TAMPA (AP) – Like many parents, Jeannette George values the small class sizes at her son’s elementary school. There are 18 students in D’mitri’s third-grade class in Tampa this year, exactly the amount Florida voters set as a cap in the early elementary grades when they passed the class-size amendment in 2002.

“The children get more one-on-one attention,” she said. “Teachers have a bit more control.”

The plan sounds good on paper, but, increasingly, lawmakers and school administrators are finding it difficult and costly to implement. In all, taxpayers have spent $10.4 billion to reduce class sizes, and the Department of Education estimates it will take another $1.4 billion in teacher hires and construction to bring schools into full compliance by the 2010-2011 school year. With Florida’s economy flagging, that is a tough bill to pay.

When the Legislature meets for its annual session starting March 3, they will consider a joint resolution that would ease some of the amendment’s stricter requirements and give schools more flexibility with class numbers.

“As Florida goes through the result of a national meltdown of our economy, school districts and the state of Florida clearly do not have the resources to meet the constitutional amendment that was passed in terms of class by class,” said James Notter, superintendent of the Broward County School District.

The amendment as it exists today requires schools to have no more than 18 students per class in kindergarten through third grades; 22 in fourth through eighth, and 25 in high school classes.

Those standards apply to core classes like reading, math and science, but not electives.

Currently, class sizes are measured by calculating a schoolwide average. But in 2010, districts will need to meet those numbers in individual classes. Some administrators already fear that will force them to break up classes in the middle of the school year if an extra student moves in and the classes are at capacity.

“I can tell you that is a very disruptive thing and parents do not like it, nor do children, nor do teachers,” said MaryEllen Elia, superintendent of the Hillsborough County School District.

Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has submitted a resolution that would keep the current schoolwide average calculation in place, allowing flexibility for a few extra students in some classes. The proposal also sets individual classroom caps at 21 for early elementary; 27 through middle school and 25 in high school.

“Class size itself is not a bad idea,” Weatherford said. “It’s just the manner in which it’s in the constitution right now makes it impossible to implement.”

Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, plans to submit a similar resolution in the Senate. If passed by the Legislature, it would go before voters in the November 2010 general election and need 60 percent approval.

Before then, it’s likely to encounter resistance from teacher unions and parents.