Wanted - TEACHERS - Class Size Constitutional Amendment has Politicians Scurrying

''Lower class sizes are a great goal,'' said Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer and former education commissioner. ``But the inflexible mandate of the class-size amendment creates a looming financial crisis for our state, and the amendment, as it sits, requires a choice of cutting programs or raising taxes -- and either one of those is totally unacceptable to me.''

The class-size reduction act says that by 2010, classrooms must have the following limits: 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 students in fourth grade through middle school, and 25 students in high school. Rough estimates say the plan will cost the state $25 billion -- a third of its annual budget.

Legislators have allowed school districts to phase in the caps. Beginning next fall, schools face the toughest requirements yet: caps measured by schoolwide averages.

The Department of Education estimates it will take 9,000 new teachers statewide to implement the change at a cost of $1 billion. Miami-Dade alone will need 1,000 new teachers and $47 million.