Northeast Florida if you wanted to destroy education, knee cap the middle class and do harm to the state you have come up aces. Embrace what you have done; own it, because if we get much more of Wise, Thrasher and Scott that will be about all you do own, it’s definitely all your children will.
Congratulations Northeast Florida, you are the epicenter for the destruction of the state’s public schools. Your recent dogged insistence to vote against you and your children’s interests and for politicians that couldn’t care less about the both of you have signaled education’s death knell. When you voted for Steven Wise, John Thrasher and Rick Scott you may as well as put a stake through education’s heart and forks in our children, because they too like our schools are done.
Steven Wise is no friend of public education and this has been made more evident by his senate bill 736 or what he laughably calls the teacher quality bill. In his bill teachers become at will employees and can be fired regardless of performance. Speak up? You’re gone. The principal doesn’t like you? You’re gone. The principal’s neighbor has a nephew who thinks he might like to try teaching because it would be cool to have summers off? You’re gone. This not increased quality, is what senate bill 736 will allow to happen. It also gets rid of pay increases for advanced degrees. I hope this irony is not lost on you. In every profession we say the more education you get the better off you will be, every profession except education that is, and it also gets rid of seniority and due process, two of the long established tenants of education.
The bill is also another unfunded mandate. School districts will be required to come up with ways to finance the various teacher salary scales and all the increased testing that the bill calls for. Kids will be taught more to the test than ever because now a teacher’s job is on the line more than ever. These tests are not just going to magically appear. They will be developed and scored by educational testing companies who will drain much needed money away from schools coffers and reap millions in profits. Then there will also be teacher evaluation systems that has Michelle Rhee and others salivating. Oh you didn’t know Michelle Rhee has a teacher evaluation system. Why she does, it’s called IMPACT and it has widely been panned in Washington D.C. which means it is probably on the fast track to Florida; after all she is the darling of Rick Scott and Wise.
Steven Wise has cloaked the bill in simplistic easy to please statements like merit pay and reward our best teachers. He doesn’t mention that teachers, who may know better what’s best for them than he does are overwhelmingly against it. His bill is like giving doctors who didn’t ask for it a clump or dirt and saying it’s a cutting edge scalpel and they must use it. Wise also doesn’t mention that there is no study that says merit pay works. Not one! In fact all the studies say it is the equivalent of the luck of the draw. Teacher’s student’s success on standardized tests varies wildly as students enter and leave their classes.
Wise says he wants to improve education, my question is how? Is it by making teachers want to leave and replacements harder to attract because that is what his bill is really doing; hey Jacksonville great job in voting for him.
Then there is John Thrasher who makes no apologies for his distain, no make that hatred for teachers and their unions and he comes from St. Johns County which is the top school district in the state, thank goodness he didn’t come from a county lower on the list. Wake up St. Johns, his way of thinking is going to hurt the schools and kids in your county as well but I guess some of you didn’t think about that while shooting nine at the country club. Would Deborah Giannoulis really have been such a bad alternative? She ran on a platform of doing what’s best for our kids, Thrasher has a history of doing what’s not.
He wants to end collective bargaining and destroy workers rights. He wants to do this by ending payroll deductions for unions but at the same time continue to allow payroll deductions for the United Way and other organizations and by decertifying unions that have a membership of less than fifty percent plus one. Why should multi-million or billion dollar corporations, his friends and supporters be the only one with a voice in government? In the end all his bill amounts to is rewarding his friends and silencing his enemies. Even if you don’t like unions, is this the America you want to live in? Do you want to live in a country where our corporate over loads tell us what to think and feel and limit the earning power of millions of everyday citizens; if so communist Russia would have been the place for you. This is not just a teacher battle here, this is a battle for the future of the middle class and if we are going to have one or not. Way to go St. Johns, you have just destroyed the teaching profession and public education but potentially the middle class as well, talk about a trifecta.
Thrasher and Wise are so concerned about education that instead of demanding Scott rescind his draconian budget, they develop bills that will handicap and set back the profession. No thanks guys and don’t worry about me I’ll try and get somebody to pull the knife out of my and the thousands of teachers back you just put it in.
Then there is Rick Scott, he of the 1.7 billion dollar fine for fraud who won the election with less than fifty percent of the vote, which was more of a referendum against Obama than for him. You have to hand it to him though, while spending eighty million dollars of his own personal fortune he made the election about Washington D.C. not about Florida. I get it that you don’t like Obammacare but how do you feel about gutting social services for the sick, disabled and children. How do you feel about him curtailing protections for the environment and our rivers and how do you feel about him cutting billions from our already resource starved education system? Friends we were already fiftieth in the nation. He and this is adjusted for inflation, wants to send us back to 1976 levels of school spending, you know before all the unfunded mandates and changes to education that siphoned millions away to corporate charter schools, vouchers and education testing companies.
North East Florida voted for this transplant and while hoping to create additional tax breaks for corporations and wealthy individuals in addition to the billions we already give, he seeks to balance the budget on the backs of the working poor and the middle class. Cut your own throat much North East Florida.
He won by saying he would create jobs, well the tens of thousands of teachers and government workers who are about to find themselves unemployed aren’t so optimistic about his plan. And friends we are already a low tax, pro business state without an income tax. If companies aren’t rushing here now do you really thing they are going to do so after we destroy public education, curtail government services and harm the environment?
Northeast Florida once again, if you wanted to destroy education, knee cap the middle class and do harm to the state you have come up aces. Embrace what you have done; own it, because if we get much more of Wise, Thrasher and Scott that will be about all you do, it’s definitely all your children will.
Showing posts with label rick scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rick scott. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Has the hornets nest been kicked?
From the Palm Beach Post
by John Kennedy
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature's ruling Republicans have kicked over a political hornet's nest by promoting budget cuts, pension overhauls and civil justice changes, which are now emerging as targets for statewide rallies by Democratic-allied organizations.
The GOP's tough medicine for a state pocked by foreclosures and almost 12 percent unemployment may be breathing life into a Florida Democratic Party, virtually left for dead after wholesale election defeats last fall. It also may effectively prove the opening round of the 2012 presidential contest in the nation's biggest battleground state.
"Democrats last fall were down and outspent," said Susannah Randolph, campaign manager for defeated Orlando Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and now an organizer of the March 8 rallies.
"Now we're seeing that we have to respond to a threat level like DEFCON 1," said Randolph, who also is a leader of Florida Watch Action. "And sure, we want to keep this energy going."
Using a Facebook page, "Awake The State," organizers are planning events in most major Florida cities on the legislature's opening day. Although locations are still being determined, teachers and public employees' unions, including police and firefighters, are forming the core of those protesting expected cuts in education, pensions and government workforces.
Counter-punching, tea party supporters are rallying behind Scott, and looking to converge on the state Capitol for the session's launch, which coincides with the new governor's first State of the State address.
Political spring training
Florida hasn't been rocked yet by the kind of political convulsions coursing through Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, where unions and Republican governors have squared-off in angry protests and even walkouts by Democratic lawmakers.
President Obama carried each of these states in the 2008 presidential contest and next year, combined, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Florida contain one-quarter of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
Florida is the largest of these toss-up states. And the Tallahassee power struggle, while growing more fierce, is clearly looking like a proxy fight or - this being Florida - spring training, for the 2012 campaigns.
"Gov. Scott campaigned on exactly what he's doing now, and, unlike a lot of politicians, he's keeping his promises," said Robin Stublin, with Florida Alliance, a coalition of 130 tea party groups planning to rally on the steps of the state's Old Capitol within hours of the session's opening.
"But I guess to some extent, he's also woken up the Democrats' base," Stublin conceded. "You know, they woke up three years ago, too, and we're in a worse mess than ever."
Some tea party organizers said they expect several thousand Scott supporters to travel to Tallahassee for the legislature's opening day. Others plan to go to the Capitol two days later for a round of meetings with lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Orange Park, who has formed a tea party caucus among Republican lawmakers.
"Any time the status quo is threatened with billions of dollars in cuts, there's a lot of special interest groups that are feeling put upon," said Henry Kelley of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party.
"We always say elections have consequences. And we did our best to elect people and now we're going to do our best to hold them accountable," Kelley said.
Republican legislative leaders look ready to play to their crowd.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has already raised $1 million for his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson next year. Haridopolos last week said the Senate was looking to make a political splash during the session's opening hours.
The Senate chief said he wants the first legislation his chamber passes to be a proposed ballot measure designed to cut Florida out of the federal health care overhaul.
Another proposal set for an early vote in the Senate would ask voters in 2012 to impose a strict new spending limit on state government.
Budget shortfall focus
Other bills poised for swift action would eliminate teacher tenure, create a new employee evaluation system, and introduce performance pay, an approach generally opposed by the state's largest teachers' union, a big Democratic voting base.
Other legislation taking shape is aimed at reducing product liability lawsuits, a measure opposed by Florida trial lawyers, who typically pour millions into state Democratic campaigns.
But the dominant focus for Scott and lawmakers is closing a state budget shortfall that has cratered to at least $3.6 billion.
Scott has proposed making the 655,000 government workers enrolled in the Florida Retirement System - the biggest share being school board employees - contribute 5 percent of their paychecks to the plan.
That would pull an additional $1.3 billion into the state's cash-strapped budget.
Scott's $65.9 billion budget recommendation would cut $4.6 billion in state spending, trim 8,681 jobs across state agencies, and set the state on course for even more reductions next year.
The state's Education Department draws the largest single reduction in Scott's plan - losing $3.3 billion. While education also is the largest item of state spending overall, the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, campaigned heavily last fall for Scott's Democratic opponent, Alex Sink.
Meanwhile, Scott's blueprint also leaves room for $2 billion in tax cuts - for property owners, corporations and businesses.
At a Jacksonville rally last week opposing budget cuts, Duval County School Board Chairman W.C. Gentry, a trial lawyer who has contributed heavily to Democratic candidates, may have sounded a theme that will echo into the 2012 campaigns.
"Can you explain to me how it is that we should give tax cuts to the most profitable corporations in this state on the backs of our school children?" Gentry said, to applause from a crowd of 300 parents, educators and students.
Darryl Paulson, a University of South Florida political scientist, said such "us against them" shadings are certain to color the ideological clash burgeoning in Florida.
"You're seeing a precise political strategy on the part of both parties to mobilize their bases as another election year looms," Paulson said. "Whichever party gets the upper hand in Tallahassee this spring is going to be in good shape for next year."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/gops-reform-push-stirs-rivals-1284229.html?page=2
by John Kennedy
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature's ruling Republicans have kicked over a political hornet's nest by promoting budget cuts, pension overhauls and civil justice changes, which are now emerging as targets for statewide rallies by Democratic-allied organizations.
The GOP's tough medicine for a state pocked by foreclosures and almost 12 percent unemployment may be breathing life into a Florida Democratic Party, virtually left for dead after wholesale election defeats last fall. It also may effectively prove the opening round of the 2012 presidential contest in the nation's biggest battleground state.
"Democrats last fall were down and outspent," said Susannah Randolph, campaign manager for defeated Orlando Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and now an organizer of the March 8 rallies.
"Now we're seeing that we have to respond to a threat level like DEFCON 1," said Randolph, who also is a leader of Florida Watch Action. "And sure, we want to keep this energy going."
Using a Facebook page, "Awake The State," organizers are planning events in most major Florida cities on the legislature's opening day. Although locations are still being determined, teachers and public employees' unions, including police and firefighters, are forming the core of those protesting expected cuts in education, pensions and government workforces.
Counter-punching, tea party supporters are rallying behind Scott, and looking to converge on the state Capitol for the session's launch, which coincides with the new governor's first State of the State address.
Political spring training
Florida hasn't been rocked yet by the kind of political convulsions coursing through Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, where unions and Republican governors have squared-off in angry protests and even walkouts by Democratic lawmakers.
President Obama carried each of these states in the 2008 presidential contest and next year, combined, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Florida contain one-quarter of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
Florida is the largest of these toss-up states. And the Tallahassee power struggle, while growing more fierce, is clearly looking like a proxy fight or - this being Florida - spring training, for the 2012 campaigns.
"Gov. Scott campaigned on exactly what he's doing now, and, unlike a lot of politicians, he's keeping his promises," said Robin Stublin, with Florida Alliance, a coalition of 130 tea party groups planning to rally on the steps of the state's Old Capitol within hours of the session's opening.
"But I guess to some extent, he's also woken up the Democrats' base," Stublin conceded. "You know, they woke up three years ago, too, and we're in a worse mess than ever."
Some tea party organizers said they expect several thousand Scott supporters to travel to Tallahassee for the legislature's opening day. Others plan to go to the Capitol two days later for a round of meetings with lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Orange Park, who has formed a tea party caucus among Republican lawmakers.
"Any time the status quo is threatened with billions of dollars in cuts, there's a lot of special interest groups that are feeling put upon," said Henry Kelley of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party.
"We always say elections have consequences. And we did our best to elect people and now we're going to do our best to hold them accountable," Kelley said.
Republican legislative leaders look ready to play to their crowd.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has already raised $1 million for his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson next year. Haridopolos last week said the Senate was looking to make a political splash during the session's opening hours.
The Senate chief said he wants the first legislation his chamber passes to be a proposed ballot measure designed to cut Florida out of the federal health care overhaul.
Another proposal set for an early vote in the Senate would ask voters in 2012 to impose a strict new spending limit on state government.
Budget shortfall focus
Other bills poised for swift action would eliminate teacher tenure, create a new employee evaluation system, and introduce performance pay, an approach generally opposed by the state's largest teachers' union, a big Democratic voting base.
Other legislation taking shape is aimed at reducing product liability lawsuits, a measure opposed by Florida trial lawyers, who typically pour millions into state Democratic campaigns.
But the dominant focus for Scott and lawmakers is closing a state budget shortfall that has cratered to at least $3.6 billion.
Scott has proposed making the 655,000 government workers enrolled in the Florida Retirement System - the biggest share being school board employees - contribute 5 percent of their paychecks to the plan.
That would pull an additional $1.3 billion into the state's cash-strapped budget.
Scott's $65.9 billion budget recommendation would cut $4.6 billion in state spending, trim 8,681 jobs across state agencies, and set the state on course for even more reductions next year.
The state's Education Department draws the largest single reduction in Scott's plan - losing $3.3 billion. While education also is the largest item of state spending overall, the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, campaigned heavily last fall for Scott's Democratic opponent, Alex Sink.
Meanwhile, Scott's blueprint also leaves room for $2 billion in tax cuts - for property owners, corporations and businesses.
At a Jacksonville rally last week opposing budget cuts, Duval County School Board Chairman W.C. Gentry, a trial lawyer who has contributed heavily to Democratic candidates, may have sounded a theme that will echo into the 2012 campaigns.
"Can you explain to me how it is that we should give tax cuts to the most profitable corporations in this state on the backs of our school children?" Gentry said, to applause from a crowd of 300 parents, educators and students.
Darryl Paulson, a University of South Florida political scientist, said such "us against them" shadings are certain to color the ideological clash burgeoning in Florida.
"You're seeing a precise political strategy on the part of both parties to mobilize their bases as another election year looms," Paulson said. "Whichever party gets the upper hand in Tallahassee this spring is going to be in good shape for next year."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/gops-reform-push-stirs-rivals-1284229.html?page=2
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Private and public sector workers fight over table scraps
When people complain about the unsustainablity of big government it makes me cringe and shake my head in disbelief. I think to myself, how can people be that gullible. Here in Florida, a pro business state with a low tax base and no income tax, we currently miss out on billions of dollars because we give certain industries and individuals’ tax breaks. We don’t have to fix the problems on the back of government workers, which include, prison guards, the police, firemen and teachers all we have to do is demand those people that do business in Florida pay their fair share. These big businesses with their powerful lobbyists, bought politicians and talking heads have convinced enough of you that they should get a free ride and that it is your neighbors the teacher, the police officer and the government worker that hasn’t had a raise in five years who is the problem.
When the tea party and teachers argue over wages and benefits, over pensions and collective bargaining, all they are doing is fighting over table scraps, while Governor Scott and his ilk travel the state in private planes sipping Champaign and eating caviar.
The economic downturn was the best thing that could have happened for big business. Not only were many bailed out but it created a climate where they could scare people into believing those that would stand in their way, take their money to pay for services such as education and protection, or prevent them from making even bigger profits were the problem. Even Fox news admits it. They talk about businesses making record profits and having huge cash reserves. Sadly they do this while taking every pot shot they can at the public sector worker and unions. Oil barons and fat cats, speculators and high priced lawyers aren’t the bad guys any more. Now they have been replaced by teachers and rank and file union members. We used to shake our fists at the super rich but now we shake our fists at our neighbors.
The same average Joe and Judy who railed against the bailout are now saying the solution to the problems should come on the backs of our neighbors. Friends, the solution should not be, it sucks for me let me vote for people and support policies that make it suck for everybody (except a privileged few). The solution should be to hold those responsible, responsible and make that top 5-10% of society pay their fair share. Ladies and gentlemen the average person is not too big to fail, the powers-that-be who have bought your votes through fear mongering will let both you and me do so and then buy our houses cheap and sell them at a profit.
You may have been convinced the super rich shouldn’t lose their hard earned money. Well friends you have been conned. The reason they have that “hard earned money” is because they have convinced you that their job is worth so much more than yours. The thing is an executive making a million dollars is not going to suddenly quit because the government takes half to work at a book store and if they did there would be dozens ready to take the job. In the fifties and early sixties we had tax rates for the top wage earners that were way over fifty percent and you know what, there were still super rich people then too and it’s ironic that spin doctors will point to those times as idealistic, when a son and daughter could expect to do a little better than their parents, well friends and neighbors the highest tax percentage is now just a little above mine and kids for the first time are expected to do worse.
Then take for example our governor. What did Rick Scott do to earn his 300 million dollar pay out other than run his company in such a fashion that they had to pay a 1.7 billion dollar fine? That’s two billion dollars that could have gone to doctor’s fees, pay employees more and heaven forbid lower the costs of medical care. Two billion dollars that could have helped average families, many pay check to pay check but instead those on the far right the tea party are okay with all that wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few. Is an executive at a health care agency, a glorified middle man worth more than a teacher who educates our youth or are they worth more than firemen, the police or soldiers who put their lives on the line. Well our system says yes because we have allowed ourselves to be convinced it’s so. Well friends we have the power to say enough is enough. We have the power to say wealth is better when more people have it.
What’s better for society; one person making a million dollars and twenty five making forty thousand, or one guy making a hundred thousand and twenty five making seventy-six thousand?. If that one guy doesn’t want to do it anymore, he thinks he is underpaid I think I could find twenty-five applicants who would jump at the chance to have his position. Friends are you on the side of the one or on the side of the many? Are you for a democratic society that works to benefit everybody or an oligarchy that seeks to benefit just a few? I don’t want socialism, I want fairness.
Fox news, the republican legislature and Rick Scott have tried to scare you that jobs will move elsewhere. Well friends where are they going to go. What they haven’t told you is companies need people to buy their goods and use their services and they need markets for this to happen in. What markets are they going to go to that aren’t experiencing the same problems we are? Do you really believe that Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville will suddenly dry up? But say some companies did move the effects would be diminished and they would be replaced because business like nature, abhors a vacuum. Other companies and individuals will see the need and fill their shoes; we would just have to hope these new businesses would be satisfied with just making big profits instead of obscene profits. Besides don’t we want businesses that are pro society, not pro swimming pool, yacht and big bank accounts for their CEOs anyways?
Scott then says business won’t come to Florida if we don’t make it business friendly, well friends if they aren’t coming now with all the pro business aspects Florida already has, what makes you think they are going to come when we gut the education system, severely reduce government services, close our parks and destroy our environment. How about as an alternative let’s make Florida the education state, the park state, and the environment state. Let’s do that instead of having Florida be the state where a few get rich and the rest muddle through and the state that doesn’t really care about its children. Are their changes we can make, sure? Are there things we could be doing differently and better, my answer is yes but let’s make Florida a state we can be proud of and ensure that it is a state that we want to live in.
They rich are the ones that create jobs their spin doctors shout. Well friends if they are the ones who create jobs then they are doing a pretty poor job at it. We are getting a pretty poor return on our investment. I am not saying government should be the main creator of jobs but we shouldn’t just dismiss its role and say the people that work there should take it on the chin for the rest of us.
Though Friends on the right I completely agree with you taxes are way too high. The thing is they are way too high for me and you while for others they are way too low. Imagine if you had more money, maybe you or you and your friends could start the business or come up with the next great idea. Right now so many of us are just getting by exhausted from the day, worn out deciding if we get new tires or fix a tooth, scared that we or a family member will get sick and that we won’t be able to do anything. Better benefits, greater pay and a secured retirement will do much more for the state than additional tax breaks to the top few.
Furthermore it’s not true that a third of the nation does not pay taxes either. Buy gas? You pay a tax. Buy clothes? You pay a tax. Scrape and save and buy an appliance you pay taxes and you pay the exact same amount whether you make seventeen thousand, thirty-five thousand or a million dollars. And let me say it hurts those on the far end of the spectrum a lot more than those at the top. Think about a speeding ticket, its 129 dollars whether they pull you over in a rusted out clunker or if they pull you over in a Porsche, one driver doesn’t even notice it while the other eats nothing but ramen noodles for a month. That is the real tax structure in America.
I am not against the wealthy. I wouldn’t mind being rich or barring that not live in fear of an emergency. I am against those that see society as an object with which they can express their wills upon. I am against closing schools and giving children sub standard educations. I am against polluting our rivers and closing our parks. I am against the elderly, and the disabled being neglected for the benefit of a small minority and I am against the menial existence of the many for the extravagant existence of the few.
If we bring our tax structure in line and then still need cuts, I imagine your public servants, your teachers and your prison guards would all step up. After all they beleive in serving the public or they wouldn't be doing those jobs. On their backs however is not where we should start.
I am reminded of the Dukes brothers from Trading Places. Mortimer old chap, I can have workers battle workers over table scraps, while increasing our profits at the same time; except there would be no bet because they have already been doing it for years. Think about that the next time you shrug your shoulders or even smile at the prospect of a neighbor losing their benefits or their pension because times have been tough for you, or think, sure, we can get by with cutting education a little bit more.
When the tea party and teachers argue over wages and benefits, over pensions and collective bargaining, all they are doing is fighting over table scraps, while Governor Scott and his ilk travel the state in private planes sipping Champaign and eating caviar.
The economic downturn was the best thing that could have happened for big business. Not only were many bailed out but it created a climate where they could scare people into believing those that would stand in their way, take their money to pay for services such as education and protection, or prevent them from making even bigger profits were the problem. Even Fox news admits it. They talk about businesses making record profits and having huge cash reserves. Sadly they do this while taking every pot shot they can at the public sector worker and unions. Oil barons and fat cats, speculators and high priced lawyers aren’t the bad guys any more. Now they have been replaced by teachers and rank and file union members. We used to shake our fists at the super rich but now we shake our fists at our neighbors.
The same average Joe and Judy who railed against the bailout are now saying the solution to the problems should come on the backs of our neighbors. Friends, the solution should not be, it sucks for me let me vote for people and support policies that make it suck for everybody (except a privileged few). The solution should be to hold those responsible, responsible and make that top 5-10% of society pay their fair share. Ladies and gentlemen the average person is not too big to fail, the powers-that-be who have bought your votes through fear mongering will let both you and me do so and then buy our houses cheap and sell them at a profit.
You may have been convinced the super rich shouldn’t lose their hard earned money. Well friends you have been conned. The reason they have that “hard earned money” is because they have convinced you that their job is worth so much more than yours. The thing is an executive making a million dollars is not going to suddenly quit because the government takes half to work at a book store and if they did there would be dozens ready to take the job. In the fifties and early sixties we had tax rates for the top wage earners that were way over fifty percent and you know what, there were still super rich people then too and it’s ironic that spin doctors will point to those times as idealistic, when a son and daughter could expect to do a little better than their parents, well friends and neighbors the highest tax percentage is now just a little above mine and kids for the first time are expected to do worse.
Then take for example our governor. What did Rick Scott do to earn his 300 million dollar pay out other than run his company in such a fashion that they had to pay a 1.7 billion dollar fine? That’s two billion dollars that could have gone to doctor’s fees, pay employees more and heaven forbid lower the costs of medical care. Two billion dollars that could have helped average families, many pay check to pay check but instead those on the far right the tea party are okay with all that wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few. Is an executive at a health care agency, a glorified middle man worth more than a teacher who educates our youth or are they worth more than firemen, the police or soldiers who put their lives on the line. Well our system says yes because we have allowed ourselves to be convinced it’s so. Well friends we have the power to say enough is enough. We have the power to say wealth is better when more people have it.
What’s better for society; one person making a million dollars and twenty five making forty thousand, or one guy making a hundred thousand and twenty five making seventy-six thousand?. If that one guy doesn’t want to do it anymore, he thinks he is underpaid I think I could find twenty-five applicants who would jump at the chance to have his position. Friends are you on the side of the one or on the side of the many? Are you for a democratic society that works to benefit everybody or an oligarchy that seeks to benefit just a few? I don’t want socialism, I want fairness.
Fox news, the republican legislature and Rick Scott have tried to scare you that jobs will move elsewhere. Well friends where are they going to go. What they haven’t told you is companies need people to buy their goods and use their services and they need markets for this to happen in. What markets are they going to go to that aren’t experiencing the same problems we are? Do you really believe that Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville will suddenly dry up? But say some companies did move the effects would be diminished and they would be replaced because business like nature, abhors a vacuum. Other companies and individuals will see the need and fill their shoes; we would just have to hope these new businesses would be satisfied with just making big profits instead of obscene profits. Besides don’t we want businesses that are pro society, not pro swimming pool, yacht and big bank accounts for their CEOs anyways?
Scott then says business won’t come to Florida if we don’t make it business friendly, well friends if they aren’t coming now with all the pro business aspects Florida already has, what makes you think they are going to come when we gut the education system, severely reduce government services, close our parks and destroy our environment. How about as an alternative let’s make Florida the education state, the park state, and the environment state. Let’s do that instead of having Florida be the state where a few get rich and the rest muddle through and the state that doesn’t really care about its children. Are their changes we can make, sure? Are there things we could be doing differently and better, my answer is yes but let’s make Florida a state we can be proud of and ensure that it is a state that we want to live in.
They rich are the ones that create jobs their spin doctors shout. Well friends if they are the ones who create jobs then they are doing a pretty poor job at it. We are getting a pretty poor return on our investment. I am not saying government should be the main creator of jobs but we shouldn’t just dismiss its role and say the people that work there should take it on the chin for the rest of us.
Though Friends on the right I completely agree with you taxes are way too high. The thing is they are way too high for me and you while for others they are way too low. Imagine if you had more money, maybe you or you and your friends could start the business or come up with the next great idea. Right now so many of us are just getting by exhausted from the day, worn out deciding if we get new tires or fix a tooth, scared that we or a family member will get sick and that we won’t be able to do anything. Better benefits, greater pay and a secured retirement will do much more for the state than additional tax breaks to the top few.
Furthermore it’s not true that a third of the nation does not pay taxes either. Buy gas? You pay a tax. Buy clothes? You pay a tax. Scrape and save and buy an appliance you pay taxes and you pay the exact same amount whether you make seventeen thousand, thirty-five thousand or a million dollars. And let me say it hurts those on the far end of the spectrum a lot more than those at the top. Think about a speeding ticket, its 129 dollars whether they pull you over in a rusted out clunker or if they pull you over in a Porsche, one driver doesn’t even notice it while the other eats nothing but ramen noodles for a month. That is the real tax structure in America.
I am not against the wealthy. I wouldn’t mind being rich or barring that not live in fear of an emergency. I am against those that see society as an object with which they can express their wills upon. I am against closing schools and giving children sub standard educations. I am against polluting our rivers and closing our parks. I am against the elderly, and the disabled being neglected for the benefit of a small minority and I am against the menial existence of the many for the extravagant existence of the few.
If we bring our tax structure in line and then still need cuts, I imagine your public servants, your teachers and your prison guards would all step up. After all they beleive in serving the public or they wouldn't be doing those jobs. On their backs however is not where we should start.
I am reminded of the Dukes brothers from Trading Places. Mortimer old chap, I can have workers battle workers over table scraps, while increasing our profits at the same time; except there would be no bet because they have already been doing it for years. Think about that the next time you shrug your shoulders or even smile at the prospect of a neighbor losing their benefits or their pension because times have been tough for you, or think, sure, we can get by with cutting education a little bit more.
Social Media and Saving Florida
From Sunshine State News.com
by Kenric Ward
Inspired by large protests in Wisconsin, government workers are setting the social-media network aflame with plans for public demonstrations in Florida on March 8.
"Category 5 starting in Miami-Dade County and it will not stop!" Mike Medina, a member of the Miami police union, wrote on Facebook.
"March 8 Tallahassee -- greet the governor and legislators on opening day to let them know that you will not stand for changing our laws in favor of special interests," urged Paula House Eisenhart in another posting.
Teachers, government workers and a host of progressive-labor organizations are rallying under the banner of "Awake the State" in response to Gov. Rick Scott's proposed $5 billion in budget cuts and in advance of the Legislature convening next month.
State Rep. Mark Pafford, who posted on the "Awake the State" Facebook and Twitter pages, declared:
"This governor and the legislative majority want to use worker against worker to reduce their corporate labor costs. Now is the time for action -- as a member of Florida's Legislature, I need your help. I need to know the People are angry and are ready to make a very clear statement. We need to work together, now."
Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, advises users of the Facebook site to "make sure you change your profile picture to get more people aware of 'Awake The State' ... this page is the modern vehicle to ensure we maintain our constitutional right to gather -- and make change."
"Awake the State" is serving as a rallying site for Florida teachers, who are particularly concerned about the school budget.
A group called "Fund Education Now" announced it had collected 5,000 signatures against what it called "budget cuts."
The Scott administration responds that state funding for K-12 education remains intact, but that the expiration of federal stimulus dollars in June will lead to an overall reduction in funds.
Meantime, county affiliates of the Florida Education Association are calling on teachers to e-mail and phone their local state legislators to oppose proposed reforms to the state retirement system.
A Senate committee is scheduled on Tuesday to hear Senate Bills 1128 and 1139, which would require public-sector workers, including teachers, to contribute to their pension funds and extend the retirement age.
To turn up the heat on the Legislature, "Awake the State" is pushing for a series of demonstrations on March 8, the opening day of the 2011 session. A la Madison, a major worker protest is being organized at the Capitol.
Organizers reportedly are aiming to bring 8,000 demonstrators to Tallahassee on March 8. Other groups that cannot make it to the capital that day are planning to hold rallies in their local communities.
Announced one Facebook posting: "March 8th in Florida, pick up a sign, stand tall for teachers, police, firefighters."
Mary Ryals, an associate instructor of business communication at Florida State University, said, "You bet I'll participate in the 'Awake the State' rally in Tallahassee on March 8."
Ryals said that Florida's public-sector workers, like those in Wisconsin, are anxious about changes to their pension and health-care programs.
Additionally, teachers expressed alarm over reports of a legislative proposal to discontinue automatic dues-withholding from instructors' paychecks. They fear that move could be the leading edge of a broader assault on collective-bargaining rights.
The Florida Education Association did not respond to Sunshine State News' request for comment.
Rep. Pafford related that the "Awake the State" page on Facebook garnered more than 2,000 "likes" from readers in its four days online. "It's a great vehicle for people to get on the same page and organize," he said, noting that some 60,000 people logged on amid the heated controversy of the SB 6 teacher-tenure bill last session.
The second-term lawmaker said social-media networks facilitate activism and grass-roots organization across the sprawling state when Tallahassee "gets sideways" on issues. That organizing potential isn't lost on public-sector unions, which are brainstorming in advance of the Legislature's opening day on March 8.
Nearly 100 self-proclaimed Florida progressives gathered in Orlando on Sunday to strategize on ways to combat the Republican reform agenda at the 2011 Legislature. One of the "LegiCamp" sessions was a tutorial on using Twitter for political organization.
Pafford speculated that much of the activity on March 8 will be local, perhaps in deference to the fact that it's a workday and, for most students, a school day.
Any widespread absence by government workers and teachers has the potential to stir a backlash among the very public they hope to court. Indeed, raucous demonstrations by public-sector unions could well boomerang among taxpayers who feel that government spending is out of control.
"The unions are fine with redistribution of wealth as long as it is coming out of our pockets and going into theirs," said Punta Gorda tea party leader Robin Stublen, who testified last week in favor of pension-reform legislation.
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/social-media-explodes-florida-teacher-protest-chat
by Kenric Ward
Inspired by large protests in Wisconsin, government workers are setting the social-media network aflame with plans for public demonstrations in Florida on March 8.
"Category 5 starting in Miami-Dade County and it will not stop!" Mike Medina, a member of the Miami police union, wrote on Facebook.
"March 8 Tallahassee -- greet the governor and legislators on opening day to let them know that you will not stand for changing our laws in favor of special interests," urged Paula House Eisenhart in another posting.
Teachers, government workers and a host of progressive-labor organizations are rallying under the banner of "Awake the State" in response to Gov. Rick Scott's proposed $5 billion in budget cuts and in advance of the Legislature convening next month.
State Rep. Mark Pafford, who posted on the "Awake the State" Facebook and Twitter pages, declared:
"This governor and the legislative majority want to use worker against worker to reduce their corporate labor costs. Now is the time for action -- as a member of Florida's Legislature, I need your help. I need to know the People are angry and are ready to make a very clear statement. We need to work together, now."
Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, advises users of the Facebook site to "make sure you change your profile picture to get more people aware of 'Awake The State' ... this page is the modern vehicle to ensure we maintain our constitutional right to gather -- and make change."
"Awake the State" is serving as a rallying site for Florida teachers, who are particularly concerned about the school budget.
A group called "Fund Education Now" announced it had collected 5,000 signatures against what it called "budget cuts."
The Scott administration responds that state funding for K-12 education remains intact, but that the expiration of federal stimulus dollars in June will lead to an overall reduction in funds.
Meantime, county affiliates of the Florida Education Association are calling on teachers to e-mail and phone their local state legislators to oppose proposed reforms to the state retirement system.
A Senate committee is scheduled on Tuesday to hear Senate Bills 1128 and 1139, which would require public-sector workers, including teachers, to contribute to their pension funds and extend the retirement age.
To turn up the heat on the Legislature, "Awake the State" is pushing for a series of demonstrations on March 8, the opening day of the 2011 session. A la Madison, a major worker protest is being organized at the Capitol.
Organizers reportedly are aiming to bring 8,000 demonstrators to Tallahassee on March 8. Other groups that cannot make it to the capital that day are planning to hold rallies in their local communities.
Announced one Facebook posting: "March 8th in Florida, pick up a sign, stand tall for teachers, police, firefighters."
Mary Ryals, an associate instructor of business communication at Florida State University, said, "You bet I'll participate in the 'Awake the State' rally in Tallahassee on March 8."
Ryals said that Florida's public-sector workers, like those in Wisconsin, are anxious about changes to their pension and health-care programs.
Additionally, teachers expressed alarm over reports of a legislative proposal to discontinue automatic dues-withholding from instructors' paychecks. They fear that move could be the leading edge of a broader assault on collective-bargaining rights.
The Florida Education Association did not respond to Sunshine State News' request for comment.
Rep. Pafford related that the "Awake the State" page on Facebook garnered more than 2,000 "likes" from readers in its four days online. "It's a great vehicle for people to get on the same page and organize," he said, noting that some 60,000 people logged on amid the heated controversy of the SB 6 teacher-tenure bill last session.
The second-term lawmaker said social-media networks facilitate activism and grass-roots organization across the sprawling state when Tallahassee "gets sideways" on issues. That organizing potential isn't lost on public-sector unions, which are brainstorming in advance of the Legislature's opening day on March 8.
Nearly 100 self-proclaimed Florida progressives gathered in Orlando on Sunday to strategize on ways to combat the Republican reform agenda at the 2011 Legislature. One of the "LegiCamp" sessions was a tutorial on using Twitter for political organization.
Pafford speculated that much of the activity on March 8 will be local, perhaps in deference to the fact that it's a workday and, for most students, a school day.
Any widespread absence by government workers and teachers has the potential to stir a backlash among the very public they hope to court. Indeed, raucous demonstrations by public-sector unions could well boomerang among taxpayers who feel that government spending is out of control.
"The unions are fine with redistribution of wealth as long as it is coming out of our pockets and going into theirs," said Punta Gorda tea party leader Robin Stublen, who testified last week in favor of pension-reform legislation.
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/social-media-explodes-florida-teacher-protest-chat
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Who would have voted for Scott had they known
From the Miami Herald's Naked Politics
by Michael C Bender
Corrections workers applaud question to Scott about pay cuts
A Florida Department of Corrections worker received an ovation from her colleagues Monday after she asked a pointed question to Gov. Rick Scott about state employees taking it on the chin again this year.
Scott is visiting state agencies around Tallahassee and encourages workers to ask questions at the end of his tours. Few do.
Here was the question from the DOC employees (we couldn't find her afterward to get her name):
You said to hold you accountable. State employees have seen, since the Bush Administration, a reduction in state employees. I have been with this agency for many years. And I've seen where our staff has been significantly cut. We are required to do more with less. State employees haven't received a raise in five or six years. You're asking us to contribute to our pension plan and contribute more to our insurance. My question is simple: What have you required for the wealthiest Floridians to contribution to the state revenues?
Scott ignored the applause and spent the next seven minutes not answering her question.
Instead, Scott attempted a quick lesson in capitalism.
"If you work in the private sector, here's the things you have to do: You're overhead has to come down each and every year as a percentage of revenues. Every year. That has not happened in state government," he said.
Scott went on to talk about WalMart, China, taxes in Illinois and competing for business with Texas.
No one applauded when he finished.
Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/02/corrections-workers-applaud-question-to-scott-about-pay-cuts.html#ixzz1EgYcNBaT
by Michael C Bender
Corrections workers applaud question to Scott about pay cuts
A Florida Department of Corrections worker received an ovation from her colleagues Monday after she asked a pointed question to Gov. Rick Scott about state employees taking it on the chin again this year.
Scott is visiting state agencies around Tallahassee and encourages workers to ask questions at the end of his tours. Few do.
Here was the question from the DOC employees (we couldn't find her afterward to get her name):
You said to hold you accountable. State employees have seen, since the Bush Administration, a reduction in state employees. I have been with this agency for many years. And I've seen where our staff has been significantly cut. We are required to do more with less. State employees haven't received a raise in five or six years. You're asking us to contribute to our pension plan and contribute more to our insurance. My question is simple: What have you required for the wealthiest Floridians to contribution to the state revenues?
Scott ignored the applause and spent the next seven minutes not answering her question.
Instead, Scott attempted a quick lesson in capitalism.
"If you work in the private sector, here's the things you have to do: You're overhead has to come down each and every year as a percentage of revenues. Every year. That has not happened in state government," he said.
Scott went on to talk about WalMart, China, taxes in Illinois and competing for business with Texas.
No one applauded when he finished.
Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/02/corrections-workers-applaud-question-to-scott-about-pay-cuts.html#ixzz1EgYcNBaT
Monday, February 21, 2011
All across the state teachers rally to protest cuts
From WTSP.com
by Isabell Mascarenas
Dunedin, Florida -- Fourteen years in the classroom and teacher Brandt Robinson says what's happening in Wisconsin is just the beginning.
"I have people on Facebook in Iowa, in Wisconsin, in Nevada. It's gaining momentum. It might gain momentum into 2012 to the elections," says Robinson.
Tens of thousands of Wisconsin teachers continue a sixth day of rallying at the state capitol, protesting the governor's proposed budget cuts. Wisconsin teachers are also fighting to protect their collective bargaining rights - a right Florida's public workers, including teachers, have under the state constitution.
Like Wisconsin, Florida teachers say they are trying to protect their profession. "We're still fighting the perception this is missionary work, while it is we're still professionals and want to be treated as professionals," says Robinson.
Proposed legislation would tie teacher evaluations and merit pay to student test scores, and Governor Scott proposes having all public employees contribute five percent of their salaries into their pensions.
Teachers see that as a pay cut. They say the pension is a tradeoff for lower salaries. One report ranks Florida 37th in teacher salaries nationwide, averaging around $46,700 dollars per year.
"I think people have to take a second look at what do we value about the public sector, what public means and what private means," explains Robinson.
Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, says, "Looking at [the] bills filed [it is] clearly an attack on public education and unions teachers [have] reached their limit."
By law, Florida public workers, including teachers, cannot strike, but with issues such as teacher tenure, evaluations and pension on the line, will Florida become the next Wisconsin?
"[With] the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures, I don't see teachers coming to that," says Black.
"I don't think we're at that point yet," adds Robinson.
Pinellas teachers will rally Friday, March 4th at three locations across the county from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Teachers in other Florida counties plan to protest too.
Pinellas County Rallies:
•N. McMullen Booth Rd. and SR 580, Clearwater
•Ulmerton Rd. and 66th Street, Largo
•Tyrone Blvd. and 66th Street, St. Petersburg
The message to legislators: "Save our public schools."
Black says, "Our teachers have done more and more with less and less. They're angry and saddened."
http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/story.aspx?storyid=176269&catid=250
by Isabell Mascarenas
Dunedin, Florida -- Fourteen years in the classroom and teacher Brandt Robinson says what's happening in Wisconsin is just the beginning.
"I have people on Facebook in Iowa, in Wisconsin, in Nevada. It's gaining momentum. It might gain momentum into 2012 to the elections," says Robinson.
Tens of thousands of Wisconsin teachers continue a sixth day of rallying at the state capitol, protesting the governor's proposed budget cuts. Wisconsin teachers are also fighting to protect their collective bargaining rights - a right Florida's public workers, including teachers, have under the state constitution.
Like Wisconsin, Florida teachers say they are trying to protect their profession. "We're still fighting the perception this is missionary work, while it is we're still professionals and want to be treated as professionals," says Robinson.
Proposed legislation would tie teacher evaluations and merit pay to student test scores, and Governor Scott proposes having all public employees contribute five percent of their salaries into their pensions.
Teachers see that as a pay cut. They say the pension is a tradeoff for lower salaries. One report ranks Florida 37th in teacher salaries nationwide, averaging around $46,700 dollars per year.
"I think people have to take a second look at what do we value about the public sector, what public means and what private means," explains Robinson.
Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, says, "Looking at [the] bills filed [it is] clearly an attack on public education and unions teachers [have] reached their limit."
By law, Florida public workers, including teachers, cannot strike, but with issues such as teacher tenure, evaluations and pension on the line, will Florida become the next Wisconsin?
"[With] the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures, I don't see teachers coming to that," says Black.
"I don't think we're at that point yet," adds Robinson.
Pinellas teachers will rally Friday, March 4th at three locations across the county from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Teachers in other Florida counties plan to protest too.
Pinellas County Rallies:
•N. McMullen Booth Rd. and SR 580, Clearwater
•Ulmerton Rd. and 66th Street, Largo
•Tyrone Blvd. and 66th Street, St. Petersburg
The message to legislators: "Save our public schools."
Black says, "Our teachers have done more and more with less and less. They're angry and saddened."
http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/story.aspx?storyid=176269&catid=250
Rick Scott makes Florida cry uncle
Nowhere does the author mention Scotts draconioan education cuts either. Not a very good first few weeks. -cpg
From the St. Petersburg Times
by Daniel Ruth
Perhaps a brief review is in order. Over the space of just a few short weeks, newbie Gov. Rick Scott, R-Lurch, has managed to:
• Alienate vast swaths of his own Republican Party by treating the Florida Legislature with all the respect and collegiality of the baptism scene in The Godfather.
• Invite the legislative black caucus over to the Governor's Mansion for lunch, only to serve up a steaming plate of arrogant, dismissive, condescending hooey worthy of a plantation overseer.
• Recoil against the state's long-standing open government laws as if they were inspired by the Communist Manifesto, Soledad Brothers and Mao's "Little Red Book."
• Scuttle Florida's high-speed rail effort that would have meant tens of thousands of jobs by rejecting $2.4 billion in federal funding based on the financial due diligence equivalent of consulting a Wikipedia entry, a matchbook cover and Rush Limbaugh's website.
At this rate, Scott is well on his way to forging hostile relationships with the Mother Teresa Association, the Girl Scouts and the Dalai Lama — just for fun.
It might be tempting to suggest that Scott, who before this never came closer to interacting with government than running a hospital company charged with massive Medicare fraud, could be just a tad over his head in trying to run the nation's fourth-largest state.
But it also could be argued Scott is drowning in demagoguery. He's in a free fall of insolence. He has become the Chilean copper mine of governors.
It's not that the Mongo of Apalachee Parkway was simply wrong to blow up the high-speed rail plan. It's that his reasoning made about as much sense as Hosni Mubarak plotting a political comeback.
There was no immediate rush to trash the high-speed rail proposal. The effort had strong bipartisan support. Indeed, the Florida Department of Transportation was still in the process of wrapping up a study on the plan.
But Scott, R-Carnac the Magnificent, didn't bother to wait, arguing it is certain that taxpayers would be on the hook for cost overruns (wrong) and that the system would require public subsidies (wrong).
The governor fretted about the project becoming mired in mismanagement, which struck high-speed rail supporter Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio as rather odd when she correctly noted Scott — as the state's chief executive officer — was essentially admitting he wasn't capable of handling oversight of the project.
Or put another way, all the stuff Scott whined about as a predicate for rejecting the federal money he just made up — just like the death panels, Obama is a Muslim and other delusions offered up by the governor's fellow travelers in the alternative consciousness community.
Ignoring the realities of the project — including requiring the companies that would build the system to be responsible for cost overruns and operating losses, Scott simply entered his own parallel universe of right-wing/libertarian chin rubbers who see any government effort with Barack Obama's name attached to it as a Socialist/Marxist/Trotskyite/Jane Fonda/George Soros high-speed rail plot to turn the state over to Hugo Chavez.
Never mind that construction on the Tampa-to-Orlando leg of the system could have created as many as 20,000 jobs, not to mention the ripple effect of genuine economic stimulus, the very things Scott, R-Let's Get To Knee Jerk, campaigned on during his witness protection run for the governorship.
In the wake of the decision to make sure Florida remains firmly mired in the 15th century, one can't help but think if the high-speed rail funds had come from Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, Scott would be hailing the effort as a bold, visionary, recession-busting godsend to the citizenry of the state.
Instead Scott met with tea party apparatchiks, who regarded the prospect of high-speed rail as if black helicopters were descending on Central Florida, and decided it was better to tell 20,000 potential workers to keep filling out resumes somewhere else.
Therein can be found Rick Scott's festering problem. The governor has yet to figure out there is a substantial difference between running a company that ripped off the government and actually governing a government. That's why they are called governors.
And in his first major test of fiscal accountability, Scott relied more on the ideological rantings of hysterical political spear carriers than on the larger needs of all his constituents.
It's the Governor's Office, governor — not a Fox News sweat lodge, where you seem to be spending much of your time.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/in-just-weeks-scott-makes-state-cry-uncle/1152227
From the St. Petersburg Times
by Daniel Ruth
Perhaps a brief review is in order. Over the space of just a few short weeks, newbie Gov. Rick Scott, R-Lurch, has managed to:
• Alienate vast swaths of his own Republican Party by treating the Florida Legislature with all the respect and collegiality of the baptism scene in The Godfather.
• Invite the legislative black caucus over to the Governor's Mansion for lunch, only to serve up a steaming plate of arrogant, dismissive, condescending hooey worthy of a plantation overseer.
• Recoil against the state's long-standing open government laws as if they were inspired by the Communist Manifesto, Soledad Brothers and Mao's "Little Red Book."
• Scuttle Florida's high-speed rail effort that would have meant tens of thousands of jobs by rejecting $2.4 billion in federal funding based on the financial due diligence equivalent of consulting a Wikipedia entry, a matchbook cover and Rush Limbaugh's website.
At this rate, Scott is well on his way to forging hostile relationships with the Mother Teresa Association, the Girl Scouts and the Dalai Lama — just for fun.
It might be tempting to suggest that Scott, who before this never came closer to interacting with government than running a hospital company charged with massive Medicare fraud, could be just a tad over his head in trying to run the nation's fourth-largest state.
But it also could be argued Scott is drowning in demagoguery. He's in a free fall of insolence. He has become the Chilean copper mine of governors.
It's not that the Mongo of Apalachee Parkway was simply wrong to blow up the high-speed rail plan. It's that his reasoning made about as much sense as Hosni Mubarak plotting a political comeback.
There was no immediate rush to trash the high-speed rail proposal. The effort had strong bipartisan support. Indeed, the Florida Department of Transportation was still in the process of wrapping up a study on the plan.
But Scott, R-Carnac the Magnificent, didn't bother to wait, arguing it is certain that taxpayers would be on the hook for cost overruns (wrong) and that the system would require public subsidies (wrong).
The governor fretted about the project becoming mired in mismanagement, which struck high-speed rail supporter Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio as rather odd when she correctly noted Scott — as the state's chief executive officer — was essentially admitting he wasn't capable of handling oversight of the project.
Or put another way, all the stuff Scott whined about as a predicate for rejecting the federal money he just made up — just like the death panels, Obama is a Muslim and other delusions offered up by the governor's fellow travelers in the alternative consciousness community.
Ignoring the realities of the project — including requiring the companies that would build the system to be responsible for cost overruns and operating losses, Scott simply entered his own parallel universe of right-wing/libertarian chin rubbers who see any government effort with Barack Obama's name attached to it as a Socialist/Marxist/Trotskyite/Jane Fonda/George Soros high-speed rail plot to turn the state over to Hugo Chavez.
Never mind that construction on the Tampa-to-Orlando leg of the system could have created as many as 20,000 jobs, not to mention the ripple effect of genuine economic stimulus, the very things Scott, R-Let's Get To Knee Jerk, campaigned on during his witness protection run for the governorship.
In the wake of the decision to make sure Florida remains firmly mired in the 15th century, one can't help but think if the high-speed rail funds had come from Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, Scott would be hailing the effort as a bold, visionary, recession-busting godsend to the citizenry of the state.
Instead Scott met with tea party apparatchiks, who regarded the prospect of high-speed rail as if black helicopters were descending on Central Florida, and decided it was better to tell 20,000 potential workers to keep filling out resumes somewhere else.
Therein can be found Rick Scott's festering problem. The governor has yet to figure out there is a substantial difference between running a company that ripped off the government and actually governing a government. That's why they are called governors.
And in his first major test of fiscal accountability, Scott relied more on the ideological rantings of hysterical political spear carriers than on the larger needs of all his constituents.
It's the Governor's Office, governor — not a Fox News sweat lodge, where you seem to be spending much of your time.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/in-just-weeks-scott-makes-state-cry-uncle/1152227
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Michelle Rhee, half true
If they would have limited what she said just to Florida which has an embarrassingly low per pupil spending, Politifact probably would have found her mostly false. -cpg
From the St. Peterdburg Times Grade Book
By Aaron Sharockman,
TALLAHASSEE — Florida legislators recently fawned over former Washington, D.C., public school chancellor Michelle Rhee as she addressed House and Senate members. Today, PolitiFact Florida offers its most sincere form of admiration:
We put Rhee in front of the Truth-O-Meter.
Rhee appeared in Tallahassee Feb. 8-9 to support Gov. Rick Scott's proposals to overhaul the K-12 system by ending teacher tenure and linking teacher pay to student test scores.
She also at least tacitly defended Scott's proposals to cut public education funding by $703 per student as part of his budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13.
"Money does not necessarily correlate with student achievement," Rhee said. "In this country in the last 30 years, we have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child … and the results have gotten worse, not better."
Are education funding and student results moving in opposite directions?
Per-pupil spending
Education spending certainly has increased in the last 30 years.
The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics has collected and analyzed per-pupil spending since 1919.
When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil spending has nearly doubled from $6,037 per student in 1976-77 to $11,674 in 2006-07, the last year figures are available.
(For the record, Florida says it spends about $6,900 per student. Scott proposes to shrink per-student funding to about $6,200).
The payback?
What the country has gotten for that investment — especially over a 30-year period — is more difficult to determine.
We first tried to compare the U.S. education system with those of other countries.
Common assessments, however, don't span 30 years. And different tests measure different-aged students.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/michelle-rhee-tells-florida-legislators-spending-on-education-is-way-up/1152830
From the St. Peterdburg Times Grade Book
By Aaron Sharockman,
TALLAHASSEE — Florida legislators recently fawned over former Washington, D.C., public school chancellor Michelle Rhee as she addressed House and Senate members. Today, PolitiFact Florida offers its most sincere form of admiration:
We put Rhee in front of the Truth-O-Meter.
Rhee appeared in Tallahassee Feb. 8-9 to support Gov. Rick Scott's proposals to overhaul the K-12 system by ending teacher tenure and linking teacher pay to student test scores.
She also at least tacitly defended Scott's proposals to cut public education funding by $703 per student as part of his budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13.
"Money does not necessarily correlate with student achievement," Rhee said. "In this country in the last 30 years, we have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child … and the results have gotten worse, not better."
Are education funding and student results moving in opposite directions?
Per-pupil spending
Education spending certainly has increased in the last 30 years.
The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics has collected and analyzed per-pupil spending since 1919.
When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil spending has nearly doubled from $6,037 per student in 1976-77 to $11,674 in 2006-07, the last year figures are available.
(For the record, Florida says it spends about $6,900 per student. Scott proposes to shrink per-student funding to about $6,200).
The payback?
What the country has gotten for that investment — especially over a 30-year period — is more difficult to determine.
We first tried to compare the U.S. education system with those of other countries.
Common assessments, however, don't span 30 years. And different tests measure different-aged students.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/michelle-rhee-tells-florida-legislators-spending-on-education-is-way-up/1152830
Scott seeks to roll back education funding to 1976 levels
Education spending has increased in the last 30 years.
When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil spending has nearly doubled from $6,037 per student in 1976-77 to $11,674 in 2006-07, the last year figures are available. This according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.
For the record however, Florida spends about $6,900 per student and Scott proposes to shrink per-student funding to about $6,200. Basically the 76-77 level.
I wonder how the costs of supplies, insurance, and so many other things that teachers and schools need, balance out when adjusted for inflation?
Is this where we want to turn the clock back too? Is this what we want to do to our schools and children?
With an assist from the St. Petersburg Times Gradebook: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/michelle-rhee-tells-florida-legislators-spending-on-education-is-way-up/1152830
When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil spending has nearly doubled from $6,037 per student in 1976-77 to $11,674 in 2006-07, the last year figures are available. This according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.
For the record however, Florida spends about $6,900 per student and Scott proposes to shrink per-student funding to about $6,200. Basically the 76-77 level.
I wonder how the costs of supplies, insurance, and so many other things that teachers and schools need, balance out when adjusted for inflation?
Is this where we want to turn the clock back too? Is this what we want to do to our schools and children?
With an assist from the St. Petersburg Times Gradebook: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/michelle-rhee-tells-florida-legislators-spending-on-education-is-way-up/1152830
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The most important bill being offered
Currently there is no mechanism to recall elcted officils. -cpg
From Baynews9.com
by Dalia Dangerfield
ST. PETERSBURG -- A local lawmaker wants voters to have the option to recall their state leaders.
State Representative Rick Kriseman (D-St. Petersburg) filed House Joint Resolution 785 in Tallahassee Wednesday.
"Currently there is no mechanism in place for members of the Legislature or the Governor or the Cabinet to be recalled by the citizens of the state," Representative Kriseman said.
If the legislation is approved, voters would have four months to circulate a recall petition throughout Florida.
For statewide public officials, signatures would have to be collected in all 67 counties. If the signatures equal 15 percent of the total votes cast in the last election, then a recall election can be held. Public officials include the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and a member of the Cabinet.
Under the legislation, a petition can also be used to recall a state legislator. However, that petition would need signatures from the district the lawmaker represents. To have a recall election for that legislator, the signatures must equal 20 percent of the total votes cast in the last election for that office. Only voters from the district would be able to vote in that recall election.
The bill was filed on the same day Florida Governor Rick Scott angered many Democrats by refusing to take federal dollars for high speed rail. However, the St. Petersburg Democrat insists it's purely a coincidence.
"This bill is not aimed at Governor Scott," Kriseman said. "It's not aimed at any specific legislator. It's to give power to the people."
Kriseman said at least 18 other states have similar laws.
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2011/february/208947/Bill-would-give-Florida-voters-power-to-recall-state-officials?cid=rss&cmpid=facebook
From Baynews9.com
by Dalia Dangerfield
ST. PETERSBURG -- A local lawmaker wants voters to have the option to recall their state leaders.
State Representative Rick Kriseman (D-St. Petersburg) filed House Joint Resolution 785 in Tallahassee Wednesday.
"Currently there is no mechanism in place for members of the Legislature or the Governor or the Cabinet to be recalled by the citizens of the state," Representative Kriseman said.
If the legislation is approved, voters would have four months to circulate a recall petition throughout Florida.
For statewide public officials, signatures would have to be collected in all 67 counties. If the signatures equal 15 percent of the total votes cast in the last election, then a recall election can be held. Public officials include the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and a member of the Cabinet.
Under the legislation, a petition can also be used to recall a state legislator. However, that petition would need signatures from the district the lawmaker represents. To have a recall election for that legislator, the signatures must equal 20 percent of the total votes cast in the last election for that office. Only voters from the district would be able to vote in that recall election.
The bill was filed on the same day Florida Governor Rick Scott angered many Democrats by refusing to take federal dollars for high speed rail. However, the St. Petersburg Democrat insists it's purely a coincidence.
"This bill is not aimed at Governor Scott," Kriseman said. "It's not aimed at any specific legislator. It's to give power to the people."
Kriseman said at least 18 other states have similar laws.
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2011/february/208947/Bill-would-give-Florida-voters-power-to-recall-state-officials?cid=rss&cmpid=facebook
Education Rally, Monday at Met Park
From the Times Union
Save Duval Schools and the Duval County Council of PTAs are teaming together to coordinate a rally to oppose education cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott.
The rally is scheduled for Monday at Metro Park, with gates opening at 4 p.m. and the events starting at 5 p.m.
"We don't believe that cuts to publics schools are what this community wants for its children," said Colleen Wood, executive director of Save Duval Schools.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-16/story/save-duval-schools-hold-education-rally-0
Woody's Bar-B-Q will help supply food for the rally with the first 500 people getting chicken dinners.
The event will feature a letter-writing station for people to contact their elected officials. The district's five finalists for teacher of the year will also be honored.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-16/story/save-duval-schools-hold-education-rally-0#ixzz1EDnCKwpG
Save Duval Schools and the Duval County Council of PTAs are teaming together to coordinate a rally to oppose education cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott.
The rally is scheduled for Monday at Metro Park, with gates opening at 4 p.m. and the events starting at 5 p.m.
"We don't believe that cuts to publics schools are what this community wants for its children," said Colleen Wood, executive director of Save Duval Schools.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-16/story/save-duval-schools-hold-education-rally-0
Woody's Bar-B-Q will help supply food for the rally with the first 500 people getting chicken dinners.
The event will feature a letter-writing station for people to contact their elected officials. The district's five finalists for teacher of the year will also be honored.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-16/story/save-duval-schools-hold-education-rally-0#ixzz1EDnCKwpG
Rick Scott- Train Wreck
First schools and now businesses, who isn't Rick Scott seeking to harm. By pandering to a few, the Tea Party, he is going to doom us all. -cpg
From the St. Petersburg Times
by Andy Marlette
Gov. Rick Scott rashly acted in his own political interests and sacrificed the best interests of Florida Wednesday by rejecting federal money for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. It is a reckless, devastating decision that has nothing to do with the merits of rail and everything to do with Scott's obsession with courting the tea party movement and fighting the Obama administration. Florida's state legislators and members of Congress should explore every option in salvaging a project that holds so much promise for the state's economy and Tampa Bay's future.
The consequences of Scott's grandstanding are clear. More than $2.4 billion from Washington? Gone. Five thousand construction jobs? Gone. A modern transportation link between two of the largest cities in the fourth-largest state? Gone. Thousands of additional jobs serving the line; billions of dollars more in private-sector investment; and the chance for an ever bigger bang by extending the system from Orlando to Miami? Gone, gone, gone.
After barely a month in office and no serious review, Scott killed an effort that a bipartisan group of the state's political and business leaders pursued for decades. He consigned motorists and commercial carriers along the Interstate 4 corridor to bigger traffic jams. He put taxpayers on the hook for expensive highway projects as the only way to improve moving people and goods between Tampa Bay and the theme park capital of the world. And he sent a message to the global business community that Florida lacks the vision and courage to invest in its future.
Scott said his decision came down to three basic fears: cost overruns could reach $3 billion, state taxpayers would have to cover any shortfall, and Florida would have to repay the federal government if the rail line goes defunct. Those aren't original or well founded. They come from a study by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank that compared the Florida plan with rail systems in Taiwan, Korea and Britain. The Reason study also assumed that any cost above the $2.7 billion estimated for the Tampa-Orlando line would fall to Florida taxpayers. The state plan doesn't call for that. Private operators would build and run the system and absorb any cost overruns.
If Scott were an honest broker looking out for Floridians, he would not have killed the project before putting it out to bid. He would have waited for an updated study on ridership and costs. The contention Wednesday by his press office that Scott has inside information is not good enough.
Scott took aim at the federal deficit and the Obama administration, which he intends to fight on every front regardless of Florida's needs. He fails to mention that the high-speed rail money is already committed and that Florida's money will just go to New York or another state with more vision. The reaction to such a foolish decision was biting and across the board. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he was disappointed, but noted: "There is overwhelming demand for high-speed rail in other states." U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, blasted Scott for a "devastating lack of vision," and U.S. Rep. John Mica, the Winter Park Republican who chairs the House transportation panel, urged the governor to reconsider. State Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who chairs the state Senate's Transportation Committee, said Scott's move was premature: "We've cut off our noses to spite our face."
That's putting it mildly. Scott did real harm to the Tampa Bay area, which has worked on a regional basis for years to improve area transit and to build the start of an integrated light rail system. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said she was "terribly disappointed," calling the move a "bad decision for all Floridians" that sends "a terrible message" to the business community. The state's powerful business lobby, Associated Industries, which had supported the rail plan, should be ashamed for kissing up to Scott by rationalizing the governor's move. In downtown Tampa alone, Scott's decision undermines tens of millions of dollars in public investment in housing, parks and retail. And it dampens the ongoing effort in Pinellas and across the bay to bring a major new mass transit initiative to the table.
The governor who travels in his private jet should look out the window the next time he flies over traffic-clogged Tampa Bay and Interstate 4. And when he looks for someone who could have created thousands of jobs and didn't, he can look in the mirror. Why would businesses elsewhere explore public-private partnerships in a state saddled with a governor who pulls the plug on an ambitious initiative before serious negotiations even start? Scott has dealt the state an terrible setback, and the state's more creative leaders should look for a way to reverse it.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/train-wreck-of-a-governor/1152035
From the St. Petersburg Times
by Andy Marlette
Gov. Rick Scott rashly acted in his own political interests and sacrificed the best interests of Florida Wednesday by rejecting federal money for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. It is a reckless, devastating decision that has nothing to do with the merits of rail and everything to do with Scott's obsession with courting the tea party movement and fighting the Obama administration. Florida's state legislators and members of Congress should explore every option in salvaging a project that holds so much promise for the state's economy and Tampa Bay's future.
The consequences of Scott's grandstanding are clear. More than $2.4 billion from Washington? Gone. Five thousand construction jobs? Gone. A modern transportation link between two of the largest cities in the fourth-largest state? Gone. Thousands of additional jobs serving the line; billions of dollars more in private-sector investment; and the chance for an ever bigger bang by extending the system from Orlando to Miami? Gone, gone, gone.
After barely a month in office and no serious review, Scott killed an effort that a bipartisan group of the state's political and business leaders pursued for decades. He consigned motorists and commercial carriers along the Interstate 4 corridor to bigger traffic jams. He put taxpayers on the hook for expensive highway projects as the only way to improve moving people and goods between Tampa Bay and the theme park capital of the world. And he sent a message to the global business community that Florida lacks the vision and courage to invest in its future.
Scott said his decision came down to three basic fears: cost overruns could reach $3 billion, state taxpayers would have to cover any shortfall, and Florida would have to repay the federal government if the rail line goes defunct. Those aren't original or well founded. They come from a study by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank that compared the Florida plan with rail systems in Taiwan, Korea and Britain. The Reason study also assumed that any cost above the $2.7 billion estimated for the Tampa-Orlando line would fall to Florida taxpayers. The state plan doesn't call for that. Private operators would build and run the system and absorb any cost overruns.
If Scott were an honest broker looking out for Floridians, he would not have killed the project before putting it out to bid. He would have waited for an updated study on ridership and costs. The contention Wednesday by his press office that Scott has inside information is not good enough.
Scott took aim at the federal deficit and the Obama administration, which he intends to fight on every front regardless of Florida's needs. He fails to mention that the high-speed rail money is already committed and that Florida's money will just go to New York or another state with more vision. The reaction to such a foolish decision was biting and across the board. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he was disappointed, but noted: "There is overwhelming demand for high-speed rail in other states." U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, blasted Scott for a "devastating lack of vision," and U.S. Rep. John Mica, the Winter Park Republican who chairs the House transportation panel, urged the governor to reconsider. State Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who chairs the state Senate's Transportation Committee, said Scott's move was premature: "We've cut off our noses to spite our face."
That's putting it mildly. Scott did real harm to the Tampa Bay area, which has worked on a regional basis for years to improve area transit and to build the start of an integrated light rail system. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said she was "terribly disappointed," calling the move a "bad decision for all Floridians" that sends "a terrible message" to the business community. The state's powerful business lobby, Associated Industries, which had supported the rail plan, should be ashamed for kissing up to Scott by rationalizing the governor's move. In downtown Tampa alone, Scott's decision undermines tens of millions of dollars in public investment in housing, parks and retail. And it dampens the ongoing effort in Pinellas and across the bay to bring a major new mass transit initiative to the table.
The governor who travels in his private jet should look out the window the next time he flies over traffic-clogged Tampa Bay and Interstate 4. And when he looks for someone who could have created thousands of jobs and didn't, he can look in the mirror. Why would businesses elsewhere explore public-private partnerships in a state saddled with a governor who pulls the plug on an ambitious initiative before serious negotiations even start? Scott has dealt the state an terrible setback, and the state's more creative leaders should look for a way to reverse it.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/train-wreck-of-a-governor/1152035
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Schools to be hit hard by Scotts budget
From TBO.com
by Eline Silvestrini
TAMPA When Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his budget plan last week, the sheer size of the proposed revenue reductions knocked the wind out of school officials across the state.
In Pinellas County, schools Chief Financial Officer Fred Matz said he took the numbers to Kevin Smith, the assistant superintendant for budget.
"We looked at it and we started laughing hysterically," Matz said. "It's one of those, we just couldn't believe it. We had been talking about potential budget cuts of almost $30 million, and this is almost triple that."
The reaction in Hillsborough County was a bit more subdued.
"I don't laugh about budgets," said Superintendant MaryEllen Elia, who nonetheless described herself as surprised and concerned. "We anticipated that there would be cuts…This was more severe than I thought it would be."
From his introduction of the budget at a Tea Party gathering to proposals to change everything from how things are done to the words used to describe them, Scott has upended the budget process in ways that have legislators and local officials reaching for answers.
Matz has been doing this job for more than 37 years, and says he has never seen anything like this budget plan. "It's devastating," he said. "It sets a new low."
The governor's budget proposal calls for a total revenue reduction in Pinellas County of $86.6 million – counting the loss of $35.9 million in federal stimulus money -- in a county with a total operating budget of $891 million.
Hillsborough County, with an operating budget of about $1.3 billion, is slated to lose $108 million in revenue, counting $64 million in lost stimulus money.
Pasco County Schools stand to lose $44 million, including $32 million in stimulus, on top of an already projected shortfall of $47 million.
At the same time, officials say the funding calculations are based on possibly erroneous assumptions – that property values are going to increase in Pinellas County, for example, and student enrollment is going to increase in Pasco. This means, officials fear, that the budget proposal, if it were to become final, would result in even less funding than projected.
For Matz, it's an upside-down year.
In the past, he said, the governor would propose a "pie-in-the-sky" budget, increasing education funding, doing "all sorts of nice things" for school districts. But then the Legislature would take out the scissors.
This year, Matz said, it looks like the opposite might happen – that Legislature will sheath its shears and decide to spend more than the governor, not less.
And while Matz said he has been encouraged by some comments made by legislators who seem alarmed by Scott's proposal, he's a little worried, too.
"Probably one third of the legislators are new," he said. "My concern is they don't have the experience.. Here they get the governor's budget; maybe they think it's their marching orders."
Elia, for one, is convinced the final budget cuts will be less. The governor's proposal, she said, is "the start of the process."
"There are three bodies that really make this decision and work through the budget," she said, referring to the Senate, the House of Representatives and the governor.
Senate Education Appropriations Chairman David Simmons said the body will carefully evaluate the budget.
"The first premise that I believe exists in the Senate is that we don't want to do any cuts to education," Simmons said. "However, we are realistic. Education is the most important expenditure that we are making for the future of the state of Florida. Any reduction in education spending will come after a thorough investigation of all of the options and alternatives that are available."
Statewide, Scott is proposing that the per-pupil funding provided to school districts be reduced by $703, or a little more than 10 percent.
"We all recognize cuts are going to have to be made," said House Education Appropriations Chair Marti Coley. "Ten percent is pretty steep."
One national education analyst welcomed Scott's proposals.
"My initial reaction is he is being more honest than possibly any other governor in the country about what's going on with education funding," said Adam Schaeffer of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.
"That's with regard to federal (stimulus) funds going away. With housing price declines and revenue declines at the state level, there's simply not as much money to go around, and that's been papered over by the feds until now."
Another analyst says the financial issues faced in Florida, and in other states are historic.
Raegen Miller, associate director for education research at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that promotes progressive values, said, "This is the first really serious economic downturn during which we've had accountability in our regime."
Scott wants to change the name of the state's school funding formula from the Florida Education Finance Program – or FEFP – to the Education Choice Fund, a nod, said Scott Kittel, the governor's education policy coordinator in a recent hearing, to the governor's hope for more ability for parents to choose what schools their children attend.
At least one legislator seemed skeptical about that idea.
"I'd like for you to specifically tell us how we have a choice," Coley said to Kittel during a committee hearing.
Local school officials said the districts have already gone through budget cuts over the last few years, leaving few areas to cut.
"If we've already cut a substantial amount of money, if it were to be (another $108 million cut), you would see substantial changes in the services that we could provide to students in this district," Elia said.
But Elia wouldn't specify what the changes might be. "I'm not going to spend a lot of time on something that is probably not going to be the end product," she said.
Matz said he expects the financial picture won't be as bad as the governor is projecting. "We can't see this getting worse when the legislators meet," he said. "We hope it will get better. It has to."
Reporter Ronnie Blair contributed to this story.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb/15/school-leaders-fear-impact-of-scotts-budget-propos/news-politics/
by Eline Silvestrini
TAMPA When Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his budget plan last week, the sheer size of the proposed revenue reductions knocked the wind out of school officials across the state.
In Pinellas County, schools Chief Financial Officer Fred Matz said he took the numbers to Kevin Smith, the assistant superintendant for budget.
"We looked at it and we started laughing hysterically," Matz said. "It's one of those, we just couldn't believe it. We had been talking about potential budget cuts of almost $30 million, and this is almost triple that."
The reaction in Hillsborough County was a bit more subdued.
"I don't laugh about budgets," said Superintendant MaryEllen Elia, who nonetheless described herself as surprised and concerned. "We anticipated that there would be cuts…This was more severe than I thought it would be."
From his introduction of the budget at a Tea Party gathering to proposals to change everything from how things are done to the words used to describe them, Scott has upended the budget process in ways that have legislators and local officials reaching for answers.
Matz has been doing this job for more than 37 years, and says he has never seen anything like this budget plan. "It's devastating," he said. "It sets a new low."
The governor's budget proposal calls for a total revenue reduction in Pinellas County of $86.6 million – counting the loss of $35.9 million in federal stimulus money -- in a county with a total operating budget of $891 million.
Hillsborough County, with an operating budget of about $1.3 billion, is slated to lose $108 million in revenue, counting $64 million in lost stimulus money.
Pasco County Schools stand to lose $44 million, including $32 million in stimulus, on top of an already projected shortfall of $47 million.
At the same time, officials say the funding calculations are based on possibly erroneous assumptions – that property values are going to increase in Pinellas County, for example, and student enrollment is going to increase in Pasco. This means, officials fear, that the budget proposal, if it were to become final, would result in even less funding than projected.
For Matz, it's an upside-down year.
In the past, he said, the governor would propose a "pie-in-the-sky" budget, increasing education funding, doing "all sorts of nice things" for school districts. But then the Legislature would take out the scissors.
This year, Matz said, it looks like the opposite might happen – that Legislature will sheath its shears and decide to spend more than the governor, not less.
And while Matz said he has been encouraged by some comments made by legislators who seem alarmed by Scott's proposal, he's a little worried, too.
"Probably one third of the legislators are new," he said. "My concern is they don't have the experience.. Here they get the governor's budget; maybe they think it's their marching orders."
Elia, for one, is convinced the final budget cuts will be less. The governor's proposal, she said, is "the start of the process."
"There are three bodies that really make this decision and work through the budget," she said, referring to the Senate, the House of Representatives and the governor.
Senate Education Appropriations Chairman David Simmons said the body will carefully evaluate the budget.
"The first premise that I believe exists in the Senate is that we don't want to do any cuts to education," Simmons said. "However, we are realistic. Education is the most important expenditure that we are making for the future of the state of Florida. Any reduction in education spending will come after a thorough investigation of all of the options and alternatives that are available."
Statewide, Scott is proposing that the per-pupil funding provided to school districts be reduced by $703, or a little more than 10 percent.
"We all recognize cuts are going to have to be made," said House Education Appropriations Chair Marti Coley. "Ten percent is pretty steep."
One national education analyst welcomed Scott's proposals.
"My initial reaction is he is being more honest than possibly any other governor in the country about what's going on with education funding," said Adam Schaeffer of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.
"That's with regard to federal (stimulus) funds going away. With housing price declines and revenue declines at the state level, there's simply not as much money to go around, and that's been papered over by the feds until now."
Another analyst says the financial issues faced in Florida, and in other states are historic.
Raegen Miller, associate director for education research at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that promotes progressive values, said, "This is the first really serious economic downturn during which we've had accountability in our regime."
Scott wants to change the name of the state's school funding formula from the Florida Education Finance Program – or FEFP – to the Education Choice Fund, a nod, said Scott Kittel, the governor's education policy coordinator in a recent hearing, to the governor's hope for more ability for parents to choose what schools their children attend.
At least one legislator seemed skeptical about that idea.
"I'd like for you to specifically tell us how we have a choice," Coley said to Kittel during a committee hearing.
Local school officials said the districts have already gone through budget cuts over the last few years, leaving few areas to cut.
"If we've already cut a substantial amount of money, if it were to be (another $108 million cut), you would see substantial changes in the services that we could provide to students in this district," Elia said.
But Elia wouldn't specify what the changes might be. "I'm not going to spend a lot of time on something that is probably not going to be the end product," she said.
Matz said he expects the financial picture won't be as bad as the governor is projecting. "We can't see this getting worse when the legislators meet," he said. "We hope it will get better. It has to."
Reporter Ronnie Blair contributed to this story.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb/15/school-leaders-fear-impact-of-scotts-budget-propos/news-politics/
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Rick Scott and his "troublesome" budget
From the Ledger.com
On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his first state budget. Being a biennial budget, it fits the Scott mold by breaking the rules. Those in a business-world frame of mind might find such extracubular thinking brilliant.
For the business of Florida's people, there is a more stark term: unconstitutional.
The first paragraph in Section 19 of the Florida Constitution, paragraph (a), is entitled ANNUAL BUDGETING. Subsequent paragraphs specify many budgeting details. All are tied to an annual process.
If only it were as easy as ruling the budget out of bounds and having the Legislature build an appropriate budget of its own, although that is permissible.
BEWARE TRANSPLANT OPTION
Legislative budget leaders could just as readily transplant many of Scott's troubling two-year budget items into an annual form. In so doing, they would retain the essence of his budget and accomplish much of what Florida's tea party Republican governor seeks.
Budget leaders have intimated reluctance at that approach. The reason is Scott's promise of cutting taxes at the same time the state must cut a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. That may not be workable if the Legislature is to meet constitutional funding requirements and also meet constituents' expectations for state services.
Keep in mind, though, that plenty of legislators latched onto Scott's libertarian-conservative coattails during the November election. They rode right into Tallahassee with Scott. Those legislators would be likely to oppose any anti-Scott action.
TROUBLE IN TALLAHASSEE
Here are a couple of examples of why Scott's budget initiatives are troublesome.
His budget cuts more than $3 billion from education -- a 10 percent cut for each student. In Polk County, spending of $6,780.69 per student this year would be cut to $6,067.05 per student next year. Florida's public schools get the bulk of their funding from Tallahassee. Local funding must meet legislative edicts.
"That's absolutely insane," said Polk County School Board member Frank O'Reilly about Scott's education cuts. "Even before his proposed cuts, we are looking at trying to cover a $20 million-to-$25 million shortfall in the district."
As for teachers (as well as others in the state pension plan) being required to pay 5 percent of their salaries into their pensions, Marianne Capoziello, president of the Polk County Teachers Association, said: "We have done a study of teachers paying 5 percent of their wages to the state pension. Many are single parents and not the-most-well-paid. If it happens, it would take $1.9 million of discretionary spending out of the Polk County economy. The big picture is that, with this, everybody, not just teachers, suffers."
- A failure by the governor and his budget director to be forthright about which items are cuts and which are not. The governor claims to have cut $5.2 billion in "reductions and savings" in his budget. However, budget details show that Scott would transfer $1.7 billion of expenditures outside the budget while related income would remain within the budget. Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, called the Scott administration on the subterfuge.
In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday, Scott Budget Director Jerry McDaniel was asked this by Alexander: "I think that's more like about $3.5 billion in reductions you're actually proposing that are real reductions inside the budget or spending reductions. Is this accurate or not?"
"Yes sir, that's accurate," said McDaniel.
From failing to meeting the most basic of constitutional requirements for an annual state budget to fudging the facts on what would be cut and what would not, Scott has proved himself untrustworthy.
Given his history of being CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital conglomerate at a time when it committed massive Medicare fraud -- for which the company paid fines of $1.7 billion, the largest fraud fines in U.S. history, and at which time Scott resigned from the company while receiving more than $300 million in stock, options and severance pay -- we must examine Scott's every move, every proposal and every assertion.
In short, distrust and verify.
On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his first state budget. Being a biennial budget, it fits the Scott mold by breaking the rules. Those in a business-world frame of mind might find such extracubular thinking brilliant.
For the business of Florida's people, there is a more stark term: unconstitutional.
The first paragraph in Section 19 of the Florida Constitution, paragraph (a), is entitled ANNUAL BUDGETING. Subsequent paragraphs specify many budgeting details. All are tied to an annual process.
If only it were as easy as ruling the budget out of bounds and having the Legislature build an appropriate budget of its own, although that is permissible.
BEWARE TRANSPLANT OPTION
Legislative budget leaders could just as readily transplant many of Scott's troubling two-year budget items into an annual form. In so doing, they would retain the essence of his budget and accomplish much of what Florida's tea party Republican governor seeks.
Budget leaders have intimated reluctance at that approach. The reason is Scott's promise of cutting taxes at the same time the state must cut a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. That may not be workable if the Legislature is to meet constitutional funding requirements and also meet constituents' expectations for state services.
Keep in mind, though, that plenty of legislators latched onto Scott's libertarian-conservative coattails during the November election. They rode right into Tallahassee with Scott. Those legislators would be likely to oppose any anti-Scott action.
TROUBLE IN TALLAHASSEE
Here are a couple of examples of why Scott's budget initiatives are troublesome.
His budget cuts more than $3 billion from education -- a 10 percent cut for each student. In Polk County, spending of $6,780.69 per student this year would be cut to $6,067.05 per student next year. Florida's public schools get the bulk of their funding from Tallahassee. Local funding must meet legislative edicts.
"That's absolutely insane," said Polk County School Board member Frank O'Reilly about Scott's education cuts. "Even before his proposed cuts, we are looking at trying to cover a $20 million-to-$25 million shortfall in the district."
As for teachers (as well as others in the state pension plan) being required to pay 5 percent of their salaries into their pensions, Marianne Capoziello, president of the Polk County Teachers Association, said: "We have done a study of teachers paying 5 percent of their wages to the state pension. Many are single parents and not the-most-well-paid. If it happens, it would take $1.9 million of discretionary spending out of the Polk County economy. The big picture is that, with this, everybody, not just teachers, suffers."
- A failure by the governor and his budget director to be forthright about which items are cuts and which are not. The governor claims to have cut $5.2 billion in "reductions and savings" in his budget. However, budget details show that Scott would transfer $1.7 billion of expenditures outside the budget while related income would remain within the budget. Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, called the Scott administration on the subterfuge.
In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday, Scott Budget Director Jerry McDaniel was asked this by Alexander: "I think that's more like about $3.5 billion in reductions you're actually proposing that are real reductions inside the budget or spending reductions. Is this accurate or not?"
"Yes sir, that's accurate," said McDaniel.
From failing to meeting the most basic of constitutional requirements for an annual state budget to fudging the facts on what would be cut and what would not, Scott has proved himself untrustworthy.
Given his history of being CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital conglomerate at a time when it committed massive Medicare fraud -- for which the company paid fines of $1.7 billion, the largest fraud fines in U.S. history, and at which time Scott resigned from the company while receiving more than $300 million in stock, options and severance pay -- we must examine Scott's every move, every proposal and every assertion.
In short, distrust and verify.
The big bussiness takeover of Florida Schools
From the St. Augustine Record
by Kathleen Haughney
TALLAHASSEE -- As Gov. Rick Scott backs away for now from a push for an expanded school voucher program, former Gov. Jeb Bush's education foundation has begun quietly circulating draft legislation that may serve as the Legislature's template to massively expand the number of charter schools throughout the state.
Scott's budget team this week preached the governor's belief in school choice, saying the Scott wanted to expand virtual school offerings, allow more students to transfer from failing or sub par schools and create more charter school opportunities. Meanwhile, Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future has brought forth a plan that would allow colleges and universities to open charter schools without school district approval and set up a system for the per-student funding to follow the student and not be tied to a school district.
The governor and the foundation got a high profile push this week from former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, who made her name by promoting school choice and firing teachers she deemed failures. Rhee, who also serves as an informal adviser to Scott, was in Tallahassee this past week to lobby the Legislature on an education reform issues, particularly expanding school choice and abolishing teacher tenure.
"We have to be putting policies and laws in place that don't hamstring charters ... that create the right environment for them," Rhee told reporters. "And if Florida can do that, I think you're going to attract more and more of the high quality charter providers into the state."
Charter school expansion may be an easier route for Scott to test the waters of school choice expansion.
State Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, who chairs the Senate's Prek-12 Education Committee, is open to the idea of charter school expansion, noting that the Kipp Charter School in Jacksonville has been relatively successful.
"Sometimes, they have a little bit more flexibility than the school districts, but I think they're going to be in this game," Wise said. "And we're going to try to work with them as best as possible."
Union officials aren't weighing in yet on potential charter school legislation. A Florida Education Association spokesman said the teachers' union has generally been in favor of charters in theory, but that it would not favor a system where per student funding left a school district to follow the student to a charter school.
A line in the foundation's draft legislation reads, "Charter school students shall be funded without regard to whether the student's home address lies within the school district sponsoring the charter school."
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-02-13/charter-schools-could-be-expanded
by Kathleen Haughney
TALLAHASSEE -- As Gov. Rick Scott backs away for now from a push for an expanded school voucher program, former Gov. Jeb Bush's education foundation has begun quietly circulating draft legislation that may serve as the Legislature's template to massively expand the number of charter schools throughout the state.
Scott's budget team this week preached the governor's belief in school choice, saying the Scott wanted to expand virtual school offerings, allow more students to transfer from failing or sub par schools and create more charter school opportunities. Meanwhile, Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future has brought forth a plan that would allow colleges and universities to open charter schools without school district approval and set up a system for the per-student funding to follow the student and not be tied to a school district.
The governor and the foundation got a high profile push this week from former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, who made her name by promoting school choice and firing teachers she deemed failures. Rhee, who also serves as an informal adviser to Scott, was in Tallahassee this past week to lobby the Legislature on an education reform issues, particularly expanding school choice and abolishing teacher tenure.
"We have to be putting policies and laws in place that don't hamstring charters ... that create the right environment for them," Rhee told reporters. "And if Florida can do that, I think you're going to attract more and more of the high quality charter providers into the state."
Charter school expansion may be an easier route for Scott to test the waters of school choice expansion.
State Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, who chairs the Senate's Prek-12 Education Committee, is open to the idea of charter school expansion, noting that the Kipp Charter School in Jacksonville has been relatively successful.
"Sometimes, they have a little bit more flexibility than the school districts, but I think they're going to be in this game," Wise said. "And we're going to try to work with them as best as possible."
Union officials aren't weighing in yet on potential charter school legislation. A Florida Education Association spokesman said the teachers' union has generally been in favor of charters in theory, but that it would not favor a system where per student funding left a school district to follow the student to a charter school.
A line in the foundation's draft legislation reads, "Charter school students shall be funded without regard to whether the student's home address lies within the school district sponsoring the charter school."
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-02-13/charter-schools-could-be-expanded
Monday, February 14, 2011
Not sold on Rhee? You aren't the only one
From the St. Petersbug Times
by Jeffrey Solochek
Florida's lawmakers were starstruck.
Before them stood Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., public schools chancellor recently featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, on a Newsweek cover and in the documentary film Waiting for Superman.
"I am here today to ask you to keep being a leader," Rhee said, urging members of two education committees to tackle one the few reforms that Florida has yet to achieve: a streamlined way to get "ineffective" teachers out of the classroom. "There is so much more to do."
Senate Pre-K-12 Committee Chairman Steve Wise called her a movie star, and even Sen. Eleanor Sobel, a more skeptical Broward Democrat, gave a nod to Rhee for "bringing new energy to the education debate."
But as he watched from the audience, the spokesman from Florida's teachers union wondered why lawmakers were listening to her. "It's a little difficult to understand why she is given rock star status," said Mark Pudlow of the Florida Education Association.
Sure, Rhee might have the ear of the governor and the praise of the president. Sure, Rhee has made national headlines pushing through controversial measures relating to teacher tenure, evaluations and salaries in D.C.
But Pudlow noted that Washington, D.C., schools score at the bottom of the national Education Week Quality Counts ranking, while Florida rates close to the top. He observed that some of Rhee's controversial efforts to fire "ineffective" teachers have been overturned by an arbitrator after the Washington Teachers Union fought the effort tooth and nail.
Valid concerns, said Rhee, an unpaid, informal adviser to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. She suggested looking through a different lens for some perspective.
"Over the three years that I was there, we saw really record gains in academic achievement on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) examination," she said. "We went from being last in the entire nation to leading the entire nation in gains in both reading and math at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels. And we were the only jurisdiction in the entire country in which every single subgroup of children improved their academic standing."
The 75,000-student district still isn't the best, she acknowledged. Far from it, in fact. But Rhee proposed that the gains that D.C. schools made might be replicated if other school systems adopt some of the "drastic changes" that she pushed through.
Her new national organization, Students First, seeks to get states to adopt similar changes. Rhee has made presentations to leaders in New Jersey and Indiana about these efforts, and she headed to Atlanta right after her Tallahassee stop to make a pitch to Georgia lawmakers.
But she sees Florida as the logical leader for altering the teacher contract landscape, she said, because of its history of adopting school accountability measures and the willingness of its leaders to take on the tough challenges that lie ahead. She credited former Gov. Jeb Bush — whom she has met with — for starting the ball rolling, and current Gov. Scott for taking the next step.
Some of Rhee's points to Florida lawmakers last week:
• End the practice of relying on seniority to determine which teachers stay and go during layoffs.
• Reduce the length of time low-performing teachers get to improve, so children's education is not wasted.
• Separate teacher evaluations from the collective bargaining process.
• Eliminate "tenure" and related systems.
House Rep. K-20 competitiveness subcommittee Chairman Erik Fresen thanked Rhee for creating a national blueprint for education reform.
"We have to start treating teaching as a profession," Fresen said.
Some observers question whether Rhee's approach does that at all.
Rhee has endured much criticism for her tough approach to the issue, where she didn't always wait for everyone to join forces with her before forging ahead. Some have contrasted her with Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia, who is attempting to change the face of teacher evaluation with the local teachers union on board.
Richard Whitmire, a former USA Today editorial writer who wrote the Rhee biography The Bee Eater, said Rhee made things happen in a district that hadn't moved much before her tenure. Her relentless push for teacher quality won devoted followers, he said, but also had its fallout.
"The pushback that sparked, especially around firing teachers, was the biggest reason Adrian Fenty lost his re-election bid as mayor and Rhee had to step down," Whitmire said.
That's a lesson that Florida could draw from, Rhee said, acknowledging her own failure to communicate well with the public about her efforts.
"I didn't do as good a job as I needed to, to proactively go out to the great teachers and say, 'We're not talking about you. What I need you to do is stay. We want to recognize what you are doing. It's so important,' " she said. "You have to be careful not to send a message that you are blaming teachers or that you don't think teachers are good."
In fact, she said, teachers are critically important to the success of any effort to improve education. The strong ones want the weak ones out of their schools, Rhee related, and students deserve nothing less.
Wise stressed this point just before his committee passed its "teacher quality" bill on a unanimous, bipartisan vote.
"We are not here to punish teachers," Wise said, adding that he wants to hear from more teachers, as well as parents and others in order to improve the measure before it gets to a final vote.
Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers Union, said Florida lawmakers should think twice about heading down D.C.'s path. The full costs of Rhee's tenure have yet to be borne out, he said, but already they have begun to arise in the form of deficits and back pay for improperly fired teachers.
Boiled down, Saunders had one simple message for Florida lawmakers: "Florida should not be listening to Michelle Rhee."
Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/not-everyones-sold-on-michelle-rhee-gov-scotts-education-adviser/1151311
by Jeffrey Solochek
Florida's lawmakers were starstruck.
Before them stood Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., public schools chancellor recently featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, on a Newsweek cover and in the documentary film Waiting for Superman.
"I am here today to ask you to keep being a leader," Rhee said, urging members of two education committees to tackle one the few reforms that Florida has yet to achieve: a streamlined way to get "ineffective" teachers out of the classroom. "There is so much more to do."
Senate Pre-K-12 Committee Chairman Steve Wise called her a movie star, and even Sen. Eleanor Sobel, a more skeptical Broward Democrat, gave a nod to Rhee for "bringing new energy to the education debate."
But as he watched from the audience, the spokesman from Florida's teachers union wondered why lawmakers were listening to her. "It's a little difficult to understand why she is given rock star status," said Mark Pudlow of the Florida Education Association.
Sure, Rhee might have the ear of the governor and the praise of the president. Sure, Rhee has made national headlines pushing through controversial measures relating to teacher tenure, evaluations and salaries in D.C.
But Pudlow noted that Washington, D.C., schools score at the bottom of the national Education Week Quality Counts ranking, while Florida rates close to the top. He observed that some of Rhee's controversial efforts to fire "ineffective" teachers have been overturned by an arbitrator after the Washington Teachers Union fought the effort tooth and nail.
Valid concerns, said Rhee, an unpaid, informal adviser to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. She suggested looking through a different lens for some perspective.
"Over the three years that I was there, we saw really record gains in academic achievement on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) examination," she said. "We went from being last in the entire nation to leading the entire nation in gains in both reading and math at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels. And we were the only jurisdiction in the entire country in which every single subgroup of children improved their academic standing."
The 75,000-student district still isn't the best, she acknowledged. Far from it, in fact. But Rhee proposed that the gains that D.C. schools made might be replicated if other school systems adopt some of the "drastic changes" that she pushed through.
Her new national organization, Students First, seeks to get states to adopt similar changes. Rhee has made presentations to leaders in New Jersey and Indiana about these efforts, and she headed to Atlanta right after her Tallahassee stop to make a pitch to Georgia lawmakers.
But she sees Florida as the logical leader for altering the teacher contract landscape, she said, because of its history of adopting school accountability measures and the willingness of its leaders to take on the tough challenges that lie ahead. She credited former Gov. Jeb Bush — whom she has met with — for starting the ball rolling, and current Gov. Scott for taking the next step.
Some of Rhee's points to Florida lawmakers last week:
• End the practice of relying on seniority to determine which teachers stay and go during layoffs.
• Reduce the length of time low-performing teachers get to improve, so children's education is not wasted.
• Separate teacher evaluations from the collective bargaining process.
• Eliminate "tenure" and related systems.
House Rep. K-20 competitiveness subcommittee Chairman Erik Fresen thanked Rhee for creating a national blueprint for education reform.
"We have to start treating teaching as a profession," Fresen said.
Some observers question whether Rhee's approach does that at all.
Rhee has endured much criticism for her tough approach to the issue, where she didn't always wait for everyone to join forces with her before forging ahead. Some have contrasted her with Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia, who is attempting to change the face of teacher evaluation with the local teachers union on board.
Richard Whitmire, a former USA Today editorial writer who wrote the Rhee biography The Bee Eater, said Rhee made things happen in a district that hadn't moved much before her tenure. Her relentless push for teacher quality won devoted followers, he said, but also had its fallout.
"The pushback that sparked, especially around firing teachers, was the biggest reason Adrian Fenty lost his re-election bid as mayor and Rhee had to step down," Whitmire said.
That's a lesson that Florida could draw from, Rhee said, acknowledging her own failure to communicate well with the public about her efforts.
"I didn't do as good a job as I needed to, to proactively go out to the great teachers and say, 'We're not talking about you. What I need you to do is stay. We want to recognize what you are doing. It's so important,' " she said. "You have to be careful not to send a message that you are blaming teachers or that you don't think teachers are good."
In fact, she said, teachers are critically important to the success of any effort to improve education. The strong ones want the weak ones out of their schools, Rhee related, and students deserve nothing less.
Wise stressed this point just before his committee passed its "teacher quality" bill on a unanimous, bipartisan vote.
"We are not here to punish teachers," Wise said, adding that he wants to hear from more teachers, as well as parents and others in order to improve the measure before it gets to a final vote.
Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers Union, said Florida lawmakers should think twice about heading down D.C.'s path. The full costs of Rhee's tenure have yet to be borne out, he said, but already they have begun to arise in the form of deficits and back pay for improperly fired teachers.
Boiled down, Saunders had one simple message for Florida lawmakers: "Florida should not be listening to Michelle Rhee."
Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/not-everyones-sold-on-michelle-rhee-gov-scotts-education-adviser/1151311
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Start the Rick Scott Recall
Start the Rick Scott Recall
I get it we don’t like taxes. We think they are to high and the government lights cigars with hundred dollar bills. I get it. The thing is, taxes allow us to do collectively what we can’t do individually and unless you live in a cabin deep in the woods you are part of collectively, part of society and taxes are necessary.
I think taxes are to high for most of us but there are a few who do light cigars with hundred dollar bills that are unaffected by them. These are the people that governor claims we can’t over burden because they create Florida’s jobs. Well friends in case you missed it, where are the jobs, they don’t seem to be creating too many. If it is for this elite class that we give tax loopholes that cost our state billions, then I say we are not getting a very good return on our investment.
What good is it to have low taxes if our children aren’t protected and can’t be properly educated, what good are low taxes if our elderly aren’t taken care of and our rivers become polluted? What good is it to have low taxes, if our parks are closed and our quality of life is eroded? What good is it to have low taxes if our society crumbles down around us? Low taxes I might add that don’t benefit the vast majority of the states citizens. How is your bank account, mine was wiped out two weeks ago when I had to get new tires. I had to make the choice get new tires or get my tooth fixed; do you sometimes have to make similar choices?
Rick Scott through his budget proposal has shown us that the elderly, our children, the disabled, our schools parks and rivers don’t mater much to him. They matter a lot to me and I hope they matter a lot to you too.
The governor won the election after spending 79 million of his own dollars and now he wants the working middle class, our state workers, and our teachers to take a five percent pay cut. I remind you these people are not responsible for where the state finds itself. They show up work hard and educate our children or provide services and Scott wants them not the bankers and fat cats that reap billions in tax breaks through loopholes, to pay for our recovery. Furthermore is this the right time to pull billions of dollars out of the economy with these defacto pay cuts. Most economists would say empathically no.
His solution to the budget seems to be cutting jobs, teacher jobs, park worker jobs, and child welfare jobs among others. He says that through cutting these jobs more jobs will come to Florida. Friends Florida already has one of the lowest tax bases in the whole nation and no personal income tax. If jobs aren’t rushing to Florida now, then diminishing the quality of our education system, harming the environment through deregulation and gutting government services isn’t going to some how miraculously work.
Our low tax rate has been a double-edged sword too. Because our taxes have been so low Florida has been able to keep salaries stagnant, which means as costs rise, the middle class is harder hit here than in other states. How long are we going to sit back and just take it, or be tricked by talking pints or into believing that one day we to might be rich and when that happens why should we pay more taxes. Somebody making a million dollars is not going to suddenly quit, outraged, and take a job in a book store because the government takes half and they now only take home five hundred k.
I know that some of you that voted for Scott did so because it was like voting against Obama. I’ll be honest, I voted for Obama but don’t think, aha you got me and I am just spouting the lefts talking points because I am not a cool aide drinker. I don’t care who comes up with the good ideas as long as they are good ideas and Scott’s budget isn’t just a bad idea it’s a disastrous idea. Jacksonville’s public schools already cut to the bone are about to lose 91 million dollars.
But back to Obama, I am very frustrated and disappointed with him. But that doesn’t mean I thought Florida should pay the price for his policies. You don’t like Obamacare, all right I don’t like it either, but I don’t think our schools and our state parks, our children, elderly and disabled should pay the price for my dislike of it. This is not a republican verses democrat thing; this is a basic decency regardless of your party type thing.
Then does Rick Scott really represent you? Less than half of those that voted actualy voted for him, which means only about a quarter of all eligible voters did. Do you have a child or an elderly relative? Do you have a disabled family member, do you like to go to parks or live near the river? Do you care about the environment, or are worried that the rich are getting richer while you have trouble paying your rent or mortgage or have to decide between a tooth or tires this week? Are you a teacher or a governemnt work? If you answered yes to any one of these questions then just maybe Rick Scott does not represent you.
We want pension reform, sure, we want smaller government, I understand but don’t we also want a Florida that we can be proud of to be a state where we want to live. Let’s phase in pension reforms and lets find and eliminate waste but lets not throw out grandma and the baby with the bath water, which untreated will flow directly into our rivers. Lets tell Rick Scott he better start representing all of us not just the rich and those on the far right or he won’t be representing any of us much longer.
I get it we don’t like taxes. We think they are to high and the government lights cigars with hundred dollar bills. I get it. The thing is, taxes allow us to do collectively what we can’t do individually and unless you live in a cabin deep in the woods you are part of collectively, part of society and taxes are necessary.
I think taxes are to high for most of us but there are a few who do light cigars with hundred dollar bills that are unaffected by them. These are the people that governor claims we can’t over burden because they create Florida’s jobs. Well friends in case you missed it, where are the jobs, they don’t seem to be creating too many. If it is for this elite class that we give tax loopholes that cost our state billions, then I say we are not getting a very good return on our investment.
What good is it to have low taxes if our children aren’t protected and can’t be properly educated, what good are low taxes if our elderly aren’t taken care of and our rivers become polluted? What good is it to have low taxes, if our parks are closed and our quality of life is eroded? What good is it to have low taxes if our society crumbles down around us? Low taxes I might add that don’t benefit the vast majority of the states citizens. How is your bank account, mine was wiped out two weeks ago when I had to get new tires. I had to make the choice get new tires or get my tooth fixed; do you sometimes have to make similar choices?
Rick Scott through his budget proposal has shown us that the elderly, our children, the disabled, our schools parks and rivers don’t mater much to him. They matter a lot to me and I hope they matter a lot to you too.
The governor won the election after spending 79 million of his own dollars and now he wants the working middle class, our state workers, and our teachers to take a five percent pay cut. I remind you these people are not responsible for where the state finds itself. They show up work hard and educate our children or provide services and Scott wants them not the bankers and fat cats that reap billions in tax breaks through loopholes, to pay for our recovery. Furthermore is this the right time to pull billions of dollars out of the economy with these defacto pay cuts. Most economists would say empathically no.
His solution to the budget seems to be cutting jobs, teacher jobs, park worker jobs, and child welfare jobs among others. He says that through cutting these jobs more jobs will come to Florida. Friends Florida already has one of the lowest tax bases in the whole nation and no personal income tax. If jobs aren’t rushing to Florida now, then diminishing the quality of our education system, harming the environment through deregulation and gutting government services isn’t going to some how miraculously work.
Our low tax rate has been a double-edged sword too. Because our taxes have been so low Florida has been able to keep salaries stagnant, which means as costs rise, the middle class is harder hit here than in other states. How long are we going to sit back and just take it, or be tricked by talking pints or into believing that one day we to might be rich and when that happens why should we pay more taxes. Somebody making a million dollars is not going to suddenly quit, outraged, and take a job in a book store because the government takes half and they now only take home five hundred k.
I know that some of you that voted for Scott did so because it was like voting against Obama. I’ll be honest, I voted for Obama but don’t think, aha you got me and I am just spouting the lefts talking points because I am not a cool aide drinker. I don’t care who comes up with the good ideas as long as they are good ideas and Scott’s budget isn’t just a bad idea it’s a disastrous idea. Jacksonville’s public schools already cut to the bone are about to lose 91 million dollars.
But back to Obama, I am very frustrated and disappointed with him. But that doesn’t mean I thought Florida should pay the price for his policies. You don’t like Obamacare, all right I don’t like it either, but I don’t think our schools and our state parks, our children, elderly and disabled should pay the price for my dislike of it. This is not a republican verses democrat thing; this is a basic decency regardless of your party type thing.
Then does Rick Scott really represent you? Less than half of those that voted actualy voted for him, which means only about a quarter of all eligible voters did. Do you have a child or an elderly relative? Do you have a disabled family member, do you like to go to parks or live near the river? Do you care about the environment, or are worried that the rich are getting richer while you have trouble paying your rent or mortgage or have to decide between a tooth or tires this week? Are you a teacher or a governemnt work? If you answered yes to any one of these questions then just maybe Rick Scott does not represent you.
We want pension reform, sure, we want smaller government, I understand but don’t we also want a Florida that we can be proud of to be a state where we want to live. Let’s phase in pension reforms and lets find and eliminate waste but lets not throw out grandma and the baby with the bath water, which untreated will flow directly into our rivers. Lets tell Rick Scott he better start representing all of us not just the rich and those on the far right or he won’t be representing any of us much longer.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
7 reasons Rick Scott will destroy Florida
from the Reid Report
When Rick Scott was running for Florida governor, he tagged his “let’s get to work” jobs plan “777.” Now that he’s in office and has issued his first budget, the numbers that come to mind are more like “666.” How bad is Scott for Florida? Let me count the ways …
1. He doesn’t understand the difference between campaigning and governing. Scott unveiled his budget plan at a tea party gathering. And while that might make Florida’s tea party activists feel important, the election is over. Scott is going to have to come to terms with the fact that while he didn’t win a majority of Floridians’ support, he is stuck governing everybody, including people who are not part of the tea party movement. By unveiling his plans at a highly partisan gathering that represents perhaps a third of Floridians at best, Scott revealed that he’s more interested in positioning himself ideologically than in behaving as a statesman. From the Miami Herald:
Scott’s initial budget roll-out in Eustis had the look and feel of a highly partisan, heavily scripted campaign event. The venue underscored Scott’s eagerness to make what is normally a staid, policy-laden event into one that turned the budget into a political declaration. Inside the cavernous First Baptist Church of Eustis, Scott stood in front of a made-for-TV backdrop that said “Reducing Spending & Holding Government Accountable.”
The church, which seats 800, was filled to overflowing, and people waved miniature American flags and sang God Bless the USA and God Bless America. Warm-up speakers criticized President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, and praised Roger Vinson, the federal judge in Pensacola who last week struck down the Obama health plan as unconstitutional.
Before the public event, Scott hosted a private lunch for tea party activists at a nearby civic center. Activists said they would push for Scott’s budget in the same way they fought health care reform.
“This budget will reshape the state, and we want all of our legislators to know we’re behind this,” said Apryl Marie Fogel, state director of Americans for Prosperity Florida.
And if you’re not in the tea party? Well, there’s always 2014.
2. He thinks he’s above the law. That’s no surprise given his history of presiding over record Medicare fraud, then skating with a giant bag full of cash while his underlings took the fall with the feds. But Scott’s flagrant defiance of even the simplest strictures — like the Sunshine Laws — places him at the far authoritarian end of the spectrum, even further on that scale than Jeb Bush. Scott’s officiousness extends to the press, whom he thinks should treat him like a regent, and even to the cabinet, whom he treats like the court of petty dictator, “suggesting” that they run their regulations by him as if they were not themselves elected statewide (they rather curtly declined.) That kind of thing might fly for a petty dictator, but Scott, thankfully, is no dictator. Petty is another matter.
3. Scott is bad for eduction. Florida in order to attract good jobs needs to have a world class education system. The state already struggles with low graduation rates, especially for minority students, and Scott in his new budget breaks a campaign pledge to hold education harmless in his quest to cut spending. Scott’s proposed budget slashes education spending in Florida by 10 percent – which he said just a week ago he wouldn’t do. (He’s now trying to claim that he never said he wouldn’t cut eduction funding, to which Politifact Florida replies: FALSE.) Even Republicans, who have total control over Florida’s government and thus could pass Scott’s plan quite easily seemed taken aback by the plan. Even the most ideological among them apparently understands that cutting education at a time when Florida is trying to attract high tech and other businesses to the state to diversify the tourism-agriculture based economy, and just months after the state was awarded federal Race to the Top dollars as a reward for efforts during the Charlie Crist era to reform the state’s public schools is short sighted at best. Scott is even proposing to slash funding for the state’s colleges and for research, which would damage Florida immensely and make the state less competitive for top high school seniors as well as businesses.
It ‘s a lack of foresight that’s equal to Scott’s already established lack of basic human compassion. And coupled with the coming plans that will chase good teachers out of the state by reviving the teacher mercenary bill SB6 (a joint project of Scott and the right wing Republican legislature) Florida is likely headed back to the bottom of the heap in national education rankings.
4. He’s not so good at math. Maybe Scott is so quick to cut education because it’s not his personal strong suit. The budget that the governor unveiled to his tea party friends purports to close the state’s massive, $3.6 billion budget gap by cutting taxes (read “revenues”) and to grow jobs by cutting them. The lowlights:
… Eliminating 1,690 jobs from the Department of Corrections
Despite earlier pledges to cut $1 billion from prison spending, Scott has only targeted $82 million in corrections cuts. But that will mean the loss of nearly 1,700 jobs, the most of any state agency.
… An 8,700 overall reduction in the state government workforce
In addition to the almost 1,700 jobs Scott wants to eliminate from the Department of Corrections, he plans to cut approximately 7,000 more positions throughout the state government. The Miami Herald notes that despite these drastic reductions, Scott has budgeted for increased personnel in his own executive office. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith has already issued a press release calling Scott’s plan a “jobs-killing budget.”
… Tax cuts worth $4 billion
Perhaps the most striking feature of Gov. Scott’s budget plan is a call for tax cuts totaling nearly $4 billion over the next two years. These include a $1.4 billion reduction in property taxes and a 1.5 percent drop in the corporate income tax.
Per the Miami Herald:
Prisons
* Proposes eliminating 1,690 employees from Department of Corrections by closing two prisons.
Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 146 facilities, employing 18,200 employees.
Property Taxes
* State-set school property taxes would be cut by $1 billion over two years. Scott had pledged a $1.4 billion cut in the first year, but is phasing in a lesser tax cut over two years.
* Water management districts would be asked to take a 25 percent reducting in their annual property tax levy for two years, contributing $178 million and school districts would be expected to rollback taxes $507 million in first year.
Corporate Income Tax
* Corporate income tax would drop from 5.5 percent to 3 percent in 2011-12 and be phased out by 2018.* * The first year savings would be $458 million statewide.
Fees
* Motor vehicle fees would be scaled back, saving $235 million.
Environment
* The Department of Community Affairs would be merged with the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating 530 jobs over two years. DCA staff will decrease to 40 employees within two years; budget drops to $70 million.
So Scott’s plan to grow jobs starts by cutting nearly 10,000 jobs, and his plan to close the budget gap starts with slashing state revenues. And how would Scott make up the revenues? Scott doesn’t say, and that’s even got Republicans scratching their heads and demanding actual details. Perhaps he’ll give the 411 to his tea party friends at some point, so they can tell the rest of us.
5. Scott’s proposals would harm Florida’s most vulnerable. Cutting Medicaid, and gutting the corrections department and the Department of Children and families… those are just three of the awful proposals Scott is putting on the table. And as even Republicans are pointing out, his cuts net out to relatively small cost savings to go with the loss of jobs and services. The Herald once again:
The criticisms and tough questions weren’t limited to Democrats; Scott’s fellow Republicans were skeptical of what many thought were skimpy details in his $65.9 billion budget.
The bipartisan concerns underscored a growing sense in the Legislature that Scott’s proposal is rooted in unrealistic political calculations, not the subtle calculus it takes to run the nation’s fourth-most populous state. In the House K-12 budget committee on Tuesday morning, eyebrows arched and heads shook as lawmakers tried digesting Scott’s plan to slash state-paid per-student spending by 10 percent.
“A 10 percent reduction is a significant cut,” said committee Chairwoman Marti Coley, R-Marianna.
Coley and Rep. Janet Adkins scolded Scott’s office for trying to “have it both ways” with the education budget. Scott said he’s against the use of federal stimulus money, but his office tacitly encourages school districts to use the money to boost per-pupil spending.
“It’s imperative that you go back and you redo the numbers,” said Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.
In the House health appropriations committee, Republicans and Democrats flummoxed another Scott aide who had difficulties explaining his plans to cut $3 billion from Medicaid over two years.
Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, said he struggling with the idea of deeply cutting the Department of Children and Families and privatizing mental-health facilities.
“My math tells me that the 2,500 jobs that you’re getting rid of only leads to a 4 percent reduction in the budget,” Diaz said. “It’s only an $8 million savings in an almost $3 billion budget. That seems like a significant loss of jobs for a very small gain.”
More on those Medicaid Cuts: Scott is proposing to slash $3 billion from the state-administered federal program over two years, “including $1 billion in cuts to provider reimbursement rates,” according to the Herald.
Savings are expected by receiving federal approval to transfer all 3 million Medicaid patients into a managed care program which would control costs and crack down on fraud.
But wait, there’s more! Scott also wants to privatize Florida’s Veterans’ homes (another chapter in his “let us make a profit, so what?” philosophy on Medicare, perhaps.) From the Orlando Sentinel:
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott’s $65.8 billion spending pitch to lawmakers includes privatizing veterans homes, mental health facilities and developmental disability centers, which the governor’s budget staff has concluded will save $103.9 million.
Scott health-care policy coordinator Jane Johnson said the governor’s office was still working with Veterans Affairs director Bob Milligan on the specifics of how to hand veterans homes over to private enterprise, a concept she called “public instrumentality.”
“The homes would be operated as a private entity and the employees would not be public employees,” Johnson told the House Health Care Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
The Veteran Affairs budget would get cut $38 million as part of the plan to hand over those nursing homes for vets to a quasi-public organization like the state’s housing finance corporation. Johnson said 80 percent of the department’s budget goes to 700 veterans in nursing homes, and that the department felt its funding would be better-spent on the other 1.8 million Florida veterans.
But lawmakers’ first-blush reaction to the idea of privatizing veterans’ nursing homes was muted.
“While creative and out of the box, [it] certainly creates a lot of questions in our minds about how it gets pulled together,” said Health Care Appropriations Chairman Matt Hudson, R-Naples.
Of course, we all remember how well privatization worked out for Walter Reed …
So far, Scott’s plan to raid $600 million from local taxes dedicated to healthcare, particularly in South Florida, and leech the money into general revenues is probably dead on arrival, but the fact that the former hospital executive thought it was a good idea is telling. Scott also wants to shift thousands of inmates to private prisons, along with a few less than awful prison reforms. And that’s not even to get into Scott and his fellow Republicans’ ideas on drug testing the jobless and forcing them to take low wage work, while cutting the taxes businesses pay to cover the unemployed.
6. He thinks corporations have more rights than actual people. Scott’s plan to lower electricity rates for business (while also eliminating corporate taxes) would mean higher utility rates for the rest of us. From the Herald Tribune in December:
TALLAHASSEE – With Gov.-elect Rick Scott promising to save businesses a stunning $3.2 billion on their electric bills, consumer groups are bracing for a fight, fearing his plan will push higher costs onto residential customers.
Scott’s advisers are floating the idea of an “economic development rate” for corporations that agree to relocate to Florida or expand businesses within the state. The level of utility cost savings would be tied to job creation, under the plan.
But Florida’s four big investor-owned utilities would not have to absorb the rate reduction — or ask investors to pick up the tab, said those familiar with the proposal. Instead, rate reductions given these companies would be offset by higher charges imposed on a utility’s overall rate base — with residential customers shouldering most of the costs.
“What’s good for businesses is going to be too bad for consumers,” said Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network. “The only thing we can hope for is that a rate increase can backfire on legislators, and they may not want to get involved in it.”
Scott communications director Brian Burgess would not comment on the rate plan. But utility industry officials briefed on the plan by members of Scott’s economic development transition team say the proposal is designed to help him reach a central goal of his campaign: creating 700,000 jobs over the next seven years.
It also would help Scott meet a campaign pledge to “address Florida’s relatively expensive electricity costs so businesses could save approximately $3.25 billion,” part of the Republican candidate’s regulatory reform platform.
Tampa Electric Co. and Florida Power & Light, two of the state’s largest publicly-held utilities, were among the top contributors to Florida political campaigns this fall, with each giving more than $1.2 million, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
And as one columnist pointed out:
It’s a curious plan. If Scott had said this during the election… “We’re going to subsidize electricity rates for businesses by jacking up already high electricity rates for residential customers”… I’m not sure he would even be stepping into the governor’s role next week. The early winter cold spell alone will put plenty of Floridians in shock when they get their next electric bill — without a hike in rates.
Business backers, not surprisingly, like the Florida Chamber of Commerce (surely eager to stay in Scott’s good graces after opposing him in the Republican primary) think Scott’s idea is just peachy. Funny how nobody mentioned this concept as a brilliant way to generate jobs in Florida until the new Guv-To-Be brought it up.
Like his “let us make a profit, so what?” attitude toward privatizing Medicare, it’s a sign that this is a person (or robot) who thinks corporate profits matter more than consumers, or voters. That kind of lack of basic respect for humanity is great for sociopaths, bad for governors.
7. His immigration plans threaten tourism, Florida’s Latin American commerce, and Major League Baseball. Scott, who used to own part of the Texas Rangers with George W. Bush, has said he wants to attract more MLB teams to do spring training in Florida. Ironically, he also wants to mirror the other big spring training state: Arizona, in pushing through anti-immigrant laws that invariably target Hispanics, who happen to make up 30 percent of the MLB’s rosters. And how would Scott’s anti-imimgrant stance play with the Latin American businesspeople who frequent South Florida? Short answer: it won’t help. Now, it seems that immigration could create yet another divide between the no-experience governor and the veto-proof majority in his party:
ORLANDO, Fla. —A month before the legislative session begins in Tallahassee, Republican leaders in Florida are divided over whether to enact an anti-immigration law similar to SB 1070 in Arizona, La Prensa reports.
Last week, the president of the state senate, Mike Haridopolos, R-Merrit Island, said that a law like the one enacted in Arizona would not be good for Florida. Agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, also a Republican, agreed, saying it would not be financially viable.
Gov. Rick Scott, meanwhile, affirmed his support of an Arizona-style immigration law in Florida, and insisted that police should have the ability to ask people for immigration papers while they go about their jobs, even during routine stops.
Scott, who ran his election campaign on an anti-immigration platform, signed an executive order requiring Florida state agents to use the E-Verify document verification system for all employees, including subcontractors.
William Snyder, R-Stuart, who drafted a bill similar to SB 1070 last August, said he is considering making some changes to the bill and that the final version would not be as harsh as what Gov. Scott is supporting.
Scott is also pushing requirements that all government agencies and contractors utilize the E-Verify system. So what’s the problem? Costs:
An Migration Policy Institute report released Tuesday concludes that extending the use of the E-Verify employment program at the federal level may cause more harm to U.S. workers and the economy than it would deter illegal immigration.
Operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, ”E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. E-Verify is fast, free and easy to use – and it’s the best way employers can ensure a legal workforce.”
The Migration Policy report states that “after five years of dramatic growth is is unclear how E-Verify affects hiring practices, especially in industries that rely more heavily on foreign workers.” (See the full report below.)
The report indicates that as of January 2011, a little more than 11,000 Florida employers are enrolled in the program. Over 240,000 are enrolled across the U.S.
On his first day in office, Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order requiring all state agencies and companies that contract with state agencies to screen employees using the E-Verify system.
State Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who at one point called E-Verify a “bogus deal,” filedSenate Bill 518 to require every employer to use the “Employment Authorization Program,” prohibit an employer from hiring an unauthorized alien and require every public employer to register with and participate in the E-Verify system.
And then there’s this:
TALLAHASSEE — Florida legislators should think twice before considering an Arizona-style immigration law, a South Florida law professor warned Monday.
Not only would a Florida law likely be struck down by federal courts, it could backfire on the state’s tourism-based economy, Ediberto Roman, an immigration-law expert at Florida International University, told a Senate panel.
“Florida’s population is much different than Arizona’s,” Roman said. “The economy thrives on foreign tourists.”
And this:
State Rep. William Snyder has portrayed his Arizona-style immigration bill as a foregone conclusion for Florida.
If he doesn’t push for the law cracking down on illegal immigrants, there are a slew of other lawmakers who will, the Republican from Stuart said earlier this month during a town hall meeting in Palm City.
We had little reason to doubt that — until last week.
That’s when some of the state’s most powerful business lobbies voiced their concerns about the damage such a law could do to Florida’s image and business climate.
During a special Senate committee meeting in Tallahassee on Monday, representatives from the Florida Chamber of Commerce shared a report examining the impact of immigration on the state’s economy.
Among the key points:
Immigration boosts productivity, improves the economy and has a small positive impact on the wages of native-born workers.
Despite the perception that the United States is being overwhelmed by immigrants, the inflow of legal and illegal immigrants “is well within historical norms,” data shows.
Though unauthorized immigrants cost the state money in terms of education and criminal justice, many studies demonstrate a net positive impact on the economy and tax revenues.
“The immigrants that come to the United States come to work,” said Dale Brill, president of the Florida Chamber Foundation and co-author of the report.
The numbers tend to ebb and flow with the economy. He pointed to research that shows the 10 states with the highest concentration of immigrants between 1960 and 1990 had a median unemployment rate that was lower than the 10 states with the fewest immigrants.
Brill was careful not give his opinion on Snyder’s bill or a similar bill already filed by state Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Sarasota.
But the Florida Chamber made no secret of its general preferences. It wants federal-level immigration reform that eases the cost burden for states and provides opportunities to create more legal immigration.
“A state-by-state approach, from our board’s perspective, creates confusion and uncertainty,” said Adam Babington, vice president of governmental affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The position was echoed by Associated Industries of Florida, a lobbying organization for businesses that also addressed the Senate committee.
It went a step further by criticizing a federal E-Verify system that would require businesses to determine the legal status of workers before hiring them.
Gov. Rick Scott recently signed an executive order requiring state agencies to use the system. Snyder’s draft bill calls for employing it across the state.
“The fact of the matter is E-Verify will always have an error rate due to the fact that it does not prevent identity fraud,” warned Brewster Bevis, vice president of government affairs for Associated Industries of Florida.
The group pointed out that demand for temporary agricultural workers has outpaced supply through the H-2A visa program.
Considering the essential role immigrant workers play in agriculture, tourism and construction — three of Florida’s biggest industries — the input is likely to carry weight with elected officials. It already has.
One of the state’s top Republicans, newly elected agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, has shunned the idea of an Arizona-style bill in Florida. Putnam’s office says duplicating Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, which is being challenged in federal court, “is the wrong approach.”
Even state Sen. Bennett is not sure if he would vote for his own bill. …
Ironically, what might ultimately save Floridians from the disaster that Scott’s policies would inflict on the state could be his own political party, which after all, is the only thing standing in his way.
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/02/menace-to-society-7-reasons-rick-scott-is-bad-for-florida/
When Rick Scott was running for Florida governor, he tagged his “let’s get to work” jobs plan “777.” Now that he’s in office and has issued his first budget, the numbers that come to mind are more like “666.” How bad is Scott for Florida? Let me count the ways …
1. He doesn’t understand the difference between campaigning and governing. Scott unveiled his budget plan at a tea party gathering. And while that might make Florida’s tea party activists feel important, the election is over. Scott is going to have to come to terms with the fact that while he didn’t win a majority of Floridians’ support, he is stuck governing everybody, including people who are not part of the tea party movement. By unveiling his plans at a highly partisan gathering that represents perhaps a third of Floridians at best, Scott revealed that he’s more interested in positioning himself ideologically than in behaving as a statesman. From the Miami Herald:
Scott’s initial budget roll-out in Eustis had the look and feel of a highly partisan, heavily scripted campaign event. The venue underscored Scott’s eagerness to make what is normally a staid, policy-laden event into one that turned the budget into a political declaration. Inside the cavernous First Baptist Church of Eustis, Scott stood in front of a made-for-TV backdrop that said “Reducing Spending & Holding Government Accountable.”
The church, which seats 800, was filled to overflowing, and people waved miniature American flags and sang God Bless the USA and God Bless America. Warm-up speakers criticized President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, and praised Roger Vinson, the federal judge in Pensacola who last week struck down the Obama health plan as unconstitutional.
Before the public event, Scott hosted a private lunch for tea party activists at a nearby civic center. Activists said they would push for Scott’s budget in the same way they fought health care reform.
“This budget will reshape the state, and we want all of our legislators to know we’re behind this,” said Apryl Marie Fogel, state director of Americans for Prosperity Florida.
And if you’re not in the tea party? Well, there’s always 2014.
2. He thinks he’s above the law. That’s no surprise given his history of presiding over record Medicare fraud, then skating with a giant bag full of cash while his underlings took the fall with the feds. But Scott’s flagrant defiance of even the simplest strictures — like the Sunshine Laws — places him at the far authoritarian end of the spectrum, even further on that scale than Jeb Bush. Scott’s officiousness extends to the press, whom he thinks should treat him like a regent, and even to the cabinet, whom he treats like the court of petty dictator, “suggesting” that they run their regulations by him as if they were not themselves elected statewide (they rather curtly declined.) That kind of thing might fly for a petty dictator, but Scott, thankfully, is no dictator. Petty is another matter.
3. Scott is bad for eduction. Florida in order to attract good jobs needs to have a world class education system. The state already struggles with low graduation rates, especially for minority students, and Scott in his new budget breaks a campaign pledge to hold education harmless in his quest to cut spending. Scott’s proposed budget slashes education spending in Florida by 10 percent – which he said just a week ago he wouldn’t do. (He’s now trying to claim that he never said he wouldn’t cut eduction funding, to which Politifact Florida replies: FALSE.) Even Republicans, who have total control over Florida’s government and thus could pass Scott’s plan quite easily seemed taken aback by the plan. Even the most ideological among them apparently understands that cutting education at a time when Florida is trying to attract high tech and other businesses to the state to diversify the tourism-agriculture based economy, and just months after the state was awarded federal Race to the Top dollars as a reward for efforts during the Charlie Crist era to reform the state’s public schools is short sighted at best. Scott is even proposing to slash funding for the state’s colleges and for research, which would damage Florida immensely and make the state less competitive for top high school seniors as well as businesses.
It ‘s a lack of foresight that’s equal to Scott’s already established lack of basic human compassion. And coupled with the coming plans that will chase good teachers out of the state by reviving the teacher mercenary bill SB6 (a joint project of Scott and the right wing Republican legislature) Florida is likely headed back to the bottom of the heap in national education rankings.
4. He’s not so good at math. Maybe Scott is so quick to cut education because it’s not his personal strong suit. The budget that the governor unveiled to his tea party friends purports to close the state’s massive, $3.6 billion budget gap by cutting taxes (read “revenues”) and to grow jobs by cutting them. The lowlights:
… Eliminating 1,690 jobs from the Department of Corrections
Despite earlier pledges to cut $1 billion from prison spending, Scott has only targeted $82 million in corrections cuts. But that will mean the loss of nearly 1,700 jobs, the most of any state agency.
… An 8,700 overall reduction in the state government workforce
In addition to the almost 1,700 jobs Scott wants to eliminate from the Department of Corrections, he plans to cut approximately 7,000 more positions throughout the state government. The Miami Herald notes that despite these drastic reductions, Scott has budgeted for increased personnel in his own executive office. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith has already issued a press release calling Scott’s plan a “jobs-killing budget.”
… Tax cuts worth $4 billion
Perhaps the most striking feature of Gov. Scott’s budget plan is a call for tax cuts totaling nearly $4 billion over the next two years. These include a $1.4 billion reduction in property taxes and a 1.5 percent drop in the corporate income tax.
Per the Miami Herald:
Prisons
* Proposes eliminating 1,690 employees from Department of Corrections by closing two prisons.
Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 146 facilities, employing 18,200 employees.
Property Taxes
* State-set school property taxes would be cut by $1 billion over two years. Scott had pledged a $1.4 billion cut in the first year, but is phasing in a lesser tax cut over two years.
* Water management districts would be asked to take a 25 percent reducting in their annual property tax levy for two years, contributing $178 million and school districts would be expected to rollback taxes $507 million in first year.
Corporate Income Tax
* Corporate income tax would drop from 5.5 percent to 3 percent in 2011-12 and be phased out by 2018.* * The first year savings would be $458 million statewide.
Fees
* Motor vehicle fees would be scaled back, saving $235 million.
Environment
* The Department of Community Affairs would be merged with the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating 530 jobs over two years. DCA staff will decrease to 40 employees within two years; budget drops to $70 million.
So Scott’s plan to grow jobs starts by cutting nearly 10,000 jobs, and his plan to close the budget gap starts with slashing state revenues. And how would Scott make up the revenues? Scott doesn’t say, and that’s even got Republicans scratching their heads and demanding actual details. Perhaps he’ll give the 411 to his tea party friends at some point, so they can tell the rest of us.
5. Scott’s proposals would harm Florida’s most vulnerable. Cutting Medicaid, and gutting the corrections department and the Department of Children and families… those are just three of the awful proposals Scott is putting on the table. And as even Republicans are pointing out, his cuts net out to relatively small cost savings to go with the loss of jobs and services. The Herald once again:
The criticisms and tough questions weren’t limited to Democrats; Scott’s fellow Republicans were skeptical of what many thought were skimpy details in his $65.9 billion budget.
The bipartisan concerns underscored a growing sense in the Legislature that Scott’s proposal is rooted in unrealistic political calculations, not the subtle calculus it takes to run the nation’s fourth-most populous state. In the House K-12 budget committee on Tuesday morning, eyebrows arched and heads shook as lawmakers tried digesting Scott’s plan to slash state-paid per-student spending by 10 percent.
“A 10 percent reduction is a significant cut,” said committee Chairwoman Marti Coley, R-Marianna.
Coley and Rep. Janet Adkins scolded Scott’s office for trying to “have it both ways” with the education budget. Scott said he’s against the use of federal stimulus money, but his office tacitly encourages school districts to use the money to boost per-pupil spending.
“It’s imperative that you go back and you redo the numbers,” said Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.
In the House health appropriations committee, Republicans and Democrats flummoxed another Scott aide who had difficulties explaining his plans to cut $3 billion from Medicaid over two years.
Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, said he struggling with the idea of deeply cutting the Department of Children and Families and privatizing mental-health facilities.
“My math tells me that the 2,500 jobs that you’re getting rid of only leads to a 4 percent reduction in the budget,” Diaz said. “It’s only an $8 million savings in an almost $3 billion budget. That seems like a significant loss of jobs for a very small gain.”
More on those Medicaid Cuts: Scott is proposing to slash $3 billion from the state-administered federal program over two years, “including $1 billion in cuts to provider reimbursement rates,” according to the Herald.
Savings are expected by receiving federal approval to transfer all 3 million Medicaid patients into a managed care program which would control costs and crack down on fraud.
But wait, there’s more! Scott also wants to privatize Florida’s Veterans’ homes (another chapter in his “let us make a profit, so what?” philosophy on Medicare, perhaps.) From the Orlando Sentinel:
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott’s $65.8 billion spending pitch to lawmakers includes privatizing veterans homes, mental health facilities and developmental disability centers, which the governor’s budget staff has concluded will save $103.9 million.
Scott health-care policy coordinator Jane Johnson said the governor’s office was still working with Veterans Affairs director Bob Milligan on the specifics of how to hand veterans homes over to private enterprise, a concept she called “public instrumentality.”
“The homes would be operated as a private entity and the employees would not be public employees,” Johnson told the House Health Care Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
The Veteran Affairs budget would get cut $38 million as part of the plan to hand over those nursing homes for vets to a quasi-public organization like the state’s housing finance corporation. Johnson said 80 percent of the department’s budget goes to 700 veterans in nursing homes, and that the department felt its funding would be better-spent on the other 1.8 million Florida veterans.
But lawmakers’ first-blush reaction to the idea of privatizing veterans’ nursing homes was muted.
“While creative and out of the box, [it] certainly creates a lot of questions in our minds about how it gets pulled together,” said Health Care Appropriations Chairman Matt Hudson, R-Naples.
Of course, we all remember how well privatization worked out for Walter Reed …
So far, Scott’s plan to raid $600 million from local taxes dedicated to healthcare, particularly in South Florida, and leech the money into general revenues is probably dead on arrival, but the fact that the former hospital executive thought it was a good idea is telling. Scott also wants to shift thousands of inmates to private prisons, along with a few less than awful prison reforms. And that’s not even to get into Scott and his fellow Republicans’ ideas on drug testing the jobless and forcing them to take low wage work, while cutting the taxes businesses pay to cover the unemployed.
6. He thinks corporations have more rights than actual people. Scott’s plan to lower electricity rates for business (while also eliminating corporate taxes) would mean higher utility rates for the rest of us. From the Herald Tribune in December:
TALLAHASSEE – With Gov.-elect Rick Scott promising to save businesses a stunning $3.2 billion on their electric bills, consumer groups are bracing for a fight, fearing his plan will push higher costs onto residential customers.
Scott’s advisers are floating the idea of an “economic development rate” for corporations that agree to relocate to Florida or expand businesses within the state. The level of utility cost savings would be tied to job creation, under the plan.
But Florida’s four big investor-owned utilities would not have to absorb the rate reduction — or ask investors to pick up the tab, said those familiar with the proposal. Instead, rate reductions given these companies would be offset by higher charges imposed on a utility’s overall rate base — with residential customers shouldering most of the costs.
“What’s good for businesses is going to be too bad for consumers,” said Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network. “The only thing we can hope for is that a rate increase can backfire on legislators, and they may not want to get involved in it.”
Scott communications director Brian Burgess would not comment on the rate plan. But utility industry officials briefed on the plan by members of Scott’s economic development transition team say the proposal is designed to help him reach a central goal of his campaign: creating 700,000 jobs over the next seven years.
It also would help Scott meet a campaign pledge to “address Florida’s relatively expensive electricity costs so businesses could save approximately $3.25 billion,” part of the Republican candidate’s regulatory reform platform.
Tampa Electric Co. and Florida Power & Light, two of the state’s largest publicly-held utilities, were among the top contributors to Florida political campaigns this fall, with each giving more than $1.2 million, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
And as one columnist pointed out:
It’s a curious plan. If Scott had said this during the election… “We’re going to subsidize electricity rates for businesses by jacking up already high electricity rates for residential customers”… I’m not sure he would even be stepping into the governor’s role next week. The early winter cold spell alone will put plenty of Floridians in shock when they get their next electric bill — without a hike in rates.
Business backers, not surprisingly, like the Florida Chamber of Commerce (surely eager to stay in Scott’s good graces after opposing him in the Republican primary) think Scott’s idea is just peachy. Funny how nobody mentioned this concept as a brilliant way to generate jobs in Florida until the new Guv-To-Be brought it up.
Like his “let us make a profit, so what?” attitude toward privatizing Medicare, it’s a sign that this is a person (or robot) who thinks corporate profits matter more than consumers, or voters. That kind of lack of basic respect for humanity is great for sociopaths, bad for governors.
7. His immigration plans threaten tourism, Florida’s Latin American commerce, and Major League Baseball. Scott, who used to own part of the Texas Rangers with George W. Bush, has said he wants to attract more MLB teams to do spring training in Florida. Ironically, he also wants to mirror the other big spring training state: Arizona, in pushing through anti-immigrant laws that invariably target Hispanics, who happen to make up 30 percent of the MLB’s rosters. And how would Scott’s anti-imimgrant stance play with the Latin American businesspeople who frequent South Florida? Short answer: it won’t help. Now, it seems that immigration could create yet another divide between the no-experience governor and the veto-proof majority in his party:
ORLANDO, Fla. —A month before the legislative session begins in Tallahassee, Republican leaders in Florida are divided over whether to enact an anti-immigration law similar to SB 1070 in Arizona, La Prensa reports.
Last week, the president of the state senate, Mike Haridopolos, R-Merrit Island, said that a law like the one enacted in Arizona would not be good for Florida. Agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, also a Republican, agreed, saying it would not be financially viable.
Gov. Rick Scott, meanwhile, affirmed his support of an Arizona-style immigration law in Florida, and insisted that police should have the ability to ask people for immigration papers while they go about their jobs, even during routine stops.
Scott, who ran his election campaign on an anti-immigration platform, signed an executive order requiring Florida state agents to use the E-Verify document verification system for all employees, including subcontractors.
William Snyder, R-Stuart, who drafted a bill similar to SB 1070 last August, said he is considering making some changes to the bill and that the final version would not be as harsh as what Gov. Scott is supporting.
Scott is also pushing requirements that all government agencies and contractors utilize the E-Verify system. So what’s the problem? Costs:
An Migration Policy Institute report released Tuesday concludes that extending the use of the E-Verify employment program at the federal level may cause more harm to U.S. workers and the economy than it would deter illegal immigration.
Operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, ”E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. E-Verify is fast, free and easy to use – and it’s the best way employers can ensure a legal workforce.”
The Migration Policy report states that “after five years of dramatic growth is is unclear how E-Verify affects hiring practices, especially in industries that rely more heavily on foreign workers.” (See the full report below.)
The report indicates that as of January 2011, a little more than 11,000 Florida employers are enrolled in the program. Over 240,000 are enrolled across the U.S.
On his first day in office, Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order requiring all state agencies and companies that contract with state agencies to screen employees using the E-Verify system.
State Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who at one point called E-Verify a “bogus deal,” filedSenate Bill 518 to require every employer to use the “Employment Authorization Program,” prohibit an employer from hiring an unauthorized alien and require every public employer to register with and participate in the E-Verify system.
And then there’s this:
TALLAHASSEE — Florida legislators should think twice before considering an Arizona-style immigration law, a South Florida law professor warned Monday.
Not only would a Florida law likely be struck down by federal courts, it could backfire on the state’s tourism-based economy, Ediberto Roman, an immigration-law expert at Florida International University, told a Senate panel.
“Florida’s population is much different than Arizona’s,” Roman said. “The economy thrives on foreign tourists.”
And this:
State Rep. William Snyder has portrayed his Arizona-style immigration bill as a foregone conclusion for Florida.
If he doesn’t push for the law cracking down on illegal immigrants, there are a slew of other lawmakers who will, the Republican from Stuart said earlier this month during a town hall meeting in Palm City.
We had little reason to doubt that — until last week.
That’s when some of the state’s most powerful business lobbies voiced their concerns about the damage such a law could do to Florida’s image and business climate.
During a special Senate committee meeting in Tallahassee on Monday, representatives from the Florida Chamber of Commerce shared a report examining the impact of immigration on the state’s economy.
Among the key points:
Immigration boosts productivity, improves the economy and has a small positive impact on the wages of native-born workers.
Despite the perception that the United States is being overwhelmed by immigrants, the inflow of legal and illegal immigrants “is well within historical norms,” data shows.
Though unauthorized immigrants cost the state money in terms of education and criminal justice, many studies demonstrate a net positive impact on the economy and tax revenues.
“The immigrants that come to the United States come to work,” said Dale Brill, president of the Florida Chamber Foundation and co-author of the report.
The numbers tend to ebb and flow with the economy. He pointed to research that shows the 10 states with the highest concentration of immigrants between 1960 and 1990 had a median unemployment rate that was lower than the 10 states with the fewest immigrants.
Brill was careful not give his opinion on Snyder’s bill or a similar bill already filed by state Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Sarasota.
But the Florida Chamber made no secret of its general preferences. It wants federal-level immigration reform that eases the cost burden for states and provides opportunities to create more legal immigration.
“A state-by-state approach, from our board’s perspective, creates confusion and uncertainty,” said Adam Babington, vice president of governmental affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The position was echoed by Associated Industries of Florida, a lobbying organization for businesses that also addressed the Senate committee.
It went a step further by criticizing a federal E-Verify system that would require businesses to determine the legal status of workers before hiring them.
Gov. Rick Scott recently signed an executive order requiring state agencies to use the system. Snyder’s draft bill calls for employing it across the state.
“The fact of the matter is E-Verify will always have an error rate due to the fact that it does not prevent identity fraud,” warned Brewster Bevis, vice president of government affairs for Associated Industries of Florida.
The group pointed out that demand for temporary agricultural workers has outpaced supply through the H-2A visa program.
Considering the essential role immigrant workers play in agriculture, tourism and construction — three of Florida’s biggest industries — the input is likely to carry weight with elected officials. It already has.
One of the state’s top Republicans, newly elected agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, has shunned the idea of an Arizona-style bill in Florida. Putnam’s office says duplicating Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, which is being challenged in federal court, “is the wrong approach.”
Even state Sen. Bennett is not sure if he would vote for his own bill. …
Ironically, what might ultimately save Floridians from the disaster that Scott’s policies would inflict on the state could be his own political party, which after all, is the only thing standing in his way.
http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/02/menace-to-society-7-reasons-rick-scott-is-bad-for-florida/
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