65 percent pitch: It's baaacckk

You didn't really expect an education financing scheme that's easily reduced to a sound bite to go away.

Supporters of the so-called 65 percent solution --a pitch for a rigid funding formula that steers dollars into the classroom -- want bring the plan directly to voters in a constitutional amendment. They would require school districts to spend 65 percent of education funds on classroom instruction, rather than administration. A group called First Class Education wants to see the concept enacted in every state by the end of 2008. The simple pitch has been wildly popular in polls, even though critics decry a gimmick.

The 65 percent idea surfaced in Tallahassee two years ago, backed by Republican lawmakers hoping it would help sell plans to water down the class size amendment. (Ultimately, class size politics led to its defeat.) Now it's back as a constitutional amendment before a powerful state commission that can put ideas directly on the ballot.

Greg Turbeville, a former policy director for Gov. Jeb Bush, sponsored the proposal that will get vetted by the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission over the next two or three months. Voters have the final say over approved ballot initiatives in November 2008.

-- Letitia Stein, Hillsborough schools reporter

Comments

Termie,

When you get a clue, I'll let you have the last word. It would be nice if you could refute any of the facts offered in the first post on the string. Since you can't, shutting up would also be a good option.

[terminator]

you guys sound like a couple of Boss Tweed type district bureaucrats more worried about cutting your budget than providing meaningful instruction to students.
how about getting rid of the plethora of deputy, associate, assistant superintendents, directors, administrative assistants, teachers on special assignment, etc. etc.?
the big public school districts are mammoth waste factories.
"give us more money" to piss away they say, "its for the kids".
voters and taxpayers have finally seen through their shallow arguments.
at least 65% MANDATES how they spend money. that's what they really hate about it.
that's why they want to get rid of class size. because it ties their hands and won't allow them to fritter it away on legions of useless bureaucratic jobs for "friends of friends".
I say keep the pressure on.

Oh, and if you remember correctly, our esteemed Governor Chuck Crist did make it one of his campaign planks (was in his first commercial). wonder what happened to that like the rest of Chuck's broken promises?

Be sure to check out the website listed for "First Class Education." They haven't updated the site in over TWO YEARS. I think that the "Chairman" was told by DADDY to get back to work at the big "O," which he was running into the ground.

Also note, they used to have a blogger site of their own on this site, but it has been taken down because they couldn't actually respond to real policy questions or comments about the shortcommings of their "solution."

The 65% solution (I always love when a political idea uses the word "solution in its title because it is so Hitler like) is a gimimick, and it was the "solution" that caused the loss of a couple of Senate votes needed to put the issue on the ballot.

The truth is that many teachers providing vital instruction are treated as non-classroom expenses by the final solution. The "solution" is about starving an already impoverished public school system because the rich do not need the public schools.

School librarians, guidance counselors, READING COACHES (like the 3,000 reading coaches added to the schools by Jeb Bush as his reading "solution"), and many others are treated as non-classroom expenses by the amendment. Should these be included as part of the classroom expenses, Florida spends far in excess of the 65% proposal. In other words, if guidance, reading and libraries were cut, Florida would ALSO meet the mandate. What a joke.