Gov. Bill Haslam leads a discussion with teachers and school administrators at Scales Elementary School in Brentwood, Tenn. Haslam announced on Wednesday that he is abandoning a proposal to lift average class size restrictions.NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam gave up Wednesday on his controversial proposal to let schools increase average class sizes, but said he plans to bring the measure back next year with modifications.
“We still quite frankly are committed to the idea,” Haslam told reporters after informing legislative leaders. “But we have gotten feedback from across the state, whether it be school boards or superintendents or teachers or legislators [that] ‘we don’t think you’ve gotten this exactly right.'”
Haslam’s plan called for giving local school districts more flexibility on average class-size caps while retaining maximum class-size caps on individual classrooms.
The Republican governor blamed difficulty in communicating his proposals.
“When the reason to do something takes you four minutes to explain, but the reason not to do something — you can say large classes bad, small class sizes good — takes five seconds, it’s a difficult process,” Haslam said.