The proposal to overhaul education governance with a constitutional amendement is headed to the Senate floor, following a fast track that had the proposal going only to higher education appropriations and a government operations committee.
And it just passed out of higher ed appropriations by a unanimous bipartisan vote, which came after former Republican Senate President Jim King conferred briefly with bill sponsor (and budget chief) Lisa Carlton and promptly pulled two possible no votes (Steve Oelrich and Charlie Justice) into an alcove. Maybe they were discussing how nice the weather is outside?
Justice, D-St. Petersburg, said his yes vote doesn't guarantee a yes on the floor.
Before the vote, King and Carlton had this public exchange, which drew knowing laughs:
King: Is this endorsed by Senator Pruitt? (Senate President)
Carlton: I believe I've read that somewhere
King: And are you the Senate appropriations chair?
Carlton: Yes.
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We already voted on this. Mr. Pruitt and Mrs. Carlton are wrong here. This would be a bad bill. Each time we vote they want to change things on us.
Posted by: DMJ | March 15, 2008 at 10:57 PM
NO! NOT ANOTHER CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT! Why does everything have to go into the Constitution? This is not a Constitutional issue. Just pass a law. That's it. No amendment. A law. Plain and simple.
Posted by: Jason | March 14, 2008 at 12:49 AM