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Public education a primary target of budget cutters

By Staff | Mar 22, 2011

My Friends in Education:

The 2011 Legislative Session has begun in Tallahassee. And this year, it seems, public education is ground zero when it comes to making changes/reductions to the state’s budget.

Granted, the public education portion of the state’s budget is the largest, but that shouldn’t automatically translate into that part being the one that suffers the most in reductions – especially given the fact that the Florida Constitution specifically calls for public education to be properly funded for the citizens of the state.

My fellow Board Members and I will be working closely with our Legislative Delegation as the session progresses. We want to make sure they understand the importance our community places on public education. And there are some specific areas that we are focused on this year – our Legislative Priorities.

I won’t go into detail here on all of our priorities – you can view them on our Web site (www.leeschools.net/board) – but there are a couple I’d like to highlight.

One focuses on Teacher Performance Pay, a subject much in the news these days. Our lawmakers have already passed a bill surrounding this effort. What we’re saying is while accountability is positive, the state must pay for such efforts. The costs associated with this initiative must be fully covered by the state.

Dovetailing with the above priority, we’re asking the state to expedite the scoring of all state exams and align the testing schedule so it fits with our students’ needs, not the needs of the testing vendors. If we are going to tie teacher pay to student performance on tests, let’s make sure we provide every opportunity for student success.

Given the state’s fiscal situation, as well as our own (we anticipate having to reduce more than $50 million from the FY12 budget,) we’re asking the state to remove all monetary penalties that relate to the Class Size Amendment. We continue to work hard to ensure full compliance, but why financially penalize a district that is already cutting tens of millions of dollars from its budget? In this economic climate we all need to be working together and imposing sanctions isn’t the answer.

As always, this School Board remains adamantly opposed to any unfunded mandates. It’s easy for lawmakers to pass legislation that on the surface sounds good, but when you start to peel back the layers you quickly realize there is a significant financial impact. Given that we have reduced our budget by nearly $100 million the past 3-plus years, and there’s another $50 million in reductions on the horizon, there’s no place for unfunded mandates, no matter how well intended they are.

My fellow Board Members and I are committed to fiscal responsibility, but there’s only so much we can do.

We need your help.

Contact your legislators in Tallahassee -let them know how you feel and that public education is a vital part our community. You can get their contact information from our Web site – send them an E-mail, make a phone call or write them a letter. They need to know how their constituents feel – after all, they were elected to represent you.

– Jeanne S. Dozier, School Board Member, District 2 Legislative Liaison