It's diabolical, imho. They know it won't help the kids...but it does require plenty of new teachers, more NEA control of local elections, etc.
For an estimated cost of the Florida proposed amendment (supported by the far left Dem. candidate for Gov. Bill McBride):
The First Constitutional Amendment Estimating Conference Puts an Official Price Tag on Class Size Initiative:
Reducing class size to the prescribed limits would be a challenging undertaking. Without a significant overhaul of state spending patterns, the class size proposal would likely require some new or increased taxes. A 1-penny increase to the state's 6-cent sales tax would raise $2.9 billion (based on FY 2004 estimated collections.).
To further illustrate the scope of the estimated required investment, the gross receipts tax on utilities, which funds public school construction, raises less than $800 million annually. Moreover, it would take a tripling of the state corporate income tax to raise the additional revenue called for in the estimates. In fact, four major tax sources combined (gross receipts, corporate income, beverage, and tobacco taxes) are expected to bring in $2.97 billion in FY 2004, so it would take a doubling of all those to raise the revenue. Lastly, a state personal income tax (currently prohibited by the state Constitution) of 1 per cent of Floridians' federal taxable income would raise approximately $2.4 billion.