Rising scores have boosted morale among teachers and students, Superintendent Williams said, but the looming budget cuts are causing concern.
Crist said Thursday that his decision was not political.He cited "the incredible outpouring of opposition by teachers, parents, students, superintendents, school boards and legislators".
During the same time, schools reported giving students fewer superintendent's suspensions, which can force students out of school for six days or several months, depending on the severity of their actions.
"It's not the name on the outside of the building that negatively affects the attitudes of the students inside," Superintendent Lloyd Hamlin said.
"It's a school that has seriously focused on changing the narrative for students," the superintendent said.
He had asked to teach a Sunday-school class of eleven-year-olds in the local Baptist church, but because after some weeks he still had only one student the church superintendent threatened to take away his classbook.
Besides a more diverse student body, the superintendent said that over the last decade and a half the district has witnessed a sharp increase in the sheer volume of students it serves.
A typical English class has just 18 students, and some upper-level courses have only four or five students, said Dr. Thomas R. Davidson, superintendent of schools.
Three of the victims were Crandon High School students, said the superintendent of schools, Richard Peters.
In Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest school district with 783,000 students, Roy Romer, the superintendent of schools, said the district could not possibly comply with the new regulations.
