Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Mar. 6

Now that Florida’s January 29, 2008 Amendment 1 vote on property taxes has been taken and the Florida Legislature is scheduled to convene its Regular Session on March 4, the issue landscape continues to evolve, and with it, the question of public school funding.

During 2007, ccochran@cftlaw.com.

 

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Florida House cuts $500M from schools, courts

Divided sharply along partisan lines, the Florida House voted Wednesday to slash more than $500 million from public schools, community colleges and the state’s courts.

Florida Republicans push ahead with budget cuts

Lawmakers vow to stay within the state’s smaller budget, a result of the economy.

House Republicans turned back a steady push Wednesday by Democrats looking to block cuts to community colleges, public schools and county health departments, forging ahead with $517 million in budget cuts.

Governor quizzes local officials on budget reserves

Gov. Charlie Crist queried Palm Beach County officials about the size of their budget reserves Wednesday when county commissioners and top administrators outlined their fiscal woes during a lobbying visit to the Capitol.

House Democratic Caucus: Cutting Education Means Cutting Opportunities

Education budget cuts will further harm Florida’s economy

House Democrats today unanimously voted against House Bill 7009, the Republican leadership’s budget cut plan that cuts opportunities for millions of Florida’s children by cutting education funding. House Democrats issued the following statement in response to the passage of HB 7009:

House bill would delay class-size restrictions

Smaller class sizes in Florida public schools would be delayed for two years under a bill being considered by the Florida House.

Fight over higher education governance gets nasty

In a sign of just how ugly the fight over university system governance has become, state senators dressed down the chancellor of Florida’s 11 state colleges during a standing-room-only meeting Wednesday.

BCC takes $1.4M budget hit

Job cuts likely after drop in state funding

Brevard Community College lost $1.44 million this fiscal year after a drop in state funding, which could result in as many as 12 high-level administrative jobs being cut, the college said Tuesday.

McCullough rips education failures

Acclaimed historian David McCullough bemoaned the state of education in the U.S. and slammed No Child Left Behind before an adoring University of Florida crowd Tuesday night.

School board to collect over $6,000 per Santa Rosa student in 2008

If everything goes as planned for the Santa Rosa School District for the rest of this school year, the district’s fund balance – or money left over at the end of the school year after all the expenses are paid – will be about 5.02 percent of the budget, according to a report presented to the district’s new Budget Task Force and at the school board meeting last week.