Florida budget session: Florida fore...Never mind, The Ledger (Lakeland)

January 11, 2009


When the Legislature is in session in Tallahassee, nothing is safe - and nothing is forever. Even Florida Forever.

Many legislators evidently think that when it comes to budget cutting, all bets are off - even if it means ignoring a previous commitment to continue funding the state's highly successful, nationally recognized land-preservation program. Legislators want to end funding for the program for the remaining six months of the budget year.

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Florida TaxWatch budget plan finds $2.68B, Orlando Business Journal

January 9, 2009

Florida can save billions of dollars by improving cost-effectiveness, increasing government productivity and enhancing revenue maximization efforts.

That’s the finding in a report issued Thursday by Florida TaxWatch. The nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute and government watchdog in Tallahassee made 42 recommendations totaling an estimated $2.68 billion in cost savings and revenue enhancements.

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The report this article is based on is available here.http://www.floridataxwatch.org./

State budget plan includes tapping into rainy day fund, Central Florida Channel 13

January 11, 2009

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida lawmakers Sunday continued working to resolve differences between the House and Senate over a budget decifit elimination package. See Previous Story.
Both houses have passed plans that include nearly $1 billion in cuts.

The plans also include tapping the "rainy day fund" reserve to shift money within the $66.3 billion budget.

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Florida budget cuts represent health care nightmare, News Herald (Panama City)

January 10, 2009
By Deann Mullins

When we as individuals adjust our budgets, we prioritize. For example, we may start with dining out less often before we decide to stop buying our blood pressure medicine. The financial challenges our state faces are great. Our state leaders must confront, head-on, a breathtaking $2.3 billion revenue shortfall in this year's budget, not to mention the more than $4.5 billion projected deficit for next year.

Cutting the budget is inevitable, but we do have a choice about where to tighten our belts. The Florida Legislature has proposed to take aim at further harming our struggling health care system by instituting drastic cuts that would impact everything from hospice care to nursing home care and access to Medicaid prescription drugs. A bill is taking aim at pharmacist reimbursement that includes $48 million in budget cuts to the Medicaid pharmacy program.

For the rest of this op ed piece, click here.

Education cuts coming into focus, News Herald (Panama City)

January 10, 2009
By Chris Segal

TALLAHASSEE -- The working draft of a bill aimed at resolving the state's billiondollar budget deficit reduces perstudent funding through the Florida Education Finance Program by 2 percent but gives school district moreflexibilityinspendingearmarked funds, lawmakers said Friday.

State universities and community colleges also will be cut by 4 percent and public schools and Florida's voluntary pre-kindergarten program by 2 percent. The summer prekindergarten program, though, will take a bigger hit with two more students added to each class for a maximum of 12 per teacher.

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Florida budget session: Don't Cut Kids, Education First, The Ledger (Lakeland)

January 9, 2009


The only good thing that can be said about the Florida Legislature and its special session on the budget crunch will come at next Friday's scheduled adjournment: "Good riddance."AC = -->

We've already addressed the lack of leadership for this important session. Already in the session's first four days, what leadership there has been has been in the wrong direction.

On Monday, legislators decided to cut more than $600 million in state support for public schools. On Tuesday, budget committees moved the bills along. About $467 million would be cut from the kindergarten-through-12th-grade programs. Another $113 million would come from public universities; an additional $6.5 million from private ones.

For the rest of this editorial, click here.

Florida education system improves education quality, Independent Florida Alligator

January 9, 2009
By Matthew Beaton

The Florida education system tied with Vermont for 10th place in overall education quality, according to Education Week’s Quality Counts 2009 report.Florida’s overall grade for 2009 was a 79.6, or a C–plus, which is an improvement over its score in 2008. Since 2007, the state jumped in ranking from No. 31 to No. 10.

The overall grade was derived from individual grades each state received in six separate fields. These fields included chance–for–success, K–12 achievement, finance, standards, transition and alignment and the teaching profession.

In each of these categories, the state earned a C–minus or better.The state earned a 90.8 (A) in the standards, assessment and accountability category. The one sore spot is the 51.7 (F) Florida earned in spending, a sub–category of school finance.

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A few differences remain in House, Senate state budget cuts, Miami Herald

January 9, 2009
By Marc Caputo

TALLAHASSEE -- The full House and Senate are scheduled Friday to approve their budget cut plans that raise traffic fines, cut virtually every type of program and nearly drain the state's savings account.

But there's a key difference between the chambers' proposals: The House proposal is $500 million larger than the Senate's, largely because the House raids more special savings and spending accounts.

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FL budget crisis: Senate meets to discuss shortfalls, Channel 10 (Tampa)

January 8, 2009
By Lindsay Urbinas


Tallahassee -- A powerful Senate panel is expected this morning to pass a handful of bills designed to plug the state's $2.4 billion budget shortfall.

While schools and social services would take the biggest hit in the more than $1 billion in cuts, the Senate also is taking aim at a signature environmental program, Florida Forever, which has preserved more than 550,000 acres of undeveloped land between 2001 and 2006.

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Florida Gators outspend Oklahoma Sooners on football by 63 percent, Palm Beach Post

January 7, 2009
By Charles Elmore


Jakie Sandefer played halfback for legendary Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson in two 1950s Orange Bowls before getting into the oil and gas exploration game. He wasn't about to miss a return trip to South Florida tonight.

His alma mater, which won 47 straight in his day, meets modern juggernaut Florida for the first time, with the national championship of college football at stake.

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University of Florida's marketing savy and athletic prowess have the dollars rolling in, Sun Sentinel

January 8, 2009
By Sarah Talalay

University of Florida fan Michelle Jackson has her outfit for college football's national championship game picked out: UF T-shirt, Gator tennis shoes and Gator earrings. She might add her Gator necklace and charm bracelet, too.

Fans like Jackson, of Palm Beach Gardens, are boosting royalties at the University of Florida every time they plunk down dollars for blue and orange apparel and trinkets. With three national championships since 2006 — two in men's basketball and one in football — UF has seen royalties grow to a high of $5.9 million in 2006-07 from $2.4 million in 2004-05.

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How 'No Child Left Behind' Threatens Florida's Successful Educational Reform, Heritage Foundation

January 7, 2009
By Matthew Ladner, PhD and Dan Lips

For decades, federal policymakers have tried to implement education reforms to improve opportunities for disadvantaged students and ethnic-minority children. Since 2001, the focus of federal policy has been the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation--which increased federal funding for K-12 education programs and created new academic requirements for states and public schools that receive federal assistance.

NCLB established new requirements for states to set educational standards, test students annually on core subjects, and to implement reforms in public schools that fail to demonstrate adequate progress on state tests. The combination of testing and reform interventions was intended to provide better learning opportunities for students in danger of falling behind in low-performing schools.

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Florida public schools brace for a budget crisis, Channel 4 (CBS)

January 8, 2009

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
As Florida lawmakers debate budget cuts in an emergency special session in Tallahassee, many public educators fear their school districts will be cut back to the basics.

State lawmakers say they must cut $2.5 billion dollars from the budget because of hard economic times. On Thursday the state's House will vote on a budget-reduction package that includes nearly $1 billion in spending cuts for schools, health care and other state functions. The Senate will follow with a vote on its version of a reduction package on Friday. They will then work on resolving differences between the two before taking final votes next week.

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Federal stimulus expected to prop up state budget, Herald Tribune

January 8, 2009
By Lloyd Dunkelberger


TALLAHASSEE - While state lawmakers moved ahead on cuts in critical health care services for the poor and elderly on Wednesday, they also said that relief might be on the way from Washington.

As part of their effort to resolve a $2.3 billion budget deficit in a two-week special session, House and Senate committees approved bills that would cut up to $259 million from health and social service programs for Florida's most vulnerable residents.

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Teachers could be forced to give back to help balance budget, WOKV (Jacksonville)

January 7, 2009
By Jeff Hess

Florida Teachers could be forced to take pay cuts to help fix the Florida budget.
The legislature is considering a bill that would force teachers to take pay cuts if a district's cash reserve dip below 2%.

Mark Pudlow with the Florida Education Association says it is unfair to target teachers for something beyond their control.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Florida's GOP: No new taxes, cut the budget, Creative Loafing (Tampa)

January 7, 2009
By Wayne Garcia


As you read this, the Florida Legislature is meeting in Tallahassee, ostensibly to plug a $3 billion gap in the state's ailing budget because of losses in sales tax and other collections in this recession.

The real purpose is to continue the Republican-led dismantling of state and local governments in a quest to fulfill the 1990s mantra of "less government, fewer taxes and more personal responsibility." State lawmakers are set to work on the continued gutting of Florida's public infrastructure -- health care and education foremost among them -- through Jan. 12.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Schools to take a big hit in budget, The Ledger (Lakeland)

January 6, 2009
By Lloyd Dunkelberger

TALLAHASSEE Lawmakers are preparing to slash more than $600 million in state support for public schools, community colleges and universities as they move to fix a $2.3 billion hole in the state budget.

Although there are some minor differences in their bills, House and Senate budget committees on Tuesday moved ahead on measures in the special session that would cut:

For the rest of this story, click here.

Florida schools rank no. 10, higher than national average, St. Pete Times

January 7, 2009
By Ron Matus

Today, pigs fly.

Florida ranks No. 10 among states in education quality, according to the latest annual report card from the highly regarded Education Week newspaper.

The rankings, released this morning, are based on six broad categories — including student achievement, standards and accountability, and funding — and dozens of specific indicators, such as licensing requirements for teachers and scores on Advanced Placement exams for high school students.

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Florida budget deficit crisis, News 13 (ABC)

January 6, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist is at odds with state lawmakers when it comes to how much spending the state should cut in order to balance the budget.

Crist defends his proposal to minimize cuts by borrowing money from state reserves.

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Florida education faces big cuts, News Channel 7

January 5, 2009

Schools face the largest cuts in the Florida’s budget. Lawmakers will consider chopping another 360 million in education funding this special session.

School administrators are considering laying-off teachers, cancelling field trips, and reducing bus routes to keep up with the proposed cuts.

Florida Education Association Spokesman Mark Pudlow says lawmakers need to eliminate tax loopholes to spare education from the budget ax.

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Lawmakers to slash budget in special session, CBS Channel 4

January 4, 2009

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
When Florida lawmakers convene Monday for a two week special session, they'll have red pens in hand as they try to figure out where to cut another $2.3 billion from the state's budget.

Due to an expected decrease in revenue, lawmakers fear a nearly $4 billion deficit in the next fiscal year that begins July 1, 2009. Florida law requires the state live within its means and lawmakers are required to have a balanced budget.

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Higher Ed funding critical for Florida's future, Tampa Tribune

January 4, 2009

Florida lawmakers have an amazingly difficult task before them as they go to work in 2009. They must find drastic cuts to balance the state budget, or find revenue elsewhere. Most importantly, they must keep vital services while finding ways to cut the budget. One of the most important areas they have to trim involves our institutions of higher education, and so far they aren't doing so well.

According to a Palm Beach Post story, top researchers at our universities are pulling out and moving due to Florida's budget crisis. This means hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants, and all the revenue that such research brings to the state, are lost. Along with that lost money, we lose our best and brightest students to other universities where the best professors move to and take their grant money.

For the rest of this editorial, click here.

Florida legislature about to chop budgets for education, other services, Miami Herald

January 3, 2009
By Steve Bousquet

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida legislators will start the new year in familiar fashion: by cutting aid to schools and other programs, borrowing money, skimming cash surpluses and hiking traffic and court fees to patch a $2.3 billion hole in a leaky state budget.

The special session that begins Monday will bring the third major round of cuts in 10 months and is the result of a prolonged nosedive in tax revenues caused by the recession-wracked real estate and credit markets.

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Cut Florida's universities and the whole state bleeds, Palm Beach Post

January 3, 2009
Editorial


When state lawmakers meet in a special session next week to take up Gov. Crist's proposal to close a $2.3 billion budget gap, public universities should be a sacred cow.

Gov. Crist is recommending a 2.1''percent cut to the university system, or $51 million. That's smaller than the $97''million, which represents the 4 percent holdback announced in June, that could be implemented. But we believe it should be zero percent.

For the rest of this editorial, click here.

Lawmakers to tackle budget shortfall, Tampa Bay Online

January 3, 2009
By Carl Orth

NEW PORT RICHEY - Lawmakers serving west Pasco County are gearing up for a special session of the Florida Legislature next week to work on the state's budget deficit of more than $2.3 billion.

State Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, state Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, and state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, will head for Tallahassee for the overtime session, which begins Monday and runs through Jan. 16.

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Stop raiding trust fund to balance budget on backs of needy children, Treasure Coast Palm

January 2, 2009

Funny, but when Florida is looking for a good fiscal conservative, it finds one in a liberal Democrat's son, Bud Chiles. Chiles has threatened to sue the state if it continues to raid the $1.2 billion state trust created in the name of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to sustain health programs for the young and elderly.

Meanwhile, the alleged conservatives — Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida legislators — borrowed more than $300 million from the fund in April to help balance the budget. And, instead of curbing ridiculous tax loopholes and reforming inefficiencies, they're looking at raiding even more trust funds in the face of a multibillion-dollar deficit.

So much for fiscal conservatism.

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State senator to push for giving schools financial flexibility, St. Pete Times

January 3, 2009
By Jeffrey S. Solochek

In preparation for Monday's special legislative session, Pasco County schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino has been urging Florida lawmakers to look for ways to ease spending requirements placed on school districts.

She's got a kindred spirit in Senate Education Committee chairwoman Nancy Detert, R-Venice, who has called for "100 percent flexibility" for districts.

For the rest of this article, click here.

University of Florida tuition increases are justified, Florida Times Union

January 2, 2009
Letter to the editor, from Kevin F. Reilly, Jr.

For years, University of Florida students have had the privilege of receiving a world-class education for one of the lowest tuitions in the nation. In fact, of 75 flagship universities around the country, UF consistently ranks 75th in tuition. While it's undeniable that UF offers an education that is as valuable as it is affordable, tuition increases are necessary. Our goal of being ranked as one of the top public universities in the world is simply not possible with tuition at bargain basement levels.

For the rest of this letter, click here.

UF president looks ahead to 'tough year' of cuts, Herald Tribune

January 2, 2009
By Nathan Crabbe


GAINESVILLE - From the standpoint of enrollment at University of Florida, the BCS national championship is happening at the worst time possible.

If past trends are any indication, the Gator football team's appearance in the game in Miami on Jan. 8 will cause a greater percentage of accepted students to attend UF. But state budget cuts mean UF must trim enrollment next year by 1,000 students, forcing the university to reject more students to make up the difference.

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Reports chronicle looming healthcare crisis across Florida, Jacksonville Business Journal

December 31, 2008

NORTHEAST FLORIDA – First was a failing grade for access to the state’s emergency rooms. Then came a forecast of doctor shortages. And the latest report on mass layoffs in health care is yet another sobering report on the state of health care in Florida.

The final month of 2008 left a lot to chew on for health care officials and state lawmakers — evidence of an erosion in the state’s health care system that isn’t expected to improve in 2009.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Budget woes coming in months ahead, Tampa Bay Newspapers

December 30, 2008

PINELLAS COUNTY – Local and state officials continue to remain jittery about the economy and its impact on government services.

The state and nation are suffering their worst credit crunch since the 1980s and perhaps since the Great Depression. The current recession is having a domino effect in Pinellas and other counties as more government agencies are tightening their belts.

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Special session called to balance Florida budget, WTSP 10Connects (Tampa)

December 30, 2008

Tallahassee, Florida - It's official. The Florida Legislature will meet in special session Jan. 5-16 to true up the state's budget and the $2.3 billion gap between revenue and spending. Gambling and cigarette taxes are definitely out.

Class-size spending and increased speeding fines are in.

House Speaker Ray Sansom and Senate President Jeff Atwater Tuesday evening signed the call for the special session, a constitutionally required step for the Legislature to meet outside its required 60-day spring session. The call signed by Atwater and Sansom also sets out the limits of what can be considered for lawmakers. Anything outside the call requires a super majority of lawmakers to be taken up.

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Florida's Prison Budget: Imprison with Precision, The Ledger (Lakeland)

December 30, 2008


This month, Florida's prison population exceeded 100,000 for the first time.AC = -->

Only California and Texas have more inmates. And Florida Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil says the Department of Corrections may have to putup tents to house all the inmates. McNeil saidat the current growth trend, Florida will need 19 new prisons in the next five years. That will require the DOC budget to nearly double, to about $4 billion.

But that's not what McNeil is recommending. Instead, he wants lawmakers to re-evaluate tough mandatory-sentencing laws and concentrate on reducing high recidivism rate so inmates are less likely to return to prison once released.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Florida health care funding at risk from Legislature, Jacksonville Business Journal

December 26, 2008
By Kimberly Morrison

JACKSONVILLE — Health care officials are bracing for another battle with state lawmakers looking to balance a $2.3 billion deficit in a January special session.

Florida representatives are eyeing deep cuts to programs that support the state’s neediest — the young, old and poor — to pull a $66 billion state budget back to black.

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Report: Athletes' Test scores lag behind class, MSNBC

December 28, 2008

ATLANTA, Ga. - Football and men's basketball players are averaging hundreds of points less on their college entrance exams than their classmates, according to a newspaper's study of 54 public universities.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution review found the biggest gap between football players and students occurred at the University of Florida, where players scored 346 points lower than the school's overall student body.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Crist offers half a proposal to escape the budget crisis, Palm Beach Post

December 29, 2008


Gov. Crist's approach to trimming the current-year budget is to put off today's problems until tomorrow. His defense is that "economically, it's raining in Florida." But the rainfall is turning into a storm, making this a particularly bad time to give away umbrellas.

The governor's proposal, released last week, will be considered during a special session starting Jan. 5. To make up a $2.3 billion mid-year budget shortfall, it drains reserves and trust funds, adds debt to pay for prisons and slashes spending across the board. It also relies on the dubious proposition that the Legislature immediately will approve the governor's agreement with the Seminole Indians, trading exclusive rights to blackjack and baccarat for a minimum annual payment of $100 million.

For the rest of this editorial, click here.

Florida community colleges could lose millions in budget cuts, Central Florida 13 News

December 29, 2008

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's community colleges have learned they are on the chopping block, and could see at least $21 million in budget cuts.
In response, some lawmakers want to loosen the rules over the amount of money community colleges are required to have in the bank.

Community colleges currently must stash away 5 percent of their total budgets, but some lawmakers argue that money could prevent layoffs and equipment shortages.
The lawmakers said that law was passed for a reason -- to have security in the midst of uncertainty -- but Rep. Will Weatherford, the state House's point man on community college funding, noted the 5 percent holdback does not do much good if it cannot be accessed.

"This whole act, I think, is healthy," Weatherford said. "It's not fun cutting budgets. It's not fun going through this process, but it forces us to look at how we do state government, and what kind of mandates do we put on local government, and can we do better?"
Under Gov. Charlie Crist's budget-cutting proposal, there is also another $43 million, mostly in new building construction, that community colleges could lose.

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Low marks on higher education, St. Pete Times

December 28, 2008
By Donald R. Eastman IIIThe three-ring circus of politicians, higher education and declining tax revenues in Florida is certainly entertaining, but it obscures the real issues of quality and access and further diminishes the confidence of taxpayers that their dollars will be used effectively. Consider:

• The absence of a statewide strategy and an effective coordinating body for higher education — since the demise of the Board of Regents — has been destructive of both public confidence and efficient allocation of tax dollars. Florida has spent more money on studies of how to improve the higher education system — many of them, including the recent Pappas Report and the 2004 Florida Council of 100 Report, quite good — than it has on putting those plans into effect. The current "forums" being sponsored by a few elected officials and the Florida Chambers of Commerce are a wholly unnecessary exercise. There are already plenty of good plans lying around; choose one!

For the rest of this op ed, click here.

Researchers leaving state and taking their grants, Palm Beach Post

By December 25, 2008
By Kimberly Miller

When a lead Florida State University researcher needed five faculty members last year to start a landmark center dedicated to studying autism, state budget cuts prevented the school from hiring the additional professors.

The Ohio State University, however, had the money, recruited the researcher - and his more than $1 million in federal grants - and in a few years could be reaping the benefits of an autism program that may bring $10 million annually to the school.

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Crist makes budget recommendations as revenue drops,Times Advertiser

December 26, 2008

Local officials have been bracing for another round of budget cuts for several weeks. They now know how Gov. Charlie Crist is looking at the situation.

On Dec. 23 Crist sent a letter to Chief Justice Peggy Quince, Senate President Jeff Atwater, Speaker of the House Ray Sansom, and Budget Committee Chairmen Ken Pruitt and David Rivera noting the results of the recent revenue estimating conference and laying out recommendations on budget action in the coming special session of the State Legislature.

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Education groups compete for piece of the stimulus package, CQ Today Online

December 24, 2008
By Lydia Gensheimer

Teachers groups and school administrators, citing state budget shortfalls that are strangling local school districts, are continuing an end-of-the-year lobbying push to ensure education funding is part of the 2009 stimulus package.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), sent a letter Tuesday to members of Congress and President-elect Barack Obama in which she detailed the AFT’s priorities for inclusion in the package. Weingarten said the legislation should provide fiscal relief to states, investment in infrastructure and measures to increase college access. Weingarten also called for a $3 billion temporary fund for school districts to pay for activities already authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act (PL 107-110) or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA - PL 105-17).

For the rest of this article, click here.

College handed Sansom $122M wish list, The Buzz (St. Pete Times blog)

December 22, 2008

The president of the college where Ray Sansom now works provided him with a "pricey" $122-million funding request over five years with the implicit expectation that Sansom would help "make it a reality."

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Lawmakers cash in with campus jobs, Miami Herald

December 20, 2008
By Jennifer Liberto


TALLAHASSEE -- By taking a six-figure job at a state college, House Speaker Ray Sansom has focused attention on a pattern of behavior that has gone on largely unchecked for decades in Florida's higher education system.

Even in a time of bleak finances, with curbs on enrollment and spikes in tuition, nearly two dozen current and former legislators are employed throughout the system -- six at the University of South Florida alone, including the wife of a state senator.

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Budget Hole Has Tax Exemptions in Sites Again, Tampa Tribune

December 21, 2008
By David Royse

TALLAHASSEE - Businesses across Florida are carefully watching the Legislature with the deepening cash crisis facing state government leading to the most serious talk of eliminating some tax exemptions since former President John McKay took on the tax structure eight years ago.

Democrats and advocates for government programs that annually face a difficult time in the budget process have long suggested that Florida's hodge podge of exemptions to the sales tax are unfair and should be reviewed.

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Serving the people--and themselves, Herald Tribune

December 21, 2008
By Joe Follick


TALLAHASSEE - In campaign ad attacks this year, state Rep. Keith Fitzgerald was criticized for "double dipping" for holding jobs as a part-time lawmaker and as a professor at state-funded New College in Sarasota. The ads showed an overweight man, not Fitzgerald, slobbering over a bowl of ice cream.

But in an "only in Tallahassee" moment, the man who oversaw the Republican campaign against Fitzgerald and other House Democrats is at the center of his own double-dipping controversy by taking a job at a community college after snagging tens of millions of dollars in funding for his new employer.

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A better way for Florida's budget, St. Pete Times

December 21, 2008

To hear the talk from Tallahassee, Florida need do nothing differently to weather the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Gov. Charlie Crist's suggestions for dealing with a $2.3-billion shortfall during next month's two-week special session are the same old ideas that are neither bold nor visionary. He proposes cutting state agency spending across the board, draining state savings accounts, borrowing money to build facilities in lieu of paying in cash and ratifying the controversial gambling pact with the Seminole Indian tribe. Such a short-term strategy digs an even deeper budget hole for next year. There is a better way, and it involves raising some additional revenue.

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Study: $7.6B impact from UCF med school, Orlando Business Journal

December 19, 2008
By Melanie Stawicki Azam


The University of Central Florida College of Medicine would create more than 30,000 local jobs and have a 10-year economic impact of $7.6 billion, according to a study released Dec. 19 by the university.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Spending cuts, gambling pact at heart of state budget plan, St. Pete Times

December 19, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers can fill a $2.3-billion budget hole by trimming government spending, nearly emptying savings accounts and approving a gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, according to a draft document approved by Gov. Charlie Crist.

To read the rest, click here.

Private colleges: protect the future, Times Union

December 18, 2008

The state's monstrous budget gap has put a fright into the leaders of Florida's colleges and universities. For good reason. It's a gap that could swallow up the state's future if too many students are cut off from college. Lawmakers recently learned that Florida will be grappling with a $2.3 billion budget deficit this year. That deficit, combined with declining property tax revenues and the continuing losses from stagnant growth and other problems related to the recession and the credit crisis, won't just hobble governments when it comes to providing basic services. It'll will hurt students' chances to enter the world of higher education. Of particular worry for the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, a non-governmental organization that represents all sectors of the state's higher education system, is whether the Florida Resident Access Grant will be cut. The grant, also known as FRAG, is about $3,000 per student. It is available for qualified undergraduates who attend the state's private, nonprofit colleges or universities.

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Florida Budget, News12 (CBS, Palm Coast)

December 18, 2008
By Claudia Shea


It's a big day in Tallahassee for Florida's budget. House committees are discussing potential budget cuts that likely will include education and health and human services. Those are the state's biggest spending areas. Lawmaker must close a $2.3 billion current-year deficit. Agencies have been asked to suggest ways to absorb a 10 percent cut.

Budget crisis catches up with educaiton, Herald Tribune

December 18, 2008
By Jeremy Wallace


TALLAHASSEE - State Sen. Nancy Detert, whose first elected position was to the Sarasota School Board, has made trying to improve Florida's schools -- which in some categories have long ranked among the worst in the nation -- the focus of her political career.

State Sen. Nancy Detert leads the Senate Education Committee.
Now, as Detert ascends to the head of the Senate Education Committee, she and other legislators are charged with cutting many of the programs the state has struggled to improve in recent years. The choices became painfully apparent Wednesday as Senate and House members met for talks on how to deal with Florida's historic budget shortfall.

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Budget crisis threatens health care for poor, The Ledger (Lakeland, FL)

December 16, 2008
By Lloyd Dunkelberger


TALLAHASSEE Health care spending for some of the sickest and poorest Floridians could be on the chopping block as lawmakers look to resolve the state's budget crisis.

As part of the budget debate, a state health care official Tuesday outlined $1.2 billion in potential cuts in Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor.

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Education and the Economy: Districts Making Tough Decisions, New America Foundation

December 15, 2008
By Jennifer Cohen

Last week we examined some of the strategies states are employing to pare down their education budgets in the face of the economic downturn. School districts are also affected by the simultaneous stress placed on federal, state and local education budgets. And they are considering some serious and often creative ways of rethinking their budgets for the current school year.

For the rest of this report, click here.

School board: Each department should prepare for cuts, Gainesville Sun

December 16, 2008
By Christopher Curry


With the financial situation not looking any rosier for the foreseeable future, School Board members want all departments in the district to do some budget pruning.

During a discussion Tuesday about the coming 2009-10 school year budget — likely the first of many such meetings over the next several months — board Chairwoman Tina Pinkoson said she expected no department to be immune from cuts.

Assistant Superintendent Keith Birkett, who oversees the district budget, said the marching orders would be for all department heads to prepare cuts of between 5 percent and 7 percent.

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Budget crisis no excuse for shortchanging our children, Naples News

December 16, 2008
Lawton Chiles III

Ten years ago this month marks the anniversary of the death of former Florida governor — my father — Lawton Chiles. While he will long be remembered for many things, the issue closest to his heart was the health and well-being of Florida’s children.

When my son was born prematurely in 1981, seeing him fight for his life in the neonatal intensive care unit had a huge impact on my father, lighting a fire in him that burned bright throughout his political career. During his years as a U.S. senator, he increased funding for prenatal care and childhood immunizations and helped focus the nation’s attention on the importance of early, quality prenatal care. He also became a leader in working to reduce the country’s high infant mortality rate. When he was elected governor in 1990, he raised the standards for education and dedicated his service to building a constituency for children.

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Higher-Education Leaders Press Congress for Chunk of Stimulus Funds, Washington Post

December 16, 2008
By Valerie Strauss

More than 40 higher-education leaders from across the country asked Congress today to commit 5 percent of any economic stimulus program to the nation's colleges and universities.

The educators, including University of Virginia President John Casteen III and Chancellor William E. Kirwan of the University System of Maryland, published an open letter in newspapers warning that state budget cuts have harmed the public educational enterprise that is at the heart of the nation's long-term security.

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To help state's universities, spread the money around, Palm Beach Post

December 16, 2008


There are two ways to look at University of Florida President Bernard Machen's decision to donate his $285,000 in bonuses to a scholarship fund.

The charitable way:

Dr. Machen has set a great example and put his own money where his rhetoric is. During his nearly five years running the state's flagship university, Dr. Machen has criticized Florida for offering too little scholarship help to poor students. The $285,000 will help young men and women who are the first in their family to attend college. Unlike the ex-chairman of Merrill Lynch bleating for his $10 million bonus after he ran the company into acquisition by Bank of America, Dr. Machen has put the institution before himself.

The less-charitable way:

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States worry about slumping retail sales revenue, Reuters

December 15, 2008
By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Todd Gerardo's layoff means work for someone else in Arizona, where state officials this month will have more than doubled their staff with new employees for processing unemployment benefits.

Gerardo, of Gilbert, Arizona, said he knew his days were numbered as a car salesman when he managed to make only minimum wage last month. His dealership let him go on December 3.

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Special session called to close state budget gap, Miami Herald

December 15, 2008
By Marc Caputo and Mary Ellen Klas

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's legislative leaders announced Monday that they will convene an extraordinary lawmaking session Jan. 5 to close the state's ever-widening $2.3 billion budget hole.

The Republican leaders' joint announcement said legislators will focus on cutting the budget and shifting money from savings accounts and other funds. Tax and fee increases look like they're off the table.

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Sansom's credibilty gone, Palm Beach Post

December 14, 2008


Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, just doesn't know when it's time to quit.

Seriously.

He should have quit, either as speaker or as a vice president at Northwest Florida State College, when it was reported that the college hired him last month for $110,000 in a sweetheart arrangement after Rep. Sansom finagled $200,000 from a shrinking state budget for a "leadership institute" at the school. As The Post reported, he faxed the job application from his House office.

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Universities brace for budget cuts, St. Joseph News (Missouri)

December 15, 2008
By Jimmy Myers

A collective “ugh” is resounding in finance offices across higher education institutions as they brace for possible drastic budget cuts.

The previous economic downturn put the hit on state budgets, which in the 2003 fiscal year trickled down to a 10 percent swipe away from Northwest Missouri State University and Missouri Western State University’s operating budgets.

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Florida's budget choice: Invest in success or pay for failure

December 14, 2008
By Roy Miller


After receiving a high quality education from a public school and public university in this state, I've spent the next 35 years in service and advocacy to Florida's children. There has never been a time when I was more afraid for the children in Florida than I am now.AC = -->

I have served as a member of the advocacy team that led many important and successful reform efforts on behalf of Florida's children, youth and their families. For example, our state shuttered the decrepit and disgraceful institutions warehousing developmentally disabled and mentally ill children so they could be served better and with caring dignity in community-based settings. Our Healthy Start and children's health insurance programs became national models in providing preventive care and access to doctors and nurses without resorting to emergency rooms for routine care.

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Is the goal more prison cells or fewer prisoners? St. Pete Times

December 14, 2008
By Howard Troxler

The way to deal with crime is to put criminals in prison. If we need more prisons, we will build them.

The purpose of prison is to punish and to protect society — not to rehabilitate.

For the past quarter-century or so, this has been the stated policy of Florida.
Florida was a leader among the states

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Rep. Weatherford: Funding will be biggest issue on education committees, St. Pete Times

December 14, 2008
By Jeffrey S. Solochek

State Rep. Will Weatherford, a Wesley Chapel Republican, is a contender to be House speaker in 2012. This session he will serve on several education-related committees, including as chairman of the State and Community Colleges and Workforce Appropriations Committee. He shared his thoughts on the upcoming session, education funding and priorities for the next two years.

You're going to be on all these education committees and councils. What do you see as the key issues coming up during session?

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Federal education bailout is not the answer, Heritage Foundation

December 12, 2008
By Dan Lips

Earlier this week, leaders of the Miami-Dade school system and Broward County school board in Florida called on the federal government to provide a "bailout" for the area's ailing school districts.[1]

The lagging economy has resulted in declining tax revenues and ballooning budget shortfalls for many state governments and local communities across the nation. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently reported that state governments are facing $137 billion in budget gaps over a two year period.[2] Thirty-eight states expect budget shortfalls for the 2009 fiscal year.[3]

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School board anticipating more budget woes, Tampa Tribune

December 12, 2008
By Ronni Blair

LAND O' LAKES - Pasco County School Board members will deal with more than just their current $8.7 million shortfall when they meet Tuesday in a budget workshop to review the school district's financial woes.The board also will be bracing for a 2009-10 budget year that's expected to be even worse than the current one.Superintendent Heather Fiorentino and her staff put together a list of potential spending cuts that was distributed to school board members Friday.

The list includes a Plan A to deal with the current shortfall, a Plan B to deal with an anticipated shortfall of $10 million to $15 million that could be coming in the last five months of this fiscal year, and a Plan C that looks toward 2009-10.

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Leaders say big shortfall calls for big fix, Herald Tribune

December 12, 2008
By Jeremy Wallace


Florida's budget crisis has grown so severe that some state legislators are abandoning their long-held resistance to tax increases or severe program-altering budget cuts.

So far this year and in the past two years, legislators have avoided such politically painful alternatives by tapping into reserve funds and considering quick fixes like expanded gambling to bolster the economy.

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UF endowment's $104 million loss another hard hit, Palm Beach Post

December 11, 2008
Kimberly Miller


The University of Florida's endowment was down $103.6 million during the first three months of the 2009 fiscal year, and without a significant market rebound, school officials predict cuts to scholarships, research and academic programs paid for by the account.

The 8.3 percent drop in UF's $1.25 billion endowment, the largest endowment among Florida's public universities, is mirrored nationwide and couldn't come at a worse time for schools, many of which are dealing with considerable state budget cuts.

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Progress Florida launches SackSanson.com

December 11, 2008

Progress Florida today launched www.SackSansom.com in response to overwhelming response from an online poll asking if newly elected State House Speaker Ray Sansom (R-Destin) should be held accountable for his "cash and carry" style of "leadership."

On the same day Sansom was named the new Speaker of the House it was announced he had landed a six-figure salary job at Northwest Florida State College (formerly Okaloosa-Walton Community College). Further reporting revealed that earlier this year, in the midst of a state budget crisis, Sansom quietly steered $25 million to the college even though officials had only requested $1 million.

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Schools expecting more cuts, Bradford County Telegraph

December 11, 2008

by Mark J. Crawford, editor

A recent revenue estimating conference has confirmed the worst about additional budget cuts for the current school year, according to Julie Tinsler, the school districts finance director.Tinsler read e-mail excerpts to the school board Monday night from Joy Frank of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and Ruth Melton of the Florida School Boards Association, both groups who lobby for public school interests in Tallahassee.

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Florida No. 2 in foreclosure activity, Orlando Business Journal

December 11, 2008

November Foreclosure activity in Florida fell by nearly 10 percent, but it was still high enough to hold the No. 2 spot in the nation, according to a report released Dec. 11 by RealtyTrac.

Despite a decrease of 9.45 percent in foreclosure activity from October, it was 68 percent higher than what was recorded in November 2007.

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