Governor's Budget: Education for children or Tax Breaks for Corporations

[GoodWitch58]

Rachel Maddow Show

is this really what citizens of Florida want for our children? whether they live in homes that vote Democrat or Republican is this all they deserve? And what about our society in the next 10-20 years? where will we be with citizens who have not been educated properly? It's bad enough now--someone please tell me how cutting Education and giving more tax breaks to Corporations , while leaving the deficit pretty much at status quo, helps our society?

 

[hkem1]

What percentage of funding for schools in Florida comes from the state rather than local property taxes?

 

[GoodWitch58]

that is a good question. I am not sure.

According to this report (2010), though, 32% of the state's General Revenue budget goes to Education. I think each school district gets a portion of local taxes based on a formula for each District, but someone who knows more than I do about this will have to answer that...or you can do the research to see if you can find it.http://archive.flsenate.gov/data/pu...calAnalysis/2010_Fiscal_Analysis_In_Brief.pdf another source: http://www.fldoe.org/fefp/pdf/fefpdist.pdf

School districts in 2008-09 received 35.68 percent of their financial support from state sources, 54.15 percent from local sources (including the Required Local Effort portion of the FEFP), and 10.17 percent from federal sources

 

[wrobert]

that is a good question. I am not sure.

According to this report (2010), though, 32% of the state's General Revenue budget goes to Education. I think each school district gets a portion of local taxes based on a formula for each District, but someone who knows more than I do about this will have to answer that...or you can do the research to see if you can find it.http://archive.flsenate.gov/data/pu...calAnalysis/2010_Fiscal_Analysis_In_Brief.pdf another source: http://www.fldoe.org/fefp/pdf/fefpdist.pdf

For the most part it is all based on head counts done in October and February. This is why some districts see a huge shortfall in dollars, they just do not have the students any longer.

 

[lms47]

Unbelievable! "Let's throw the baby out with the bath water". It has always been a mystery to me why many people do not value education and do all they can to sabatoge the future of our children. Disgusting, IMHO!

 

[wrobert]

What percentage of funding for schools in Florida comes from the state rather than local property taxes?

Just about all the local property taxes are collected, sent to Tallahassee, then sent back on a per student basis. This was done years ago in order to try to give some equity to the counties on funding for schools. Otherwise rich counties would have more than poor counties due to the tax base. Not sure what the percentage is now but in Walton County we use to be pretty close to what we were collecting and what we were getting. Somewhere around 90% I think.

 

[Bob Wells]

This is pretty interesting.
http://www.politifact.com/florida/s...atic-party-chairman-rod-smith-says-rick-scot/

 

[GoodWitch58]

here is an approach I would like to see Florida take:

Coming Together to Give Schools a Boost - NYTimes.com

We only have to consider some of the nation?s greatest achievements to appreciate what?s possible when we coordinate efforts rationally. At its peak, for example, the Apollo program, which put a man on the moon, involved 400,000 people and 20,000 companies and academic organizations. The Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, coordinated the work of 130,000 scientists, engineers and others. The Los Angeles Olympic Games were successful because of unprecedented cooperation among civic groups, government agencies and businesses.

to do this, though, one needs leadership and people who are able to put the good of society above the next election...and I think Florida is sorely lacking in that kind of public servant right now...perhaps, though, there are enough to overcome the present situation if people will just pay attention and stand up for the right thing. I am optimistic.

 

[Bob Wells]

The start of a new law and they don't even have the rules to assess the teacher or the money to pay for it. And Moody still has issues. As teacher tenure moves forward, schools could face nearly $217 million property-tax shortfall | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

 

[GoodWitch58]

Pay Teachers More-Kristof

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13kristof.html

Until a few decades ago, employment discrimination perversely strengthened our teaching force. Brilliant women became elementary school teachers, because better jobs weren?t open to them. It was profoundly unfair, but the discrimination did benefit America?s children.

These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers ? and 47 percent of America?s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company, ?Closing the Talent Gap.?

This is a thoughtful argument IMO. Too bad elected officials aren't listening or reading...