Asked for their views on state education policy, some Pasco school administrators told two key lawmakers that they would like to have more flexibility in implementing the class size amendment.

They'd prefer to keep it at the school level than force classroom counts.

State Rep. Will Weatherford, the Wesley Chapel Republican in line to become House speaker in 2012, told the group that the Legislature could have the question "off the floor and on the ballot within two weeks."

Just one problem, Weatherford said: "I'm worried about the (teachers) union. .... Frankly, they're the only ones standing in the way."

He urged the administrators to talk to teachers and impress upon them the growing cost of the 2002 amendment and ask them not to fight an effort to scale back its implementation.

He and Rep. John Legg, a New Port Richey Republican who chairs the House Pre-K-12 Education Policy Committee, predicted that dealing with class size will be one of the biggest issues facing the Legislature this spring.

*