Jan 8, 2009 9:29 am US/Eastern
Florida Public Schools Brace For A Budget Crisis
Final Vote On Budget Cuts To Be Held Jan. 16
Education & Health Care Appear To Be On The Chopping Block
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
As Florida lawmakers debate budget cuts in an emergency special session in Tallahassee, many public educators fear their school districts will be cut back to the basics.
State lawmakers say they must cut $2.5 billion dollars from the budget because of hard economic times. On Thursday the state's House will vote on a budget-reduction package that includes nearly $1 billion in spending cuts for schools, health care and other state functions. The Senate will follow with a vote on its version of a reduction package on Friday. They will then work on resolving differences between the two before taking final votes next week.
Heather Headman-Devaughn, the principal at Lauderdale Manors Elementary in Fort Lauderdale, said public schools are underfunded now and can't imagine what the new cuts will mean. She describes how teachers often reach into their own pockets to make sure children have needed school supplies.
"We are going to have to find a way to make it work. We are here for the kids and the kids are number one," said Headman-Devaughn.
Broward Schools Superintendent James Notter said with the proposed budget cuts, funding may have to be slashed for art, music and even sports programs.
"Anything that is not history, mathematics, science, language arts"
The pain is almost certain to get worse when lawmakers meet for their regular legislative session in March. They predict they will have to find another $4 billion dollars to carve out of the budget because of an economy in freefall.
"We know," said Notter, "we are looking at a Category Five (hurricane) and it is ten miles offshore."
Classrooms, he says, are ground zero for the budget havoc to come. Case in point: Broward public schools are likely to be forced to trim an additional $35 million dollars from their budget over the balance of the current school year. Next year that number could be three or four times that amount. Notter worries about having to find $140 million dollars or more to eliminate from school operations, all because the state treasury is so badly depleted.
Many hundreds of frontline jobs would be put in jeopardy, including classroom jobs. Transportation to magnet programs could be slashed. The situation is equally dire in Miami-Dade and across the state. Meanwhile, educators argue lawmakers refuse to take a hard look at an old, archaic tax code that leaves billions of dollars in tax exemptions on the table for favored businesses and services throughout Florida.
Does that make sense in the current crisis? Is it time to acknowledge there is no free pass for funding education? Do Floridians and their lawmakers think being ranked dead last in the nation for education funding per student is acceptable? The long-term answers are not forthcoming, and educators worry the wreckage in the classroom will be impossible to clear away by the time everyone comes to grips with the depth of the classroom crisis.
While all this is going on the debate is taking on a partisan tone in Tallahassee. Democrats are angry because Republicans have refused to take up other revenue-raising proposals. They include a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax and Gov. Charlie Crist's plan to expand Seminole Indian gaming, with the state getting millions of dollars in return.
House Democratic leader Franklin Sands of Weston says "Republican budget cuts" will harm Florida's families and youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, shot back by accusing Democrats of "partisanship that could doom efforts to balance the state budget."
Committees in both the House and Senate met Tuesday to consider about $1 billion in cuts along with tapping reserves, but no tax increases. Under a Republican bill that won approval from a House committee, public school spending would be cut by nearly $500 million and teachers and employees of financially distressed districts would be forced to take pay cuts.
The measure would affect districts declared to be in financial emergency because they have less than a 2 percent general fund balance in their operating budgets and have failed to correct the problem within 30 days of the declaration. Miami Dade is just one of seven school districts statewide that fell into this category as of June.
Looking for other ways to cut spending, legislators are also considering cutting money used to promote tourism, a 10-percent cut in state reimbursement funding for nursing homes and substantial cuts in state-subsidized child care and child-protection services. Also under consideration - taking more than $100 million away from affordable housing programs and eliminating state employees who are receiving a state pension and are still on the payroll.
A final vote on the budget cuts will be held January 16th.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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