although national comparison figures aren't available.

Classroom expenses include teacher salaries and benefits, teacher aides and supplies.

In recent years, Florida also has ranked near the bottom in total dollars spent for education.

Hasner said increasing the allocation of classroom expenses to 65 percent would put more than $1 billion into classrooms statewide.

The effort raises minor concern from Palm Beach County administrators. State figures show the district spent 63 percent of its $1.1 billion operating budget on classroom expenses during the 2003-04 school year. With the state requiring more money every year to reduce class size, the district may meet the 65-percent threshold in the upcoming school year, budget director Mike Burke said.

District lobbyist Vernon Pickup-Crawford said there often is a misconception of how school districts spend money. As a rapidly growing school district, Palm Beach County has to spend a lot on construction personnel. Many other non-instructional expenses are required by state and federal governments, such as oversight of charter schools and transportation costs for students who seek transfers through a federal school-choice program.

"People think you're spending money on either the classroom or administrators, but there's a whole lot in between," he said.

Four states are putting at least 65 percent of their budgets directly into the classroom: New York , Utah , Tennessee and Maine , said Tim Mooney, a political consultant for First Class Education. He said 11 states already have endorsed the concept and are moving ahead with getting the measures passed by state legislatures or voter referendums.

Mooney said the idea would be to phase in the concept over a few years.

Any school district that had extenuating circumstances could request an exemption, he said.

A Collier County education activist is working to make this area the Florida launch point for an initiative that is gaining momentum nationwide.

Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com, is the chief financier and most visible figure behind the initiative, called First Class Education.

The idea is to pour millions of dollars more into classrooms without raising taxes. First Class Education hopes to accomplish the goal by getting laws passed in all 50 states guaranteeing that at least 65 percent of every district's operating budget is spent in the classroom.

Tim Mooney, a spokesman for First Class Education, cites figures from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics that show about 61.5 percent of school operating money nationwide is spent on things like teachers' salaries, books and aides. The rest goes to administration, transportation and other activities deemed "outside" the classroom.

In Florida, just under 59 percent of school operating money go to classroom expenses, according to the NCES. Increasing the classroom figure to 65 percent would mean an additional $1 billion statewide, Mooney said.

That, along with Florida's position as one of the largest states, makes it a prime target. "We're very interested in doing this in Florida. Florida is a trend-setting state," Mooney said.

The interest in Florida was piqued last week when Dorene McShea, a frequent critic of school status quo in Collier County, got in touch with Mooney.

McShea wants Byrne to come to Naples to pitch the idea. Mooney intends to visit in a couple of weeks to gauge interest in the movement.

In addition to McShea, Mooney says he's talked to two state legislators and three candidates for the Legislature who want to learn more about First Class Education. He declined to name them, saying they haven't signed on to the program yet.

There are three ways the First Class Education initiative could become law. One, a simple act passed by the Legislature, would be subject to yearly revision, so it is the least preferred.

Another, putting a measure before voters through the initiative process, would be expensive because of the effort needed to collect enough signatures.

Finally, a 60 percent majority in each house of the Legislature can put an amendment on the ballot for voters to consider.

First Class Education is already busy in a dozen states, including Texas, California and Illinois. The goal is to have laws in place in all 50 states by 2008.

Ideally, the Florida Legislature would consider a measure early next year to be on the ballot in November 2006, a gubernatorial election year. "We want to make it part of the overall political discussion," Mooney said.

But the bulk of the effort — and the money — will have to be put forth by Floridians.

First Class Education's guidelines dictate that the majority of its funding in a state must come from within that state. "We don't want to be interlopers in a state," he said. "We need local chapters, local support, local backing. Florida looks like it might be ready."

To learn more about First Class Education, visit the group's Web site at firstclasseducation.org.