Theresa Hobbs' daughter will start kindergarten in August, just in time for voter-approved limits on class sizes to take full effect.

Hobbs was one of 2.5 million voters who supported a 2002 constitutional amendment that is supposed to prevent her daughter's kindergarten class from having more than 18 children.

But after years of Florida making progress on smaller classes, she's disappointed that top lawmakers -- amid a severe budget crunch -- want to pull back from strictly limiting the number of children in each public-school classroom.

"We did vote on it. As far as not being able to afford it, I think they could dip into the lottery a little bit more than they do," said Hobbs, who lives in South Daytona. "There's definitely no reason it can't be done."

With the 2010 legislative session ready to start March 2, Republican leaders are making a priority of trying to change the state constitution to provide wiggle room on class sizes.

The idea still has a long way to go: Lawmakers would have to approve placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot where, ultimately, voters would have final say.

But along with backing from Republican legislative leaders, the proposed amendment has the support of Gov. Charlie Crist, politically powerful business groups and many school superintendents and school board members.

Lawmakers and school districts have gradually reduced class sizes since the 2002 amendment passed. The proposed changes, however, stem from a deadline to fully comply with classroom-by-classroom limits during the upcoming 2010-11 academic year.

The legislative proposal would largely lock in this year's class-size requirements, which are based on average numbers of students in classrooms. That would be far easier to meet than complying with caps on each classroom. More