School district officials across Florida are less than thrilled with Gov. Charlie Crist's plan to hold back 4 percent of all general revenue for 2008-09. They fear the quarterly 1 percent reduction of their revenue will only mean more cuts in an already dire budget year.
It may be bad. But lobbyist (and former Hillsborough schools chief of staff) Jim Hamilton notes in a memo to Hillsborough leaders that it could be worse. If voters approve a November ballot proposal to eliminate local property taxes as a source of revenue for education, the same action a year from now would mean double the pain.
"If this hold back is applied to public schools, it will only apply to the $9 billion in state revenue in the budget," he notes. "The $9.4 billion in local funds will not be included in the holdback, reducing the impact on public schools to slightly less than two percent. This shows the importance of property tax revenues to supporting Florida's students."
Get inside the world of Florida education with St. Petersburg Times staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek and the rest of the Times education reporting team. We'll bring you up-to-date information about the latest education trends, fads and news and dig deep into Tampa Bay area school issues.
We are doomed, but not because of Hamilton. It is because of the people in Tallahassee who are supposed to follow the Constitution and serve the citizens of the State instead of themselves.
Posted by: | June 17, 2008 at 01:42 PM
Hamilton is STILL on the district payroll?! As a lobbyist!?
We are doomed.
Posted by: Chrystal | June 17, 2008 at 11:51 AM