What's a kid to do?

Times photo, Steven J. Coddington

The last bell of the school year has rung for most teens by now, and graduations are wrapping up all around the Tampa area and throughout Florida. It's time to get some R&R, raise a little spending cash and maybe take a class to keep your skills honed, right?

Not this year.

The job market is especially tight this summer, with cash-strapped parents taking many of the opportunities that kids would snag in better times (think movie ticket taker, lifeguard, camp counselor). Hey, adults need gas money, too. Read what kids, employers and experts are saying about summer employment here.

Summer school isn't much of an option either. Schools also are cash-strapped, and many are cutting back what few summertime offerings they have provided in the past. Reading camp for struggling third-graders remains a state requirement, but don't look for districts to offer the help to second- or fourth-graders anymore. Voluntary pre-k also is a mandate, but enrichment chemistry? Forget it. See this Miami Herald story for more on that issue.

And if your kids complain there's nothing to do this summer, tell them to go play outside or something. Hope the 10 weeks don't seem too long.

Comments

Hey, the Republican Legislature doesn't care about your kids!!! After all, as long as they are uneducated and unemployed they are more likely to help Florida's #1 growth industry - Private Prisons!!!

But who cares, as long as Fasano and all the other Republican fatcats got their pork projects!!!

[Chris W]

Sure hope everyone who voted for the Republican legislature is happy with their tiny tax savings and tons of service cuts. And you Florida Realtors, sure hope you enjoy trying to sell houses to families in a state where top university faculty is leaving, teachers are leaving and amenities are being cut. Be sure to give your Florida Association of Realtors bozos a big shout-out for selling you out. And next election, don't vote Republican. They own this mess, plain and simple.

[Timmy!]

Attention Span Syndrome strikes again.

The Democrats are no different, just sneakier.

Hear any workable ideas come from either side?

Get a voucher plan and take control. Unless you don't want the responsibility.