It's been a solid year since my last ee project. The things you forget over time :)

At the top of my template I show the latest featured entry (limit="1" search:featured="yes"). 
Later in my template I'm showing all entries but need to add an additional class to the above featured entry.

By enabling php on the template I can save the entry\_id in a variable and then check it in the lower exp:channel:entries.

Are there any issues with enabling php for something minor like this - performance, security? Is there a better way to hold this value?

Thanks!
Amanda