Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners–April 22
Apr 22, 2008
Â
To view a complete story, click on a headline below:
Â
Panel: Property-tax cap would pinch $6.3 billion from local collections
A special panel of economic advisers calculated today that House Speaker Marco Rubio’s plan to limit property taxes would cost cities, counties and other taxing districts about $6.3 billion.
Rubio plan cuts property taxes for Florida cities, counties by $6.3 billion
A special panel of economic advisors calculated Monday that a plan backed by House Speaker Marco Rubio for limiting property taxes would cost cities, counties and other taxing districts about $6.3 billion.
Economic experts examine bills before Legislature
As the next-to-last week of the 2008 legislative session starts, a panel of economic experts is costing out some of the big-ticket bills on the House and Senate agendas.
Florida House Republicans held three Democratic bills hostage Monday, hoping to guarantee a smooth return to business today, the first time lawmakers will return to the chamber since a political standoff Friday forced them to work into the Passover weekend.
Businesses lobby against tax swap
A 25 percent cut in property taxes would seem to be sweet relief for the state’s largest businesses who stand to save billions of dollars.
GOP challenges appraisers’ grip on property tax
Republicans in the Florida House want to make it easier for property owners to challenge their assessments, reviving an idea they considered and dropped a year ago.
House Speaker Rubio focuses on final goals
Nine sessions as a legislator, two years as House speaker, ”100 ideas” pursued, and it’s all coming down to just two weeks for Marco Rubio to accomplish some of his final priorities in the Legislature.
EDITORIAL: Not on the same tax page
Here’s conclusive proof that the Legislature should be barred from micromanaging education in Florida: Lawmakers have now declared that books are not school supplies.
Florida House council approves shortened back-to-school sales-tax holiday
The House Policy and Budget Council just overwhelmingly approved an abbreviated back-to-school sales-tax holiday.
Crist’s school promise now in doubt
Budget crisis threatens to overtake his promise of a $1 billion funding increase
Florida schools are facing their largest budget cuts in decades despite a pledge by Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this year to pump $1 billion into education.
School board may OK using 2-mill revenues for insurance premiums
The Charlotte County School Board may certify the use of the district’s 2007-2008 2-mill capital improvement revenues to pay for its property and casualty insurance premiums.
EDITORIAL: Legislators put fat cats ahead of school kids
To mask the depth of financial hurt they are inflicting on Florida schools, lawmakers are comparing their proposed budget for next year with cutbacks they just made last month.
Ask the Governor: School funding rose despite budget cuts
Q Before the vote on Amendment 1, you swore that Florida’s schools would be held harmless in the cutbacks that would have to happen if the amendment passed.
OPINION: Children left behind when school funding cut
When children all over the world climb aboard the future train and head off for tomorrow, will Florida’s children be left at the station? Florida’s leaders appear bent on making sure that happens.
Education faces overhaul in Florida
A measure to change what public school students learn sparked a showdown in the Legislature.
Complaining that today’s kids may not be learning what they need to know to get a job, the state House unanimously passed Friday an education bill that mandates a top-to-bottom revamping of the education children should get in public schools.
Grades for Florida schools under review
A House panel approved a bill that would change Florida’s school grading; the bill sparked a 16-hour fight among lawmakers.
The first substantive overhaul of Florida’s high-stakes test in nine years was overwhelmingly approved by a House panel Monday, a move Democrats hailed as long overdue.
Revamped standards and a toned-down atmosphere could redefine the dreaded test.
In hopes of curbing “FCAT frenzy,” as well as easing teacher and student angst, the Legislature is about to approve a major revamp of Florida’s public-school testing program — from what students are expected to know to when they take the exam.
Lawmakers look at trimming extra teacher training
Florida made headlines last year when 1,675 of its teachers — the most from any state — earned national certification after completing a grueling testing, self-evaluation and training process designed to improve their classroom performance.
Lawmakers push to expand school vouchers
Money to buy textbooks, teacher training and after-school tutoring for struggling students is being cut from the state education budget this year.
Schools chief notifies all employees of tight budget
Superintendent Art Johnson wrote to all 22,000 Palm Beach County School District employees Monday, warning them of one of the leanest budgets in four decades.
5 Palm Beach County teachers win education awards
County’s top educators recognized as ceremony breaks new ground
For 23 years, county public school teachers had won every prize at the prestigious William T. Dwyer Awards for Excellence in Education.
Teachers union chief may have concealed conviction on application
Superintendent Art Johnson on Monday said he plans to order an investigation into whether teachers union President-elect Robert Dow improperly filled out his job application.
Builders group sues Orange schools
Group seeks lower impact fees in sales-tax feud
Orange County’s public school system is “misappropriating” $825 million in voter-approved sales-tax money because officials aren’t using it to build new schools, a lawsuit filed Thursday contends.
Pinellas Schools Superintendent Announces Resignation
Pinellas County schools Superintendent Clayton Wilcox — candid and often derided — is resigning to take an executive job with publisher Scholastic Inc., the company announced today.
More children going to school at home
Once illegal in the state, home schooling has entered the educational mainstream, with several thousand South Florida children getting lessons at home.
Nine-year-old Tyler Jones has an easy commute to school.
OP-ED: The (Yes) Low Cost of Higher Ed
On Oct. 2, 2003, board members at the University of Virginia filed into the Upper East Oval Room of the Rotunda, the centerpiece of Thomas Jefferson’s campus design, for one of their regular meetings.