Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners–June 2
Jun 2, 2009
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Florida EDR Adds Summer Education Conferences To Schedule
The Office of Economic & Demographic Research has revised the Summer 2009 Master Estimating Conference Schedule to include two Education Estimating Conferences for Public Schools and a Post-Session Revenue Estimating Impact Conference.
Miami-Dade property tax funds drop; cuts likely
The worst decline in property taxes in at least four decades will leave elected officials with the uncomfortable task of closing massive projected budget deficits.
Miami-Dade County property tax values nose-dived 9 percent during the past year, making it the worst year-over-year decline in at least 40 years, according to figures released Monday by the county property appraiser’s office.
Proposed amendment could lift economy
The state Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist are taking another shot at property taxes a year after Amendment 1 handed homesteads a bigger break.
Fitch Rates Broward County School Board Leasing Corp., FL COPS ‘A+’; Outlook to Negative
Fitch Ratings assigns an ‘A+’ rating to the Broward County School Leasing Corp., FL’s approximately $133 million certificates of participation (COPs), series 2009A. The COPs are scheduled to sell June 2nd and are expected to be divided into three subseries.
Broward Teachers Union plans lawsuit against school district
The Broward School Board, tightening its budgetary belt, changed its policy to prohibit most teacher retirement extensions, leaving teachers who planned to continue working out of a job.
Florida officials’ salaries to be cut 2 percent
Though Gov. Charlie Crist bragged state worker pay wouldn’t be cut, his salary and that of a thousand other officials will still be reduced.
When Gov. Charlie Crist proudly announced that he was vetoing a pay cut for 28,000 state workers, there were some salaries he couldn’t save from the budget ax: his own, state Cabinet members’ and those of about 1,000 judges, prosecutors and public defenders in the state.
Most Floridians will pay new fees
When he signed a $66.5 billion budget, Gov. Charlie Crist stopped just short of bragging about maintaining most state programs without raising taxes.
Education stimulus money comes with strings attached
Florida schools were thrilled to learn the federal government would be sending $4 billion to prevent a complete budget catastrophe during the next two years.
Column: Coming to a supermarket near you
Florida Lottery officials are hoping that customers’ affinity for vending machines will translate into at least $3.4 million a year for Florida students as they begin installing 1,000 scratch-off machines beginning later this year.
Hebrew elementary school moving from Plantation to Davie
Merger at David Posnack Hebrew Day School is blamed, in part, on economy
The elementary school at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation will close in August and merge with its sister school in Davie, an official said.
Crist signs growth overhaul for Florida, acknowledges concerns
Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday approved changes to Florida growth laws that supporters say will strengthen the economy and that opponents predict will increase urban sprawl and traffic gridlock.
McCollum could face GOP primary foes
The state Republican Party, which had hoped to clear the field to give Attorney General Bill McCollum an uncontested nomination for governor, now finds itself with at least two potential challengers, veteran legislator Dan Webster and state Sen. Paula Dockery.
Sen. Al Lawson: ‘Right now, I’m still running for Congress’
If state Sen. Dan Gelber’s selfless withdrawal this weekend from the U.S. Senate race is supposed to inspire Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson to put his Washington dreams on hold, it isn’t working.
Attorney general’s race could become crowded
State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, sidestepped a U.S. Senate primary over the weekend but may be headed into a three-Democrat primary battle for the party’s attorney general nomination.
Who’ll run to replace Sansom? Here are some names
On Saturday, a distant 521 days before the 2010 general election, a political fund-raiser was held in Okaloosa County.
Republicans clamor for Florida House seat
With Republican state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff running for the state Senate, the field is wide open to fill her House seat next year, already offering a potentially spirited Republican primary.
State Rep. Brown may join race for U.S. Senate
Shaking up an already volatile election cycle in Florida, Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville said Saturday she is seriously looking at jumping into the Senate race.
A single vision for U.S. schooling
Forty-six states and the District of Columbia on Monday announced an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools.
U.S. Effort to Reshape Schools Faces Challenges
As chief executive of the Chicago public schools, Arne Duncan closed more than a dozen of the city’s worst schools, reopening them with new principals and teachers. People who worked with him, and some who fought him, say those school turnarounds were worth the effort, but all aroused intense opposition.
Editorial: Martin County School Board should leave current spending threshold in place
Good fiscal policy or micromanagement?
Pinellas School Board chairwoman suggests alternative to early school release
Pinellas School Board chairwoman Peggy O’Shea said Monday she will float an alternative at today’s board workshop to the controversial plan to release students early every Wednesday starting in the fall.
Federal investigation into 64 Florida school districts
Sixty-four school districts across Florida are now under investigation for civil rights violations.
Editorial: Your schools, your costs
Local school district provides model of transparency
Lawmakers this year added eight more exemptions to Florida’s public records law.
Parents cut spending to keep kids in private school
One dad has taken a second job delivering pizzas.
Editorial: Schools offer a lesson in frugality
Despite dwindling resources for public schools, South Florida students show impressive gains in FCAT
Standards of excellence set for public schools by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and toughened by former Gov. Jeb Bush have paid off for South Florida’s students. More of them are excelling since the FCAT’s inception a decade ago.
How the Golden State’s economy got tarnished
The conservative tsunami that swept California politics in 1978 continues to dog the state’s budget process, which has succumbed to special interests and the ballot box.
To understand why the woes of California’s economy threaten the nation’s, we must understand the state’s road to insolvency.
FHA lets homebuyers put tax credit toward purchase
First-time home buyers, already inspired by big price declines, low mortgage rates and government aid, have yet another incentive for jumping into the nation’s beleaguered housing market.
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