While Florida makes excuses...other states DO qualify for education stimulus

[madfloridian]

while experiencing equally dismal economic circumstances. I posted about this earlier, but this article sort of brought home just how dense our Florida Republicans are about what they have done to this state.

This article does clarify that there is little chance for Florida to qualify for the education part of the stimulus package. Very little chance, unless the Floridians in Congress can get that body to change the wording. Since other states are qualifying, I doubt that will happen.

Our state leaders just seem clueless. It infuriates me to see their lack of understanding.

Stimulus quandary: Florida education too poor to get help

The stimulus bill passed in Congress on Wednesday was just being dissected on Thursday, when the ugly discovery was made that Florida's education system doesn't have a seat at the table.

Language in the bill "will stop Florida from receiving stabilization fund dollars for education," Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach, wrote in a letter to presidents of all 11 public universities.

And the reason, in a nutshell, is that the Florida Legislature has reduced all public education budgets so drastically that schools from kindergarten through college can't meet this critical requirement: that only states that can fund schools for the next two years at the levels they had in the 2005-06 school year are eligible.

Now get this....Florida had increased revenues in 2005 through 2007 that could have bolstered up school funding.

..."Ms. Lynn explained that the predicament is in part due to increased state revenue during 2005-2006 and 2006-07, which she said gave Florida a fairly high amount of funding for education.

"Unfortunately, our sudden and deep economic downturn began during 2007-2008 and is projected to last at least through 2009-10," she told the presidents. "Due to this downturn, our state funding for education has already been reduced below the amount required to meet the MOE requirement in the House Bill."

This is grim news indeed given that the current higher ed funding is lower than it was in 2004-05 — and with projected budget shortfalls of nearly $4 billion, no relief is in sight.

There was more revenue, but they blame the economy for their not funding education. Like they were the only state with problems.

Meanwhile they gave vouchers to private schools, even religious schools, to 42,000 students. That took money away from public schools.

As to universities...they are thinking of increasing public tuition aid to private schools while cutting aid to public universities.

Even after budget cuts, about $92 million will be spent on the FRAG program this year. The Florida Department of Education is requesting an increase to slightly more than $100 million for the program next year. In this month’s special session called to fill a $2.3 billion budget deficit, funding for the state’s public universities was cut by $112 million.

We are learning that Florida's economy, though bad, is not the worst in the nation. I have a feeling other states are acting more responsibly. Unfortunately the Jeb Republicans have a chokehold on this state.

From the Miami Herald:

Florida's economy not quite the worst in nation

For months Florida led the country in lost jobs while South Florida witnessed the greatest decline in home prices compared with other major urban areas. But statistics show the state and region escaped being ranked at the bottom as 2008 ended.

The state ranked second in the United States for job losses in 2008, while the fall in South Florida's home prices turned out to be only the fourth-worst in 29 major urban areas. Meanwhile, the state's consumers showed a slight increase in confidence, even as the country as a whole saw a drop.

..."And Florida was never in the running for the worst unemployment rate in the country. That distinction goes to Michigan, with 10.6 percent, followed again by Rhode Island, with 10 percent. Seven other states also had rates higher than Florida's 8.1 percent.

Wyoming had the lowest unemployment rate, just 3.4 percent, followed by North Dakota (3.5 percent) and South Dakota (3.9 percent).

In my mind these Jeb Republicans who believe in empty government buildings are not at all interested in public education. Their agenda is to get out of the education business and turn it over to whoever will take the money and handle it.

[madfloridian]

1. Blog post about getting rid of the vouchers....most in favor of eliminating them.

Should Florida trim or eliminate the program that helps students attend private colleges?

There's a question and comments. Interesting.

[madfloridian]

2. U.S. aid bill has Florida schools squirming

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/florida/story/883551.html

" WASHINGTON -- The skirmishing over the giant federal economic stimulus package moves to the Senate this week with Florida angling for a fix for its school districts.

Under the House version of the $819 billion spending bill, Florida could be shortchanged by a provision that requires states to maintain school spending to ''at least at the level of fiscal year 2006'' to qualify for as much as $3.58 billion in education spending. Because the cash-strapped state has sliced education funding, state officials estimate the state would be about $600 million short this year -- and ineligible for the federal dollars.

Local school districts said they're working with Gov. Charlie Crist's office and members of Congress for a fix.

''Short of the state rapidly arriving at a means of stabilizing its budget, we're banking on this money,'' said Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who said he talked to new Education Secretary Arne Duncan about the needs of urban schools and plans to come to the Capitol to lobby for the bill. ``This budget stabilization is what we need to continue to protect education programs.''

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, had championed an amendment that would allow the federal Education Department to grant a waiver to states like Florida that have been hit by natural disasters ''or a precipitous decline in the financial resources of the state'' -- but the amendment died.

Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will push his proposal to address the issue this week. A spokesman for the Republican said he planned to reach out to other states that may be in similar circumstances."

My suggestion:

Stop giving 42,000 students private school vouchers...and send the money back to public schools.