Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners — Friday, April 29
Apr 29, 2011
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Blog: State School Spending Heads Further South
When the House and Senate approved separate budget proposals earlier this month which slashed public school spending by at least $1 billion, lawmakers said they were intent on boosting those dollars before session’s ends.
Blog: Senate Takes First Stab at PreK-12 Education Budget
The House-Senate Pre-K-12 budget conference committee finally met for the first time late Thursday night, after the two sides came to an initial agreement on raiding some state trust funds to backfill part of the hole in the education budget.
After secret talks, Republicans end budget impasse
After secret talks and public acrimony, the Florida Legislature’s Republican leaders announced they reached a budget deal Tuesday, sparing them the embarrassment of an overtime lawmaking session.
Florida House taking up property tax relief amendment
The Florida House is taking up a proposed state constitutional amendment providing property tax relief.
House Speaker Dean Cannon made a rare visit to the House press gallery Thursday evening, saying he’s optimistic about an on-time finish to the session last week – and hinting Governor Rick Scott’s corporate income tax break would emerge, somehow.
- Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy Report: Keeping and Modernizing the Corporate Income TaxWill Best Serve Florida; Corporate Tax Cut Would Force More Service Cuts While Doing Little to Create Jobs
- Senate President Haridopolos: “It’s my 11th session now and very few people in my career have come to me and said the reason they didn’t come to Florida was because of the corporate tax rate.”
Governor still pressing for tax cuts
House and Senate budget negotiators got to work Wednesday with Governor Rick Scott keeping the pressure on for major tax reductions.
Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday Back in Business
Florida’s popular back-to-school sales tax holiday will be back in business again this year.
Debate rages over state citrus tax
In one corner are the Tea-Party, no-new-taxes-ever advocates that appear to dominate the political conversation in Florida and U.S. politics these days. In the other corner are Florida citrus officials fighting an up-hill battle to maintain their autonomous control over the Florida Department
Brevard Public Schools brace for state cuts
For the fifth straight year, Brevard Public Schools officials are getting ready to cut their budget.
Governor Scott takes down website detailing stimulus spending
Former Governor Charlie Crist – whose support of the federal stimulus helped doom his campaign for U.S. Senate – launched the website in March 2009, a few weeks after he hugged President Barack Obama on the president’s visit to Florida touting the stimulus.
Lawmakers May Let Governor Scott Hand Out Funds to Companies Offering Jobs
To help Governor Rick Scott sell the state to corporations, budget writers assembling the governor’s new jobs super-agency are preparing to give him broad authority to offer tax dollars to companies willing to create jobs.
Questions raised over lawmaker’s push for charter school bill
Representative Erik Fresen, who sits on several education committees in the Florida House, is again raising eyebrows for his family ties to a Miami-Dade charter school company.
Wall Street Journal: New Jersey Schools Learn to Go Lean
A year after Governor Chris Christie demanded voters reject overly generous school budgets, school districts have adjusted to a leaner environment as voters go back to polls on Wednesday. It seems to be, in the governor’s words, the new normal.
New York Times: School Districts Look to Parcel Taxes for Aid
Bay Area school districts, facing increasingly severe budget problems, are turning en masse to one of the few revenue-raising tools at their disposal: the parcel tax.
Chicago Public Schools approves consolidations of schools, but will not seek tax abatement
Among the final acts of the outgoing regime at Chicago Public Schools, the school board on Wednesday approved nearly $3 million in start-up funds for four charter groups and voted to consolidate 12 schools over the continued objections of parents.
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