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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Crist will veto some budget cuts, Wakulla.com

January 23, 2009
By David Royse

Crist Will Veto Some Budget Cuts
by David RoyseThe News Service of Florida
In his most forcefully worded warning yet, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday said he will veto some parts of the revised budget lawmakers passed earlier this month as they tried to balance the state's spending plan against falling tax collections.

Crist said he is looking closely at education spending, a cut to the Department of Corrections that resulted in more than 60 probation officers getting laid off, and possibly some environmental cuts, particularly a one-year break on the Florida Forever land buying program.
Crist noted he has hinted about vetoes, but said Thursday that he is acknowledging that next week he will veto some line items in those areas.

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Crist should offset any vetoed cuts, House leader says, Tampa Tribune

January 22, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom said Gov. Charlie Crist should suggest ways to offset any items he vetoes in a deficit-elimination package when he submits his recommendations for the next state budget.

And, Senate President Jeff Atwater said he's worried reducing already thin reserves in the $2.6 billion deficit reduction plan for the current budget year could harm Florida's bond rating, resulting in higher interest rates when the state borrows money.

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Governor isn't interested in chasing a Senate seat, Herald Tribune

January 18, 2009


Asked his level of interest in entering the U.S. Senate race in 2010, Gov. Charlie Crist responded, "Not much."

Crist said last week that he has been giving most of his attention to the state's budget crisis and a review of the Legislature's recent $2 billion-plus in cuts and borrowing.

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Education cut too far, Crist says, Tampa Tribune

January 14, 2009
By William March

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist, who hinted at vetoing some education cuts intended to help balance the state budget, said Tuesday he's looking mainly at one comparatively small item: an $11 million cut in a teacher certification program.

The program provides teachers a 10 percent pay increase for 10 years if they achieve certification under a national program that identifies master teachers.

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Crist hints at budget veto, The Buzz (St. Pete Times)

January 13, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday emphasized the value of "working together" with the Legislature. But he also gave strong hints that he will surgivally use his veto pen and aim it at the education budget cuts approved by lawmakers over the weekend.

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Florida lawmakers leave $130 million in gambling money on hte table, Casino Gambling Web

January 12, 2009

Legislators in the state of Florida are patting themselves on the back for working to fix a budget deficit without having to raise taxes. What they are not admitting is how they left $130 million of possible revenue on the table while cutting funds going to education in the state.

The lawmakers in Florida called a special legislative session to deal with the shortcomings of the state budget. They vowed at the beginning of the session to not make tax hikes to cover the budget problems. They succeeded in that. It is their failure, however, to approve a Seminole Indian casino gambling compact that had Governor Charlie Crist annoyed.

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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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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.

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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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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.

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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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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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Helping hire ed, Florida Today

December 7, 2008

Space Coast parents of students hoping to attend state universities with the help of Bright Futures scholarships should pay close attention to a tuition hike proposal that could soon hit them where it hurts.

The proposal — which comes from Gov. Charlie Crist — does this:

Allows the 11 public universities to raise differential tuition 15 percent a year starting next fall until Florida rates reach the national average, now $6,585. Average tuition at a Florida university this year is $3,800.

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Bright Futures: College costs zoom, Jacksonville.com

December 4, 2008

State budget woes could mean some cloudy skies ahead for the state's popular Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

At the least, a $2 billion projected shortfall in the state's budget has put the program in play for a discussion in the Legislature about whether some changes should be made.

That wouldn't be all bad.

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More funding needed for higher education, Sun Sentinel

By Ed. H. Moore
November 29, 2008

"You produce good jobs by having great education."

With these words, Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed a bold package of changes in both public tuition structure and governance.Florida has 28 private, not for profit, colleges and universities and 11 public colleges and universities. They are laboratories for innovation and engines of economic development. None of this is possible without the fuel that fires these activities — proper and adequate funding.

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Gov. Crist's overdue epiphany, The Ledger (Lakeland)

November 29, 2008


Finally, Gov. Charlie Crist has stopped turning a blind eye to the dire financial plight of Florida's public universities.

The governor this month reversed two years of inexplicable and harmful opposition to raising tuition rates at Florida's 11 state universities and unveiled a "reform" proposal that would, among other things, allow the schools to increase tuition as much as 15 percent a year, but no more than 40 percent in a three-year period. Analysts estimate the tuition hikes could generate as much as $1.5 billion in new and badly needed higher-education funding over the next seven years.

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Cheaper not better: Universities need tuition-raising authority, Tallahassee Democrat

November 23, 2008

Florida has to do something. It can no longer continue to charge the lowest tuition and required fees among the nation's public universities and be able to brag about the quality of education our young people are receiving.

It is regrettable — as are so many other instances where the unreality of getting something for nothing rears its ugly head — but Gov. Charlie Crist's unexpected call Thursday to allow universities to raise their tuition is essential.

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Crist's bold tuition plan will enhance education, Tampa Tribune

November 24, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist was just a few months into his new administration when the subject of Florida's universities elicited two strong responses from him: Crist thought it was ludicrous that Florida students were having a hard time getting into public universities, and he was soundly against raising tuition.

But the governor promised two things as he started his new administration. First, he was going to take a hard look at the status and future of higher education in Florida. And second, he was going to listen to what people had to say about tuition.

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