Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners–December 2
Dec 2, 2009
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Legislature calls special session on SunRail to begin Thursday; Transportation funds to be tapped
Florida’s hunt for a $2.5 billion federal windfall for high-speed rail lurched ahead with Monday’s official call for a special legislative session to begin Thursday.
State taxes online tobacco sales
Florida’s first aggressive attempt to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases is off to a modest start, with regulators turned Web cops raking in $44,897 in the last four months.
Can slowdown in Florida growth improve quality of life?
As a dedicated soccer mom, Chris Reilly volunteered to help her son’s team when the squad needed to find a new practice field.
Editorial: End shell games with state funds
The twisted logic behind paying for our courts system is that a good portion of it is based upon seeing Floridians lose their homes.
Supreme Court to hear Florida beach-property rights case
Florida’s beaches – the blindingly white shores of the Panhandle, the bikini dotted sands of South Beach – are the state’s signature attraction.
Broward School Board to discuss enrollment measure
Broward School Board members met Monday to discuss asking cities and the county to change the way school enrollment is measured, as the board tries to avoid a looming domino effect of unpopular school attendance boundary moves.
Broward School Board to ask for regional approach
How does a school district with hundreds of thousands of students go from having 36 overcrowded schools to none at all?
Broward schools construction chief to retire
Michael Garretson, the Broward school district’s construction chief, is retiring at the end of the month to be closer to his family in St. Augustine, Superintendent Jim Notter said Monday.
Glades cities grow more dependent, could face dissolution
Residents of the struggling cities around Lake Okeechobee are charged some of the highest tax rates in Palm Beach County, yet there are fewer and fewer municipal services that the three cities provide.
School closings lawsuit is a dose of reality
That sums up a lawsuit that a group of Orange County parents and political consultant Dick Batchelor are pursuing against the Orange County School Board.
Gaming could shape South Florida’s future
It’s a glitzy megalopolis that attracts gamblers throughout the United States, if not the entire world, a place where there’s high- and low-stakes action aplenty, plus shopping, dining and entertainment opportunities galore.
Editorial: State of education in Florida: High quality?
Citizen rebellion should force improvements
The groundswell of dissatisfaction over the state of education in Florida is reaching tidal wave proportions.
Manatee School Board looks at rehiring retirees
The circumstances of the retirement and re-hiring of “double-dipper” Chuck Banks remain bothersome to at least one Manatee County School Board member.
Higher tuition, scholarship cuts could lead to exodus of top Florida students
For many of Florida’s top high school graduates, attending college in state, where tuition is cheap and financial assistance is generous, seems like a no-brainer.
Editorial: Revisit class-size limits
Fed up with subpar schools and do-little lawmakers, state voters in 2002 took matters into their own hands.
Fla. jobless tax on businesses to skyrocket
Unemployment compensation taxes paid by Florida businesses will skyrocket next year due to the state’s high jobless rate that hit 11 percent in September, revenue officials said last Wednesday.
Florida Supreme Court rejects Crist’s petition for grand jury to investigate corruption
Gov. Charlie Crist’s call for a statewide grand jury to investigate political corruption was rejected Monday by the Florida Supreme Court as too vague, so the governor’s office quickly refiled its request.
Amid health care debate, top Florida employees’ free premiums scrutinized
Top Florida lawmakers are balking at Congress’ plans to help more poor people get health care, though they’ve protected an entitlement of their own for years: free insurance premiums.
City’s Schools Share Their Space, and Bitterness
Suzanne Tecza had spent a year redesigning the library at Middle School 126 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, including colorful new furniture and elaborate murals of leafy trees.
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