Florida House speaker probe now involves trustees, Miami Herald

January 28, 2009
By Alex Leary

TALLAHASSEE -- The college trustees who hired House Speaker Ray Sansom have become part of a criminal investigation into his dealings with the school over whether they violated the state's Sunshine Law, officials said Tuesday.

State Attorney Willie Meggs is investigating whether the Northwest Florida State College trustees violated state laws on public meetings for a gathering they held in Tallahassee last March.

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State Farm Insurance withdrawing from Florida property market, Florida Trend

January 28, 2009

The state’s largest private insurer will drop 1.2 million policies over the next two years, likely pushing many into the already bloated state-run insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. More than 800 State Farm agents can expect to see their income slashed by an average of 37%. State Farm Florida president Jim Thompson said the Florida operation has been losing $20 million a month.

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Crist vetoes legislature's cuts to education, Jacksonville News

March 14, 2009
By Brandon Larrabee

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist signed a spending measure Tuesday aimed at balancing the state’s budget but vetoed some of lawmakers’ proposed cuts to education, public safety, land conservation and tourism promotion.

The revisions to the budget, meant to fill an expected shortfall of at least $2.4 billion in the formerly $66 billion spending plan, passed during a special legislative session that finished Jan. 13.

With his veto pen, Crist restored full funding for a program to provided bonuses to teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; struck a provision that would have led to the dismissal of 118 probation officers; and retains state backing for Visit Florida, the state’s tourism arm.

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In Florida State athletic department, budget cuts coming, Orlando Sentinel

January 27, 2009
By Andrew Carter

I’m playing catch-up here, and I apologize for the absence yesterday, but wanted to touch on this story from the Tallahassee Democrat. Florida State athletic director Randy Spetman told the newspaper that a 10 percent athletic department budget cut is possible in the 2009-10 academic year.

Working in the newspaper business, I’m familiar with that kind of talk. And it’s not good.
Spetman told the Democrat, “What we are doing right now is looking at a 10-percent reduction in our budget for next year, 2009-10, which is a huge (measure). We have not finished that study to see how we get there because we have a lot of hard costs.”

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Grand jury to investigate Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, Miami Herald

January 27, 2009
By Alex Leary

-- A grand jury decided Monday to launch a formal investigation into Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom and whether his six-figure job at a Panhandle college was payback for helping the school get millions of dollars in construction money over the past two years.

The 21-member panel concluded that Sansom's relationship with the school warranted a criminal probe after reviewing the facts outlined in a series of articles by the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau.

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Scholarship strengthens poor students, The Ledger (Lakeland)

January 26, 2009
By Doug Tuthill


Within the education policies that have come to be viewed as the legacy of Jeb Bush is a strategic imperative that transcends any one governor or political party. It is the light that now shines on students from impoverished homes and our collective obligation to do better by them.AC = -->

In that sense, Bush's A+ Plan in 1999 was the successor to Lawton Chiles' Blueprint 2000 in 1991. Both Bush, a Republican, and Chiles, a Democrat, were committed to using standards, assessments and accountability to improve student learning - especially the achievement of students from low-income families. One result is that Florida is making great progress in closing the achievement gap, including with Hispanic students who now outperform all students in 15 different states.

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Despite cuts to Fla.'s state universities, private school tuition aid may rise, The Ledger (Lakeland)

January 25, 2009
By Joe Follick


TALLAHASSEE Even with Florida’s 11 public universities laying off staff and limiting enrollment, the state will spend more than $90 million this year to help residents attend private colleges.

The Florida Resident Access Grant program, better known as “FRAG,” was created in 1979. The goal was to keep Floridians who were considering out-of-state private schools and help provide options beyond public universities.

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