Class-size limits put many Hillsborough County (Fla.) schools at capacity

From The St. Petersburg Times: Hillsborough County (Fla.) School District officials are warning that families moving to the area this summer may find the nearest public school filled to capacity as the state's 2002 class-size reduction initiative enters its final phase. Starting in August, schools will face "hard caps" of 18 students in prekindergarten through third-grade classes, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school. The district says reducing individual class sizes to meet that requirement is costing $13.9 million and forcing it to hire 240 additional teachers. Fifty-three schools in the district are already at their functional capacity, and 37 more are close enough to that status to be capped.