Audry Gibson, the former Florida House member, took 62 percent of the vote in the special election. The district includes a sliver of voters in Flagler County.
Florida Legislature
Florida Teachers Union Sues the State
Over Merit Pay, Calling It Unconstitutional
The Florida Education Association says tying the state’s merit pay provision to standardized tests is unlawful because it violates collective-bargaining rights embedded in the constitution.
Federal Suit Filed Against Florida Law Requiring Drug Tests of Welfare Recipients
The new law requires recipients of temporary cash assistance to pay $35 to $45 for a drug test first. The ACLU charges the law stigmatizes low-income people and amounts to a suspicionless search.
Banning Near-Shore Oil Drilling for Good in Florida: Proposed Constitutional Amendment Is Filed
The proposed amendment, filed Tuesday by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, matches a House version filed earlier this year by Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg. It would ask voters to put into the constitution a ban on exploration, drilling, extraction or production of oil in Florida waters.
Despite Raises, Average Teacher Pay Is Eroding Significantly in Flagler and Florida
Average teacher pay at the end of last year in Flagler was $48,067. Adjusted for inflation, it represents an 8.5 percent decline compared with pay in 2006. Take-home pay declined further this fall.
Florida GOP’s Vague Redistricting Schedule Playing Havoc With Election-Year Politics
Critics of the Legislature’s timeline say mass chaos could follow if lawmakers don’t approve maps soon enough to give the attorney general and the Supreme Court enough time to review the plans well in advance of the June 18 opening date for qualifying.
Profits of Buying Florida’s Government: Lobbyists Earn $52 Million in 2nd Quarter
Florida is hurting. Lobbyists aren’t: they increased their take from April to June to $52 million, up from $49.3 million in the same period last year.
Continuing Charm Offensive, Rick Scott On C-Span for 45 Minutes; Watch Video
Scott has been giving media interviews every day for the past two weeks in an effort to pull his approval rating from the abyss. He is trying to raise his likability.
Refusing Other Federal Health Care Aid, Florida Welcomes Abstinence-Only Cash
Florida has been against taking federal health care money until being for it–as long as it sustains abstinence-only sex classes.
Rick Scott’s Poll Numbers Go From Dismal to Merely Bad in Latest Quinnipiac
Rick Scott remains among the least popular governors in America, with pronounced, and unusual, dislike of him as a person, and 61 percent of Floridians are dissatisfied with the way things are going.
Soaring Corporate Tax Credit Voucher Program Costing Flagler Schools Half a Million Dollars
A new law passed by the Legislature last year increased the amount of taxpayer dollars available for private-school vouchers, from $118 million to $140 million-money denied the public school system. Some 33,000 students, including 86 in Flagler, are enrolled.
Florida Graduation Requirements for Students Entering 9th Grade, 2011-2017
Florida high school graduation requirements for entering 9th graders from 2011-12 to 2016-17: a year-by-year guide including FCAT, end-of-year-course assessments and science requirements.
They Feel Your Pain: Florida Legislature Home to 51 Millionaires
Millionaires make up almost half of the 40-member Florida Senate and nearly one-third of the 120-member Florida House. Legislators are paid $29,697 a year, with presiding officers making $41,181 a year.
Why Help at Your Nursing Home Will Be More Scarce, and Other Elderly Care Retreats
Florida just rejected a federal grant that would have allowed elderly patients to get care at home instead of in nursing homes, where staffing levels may begin to drop this month, thanks to a new Florida law.
3% Pension Contributions by Public Employees Begins as Judge Rejects an Injunction
The state’s teachers union is suing over the 3 percent requirement, and was hoping to delay its implementation until the case is settled. That case is still going forward, but 3 percent contributions begin today.
Executive Overreach? Supreme Court
Considers Rick Scott’s Rule-Making Powers
In oral arguments today, justices seemed unconvinced by the case of a blind woman on food stamps. The case speaks to Scott’s rule-making power–and where the Legislature’s power ends.
Florida’s Betrayal of College Students: Sticking It to the Young, Pandering to the Old
Between Florida public universities’ tuition increasing almost 140 percent in 10 years and Bright Futures scholarship losing half their value, the state is betraying its future while pandering to older, more selfish voters.
Sprawl-Fighting State Oversight Agency Is Dissolved, To the Delight of Local Developers
The Florida Department of Community Affairs, created in 1969 to manager growth, is being diluted into other agencies, leaving local governments much freer to develop as they choose.
Firefighter Hero-Worship and Floridians’ Hypocrisy: When Public Employees Save Lives
Flagler County and Florida residents are falling in heaps with praise for the same public and union employees they and the lawmakers they elected just finished bashing, insulting, demeaning and robbing. The disconnect is sickening.
No Lawsuit Against the State Yet, But Flagler School Board Warms Up to Actionable Anger
Ronald Meyer, the attorney who’s been challenging imbalances in Florida’s educational system for years, told the Flagler school board Tuesday that building a case will take more time, analysis–and public awareness.
Palm Coast Looking to Other Cities for Guidance on Storefront Gambling Regulations
The Palm Coast City Council is all for stopping new storefront casino-type “internet cafes” for six months, but is less clear on whether, and how, to regulate them beyond that.
Florida’s Juvenile Justice Eliminating 1,200 Jobs and Closing 3 Youth Prisons
The budget Gov. Rick Scott signed into law last week reduces juvenile justice’s budget 11 percent, and eliminates 700 jobs in addition to 500 vacant positions that will be abolished. The Legislature singled out youth prisons for closure.
Poll Dumps Rick Scott Approval to 29%, Worst of Any Governor Quinnipiac Tracks
Gov. Rick Scott’s disapproval rating continues to rise, to 57 percent at last count, up almost 10 points in six weeks. Even Republicans have curbed their enthusiasm.
Gut Choke: State Eliminates 780 Jobs at Department of Children and Families
DCF Secretary David Wilkins claims front-line workers won’t be affected, but the cut represents a serious set-back in an agency responsible for children’s welfare and oversight.
How School-Voucher Lobbyist John Kirtley Buys Florida Lawmakers’ Votes
John Kirtley successfully lobbied in 2001 to get the corporate tax credit scholarship program approved, and has since, with generous contributions, shifted numerous lawmakers to his crusade.
Texbooks in All Florida School Districts Required to Go Digital By 2015-16
The new law requires Florida public schools to adopt digital-only textbooks by the 2015-16 school year, and spend at least 50 percent of their textbook budget on digital materials by that time.
Conklin: Time to End the Legislature’s
Betrayal of Florida’s Promise to Our Children
Describing relentless attacks on education and a state of fear in Tallahassee that cost her her own job recently, Flagler County School Board member Colleen Conklin explains why local school boards must take a stand against the state’s erosion of public education.
Hurricane Tallahassee: Environmentalists Survey Wreckage of 2011 Legislative Session
Developers gained more power in environmental disputes, state regulation of development was scaled back, the Department of Community Affairs is all but history as the Florida Legislature diminished the state’s growth management role in favor of development.
From Nursing Homes to Medicaid to Pill Mills, Florida Re-Writes Austere Health Rules
Health care reform opt-out, broad abortion restrictions, managed care for 2.8 million Floridians, less care for patients in nursing homes, Healthy Start slashed: Florida redrew the state’s health care map in the 2011 legislative session.
Per-Student Funding Dropping $572, or 8%; Flagler District Poised for Severe Cuts
As state lawmakers cut school budgets by $1.3 billion, the Flagler school district already has plans to cut its budget by 3.5 percent through teacher layoffs and other means. It’ll make up the difference by using more than a third of its $9 million reserves.
2011 Session Under GOP Supermajority: Stingier, Looser, More Preferential Florida
The 2011 Session revamped Medicaid, teacher pay and pill-mill regulations, cut the budget and brooked favors with insurers, but culminated in corrosive revolts among Republicans as anti-union and anti-immigration bills failed.
Class-Size Limits Lifted on Numerous Courses As Lawmakers Redefine Meaning of “Core”
Foreign language classes, Advanced Placement courses, and certain social studies courses would be exempt from constitutionally required class-size limits, while caps in other classes could be exceeded by three to five students.
Last-Minute Budget Deal Reduces Districts’ Dollars and Oversight of Charter Schools
Charter schools that have received an “A” or “B” rating in the last three years would be given the ability to expand enrollment or add new grades without having to wait for approval from the school district.
Splitting Florida Lawmakers, Arizona-Inspired Immigration-Law Rewrites Won’t Make It
The Florida House proposal would have turned cops into immigration officers and increased penalties on businesses. The Senate proposal would have been less harsh. The two sides couldn’t agree on a joint proposal.
College Drop-Outs: Florida Lawmakers Cutting Bright Futures Scholarships a Further 20%
Once a scholarship that covered almost 100 percent of a student’s tuition and fees and half the cost of books, students entering UF next year will see their Bright Futures scholarship covering less than 50 percent of those costs.
Property Tax Overhaul Passes House: Breaks For New Home Buyers, Business, Snowbirds
First-time home buyers would get a 50 percent property tax break on the value of their home. Voters would decide whether to cap property tax assessment increases for commercial properties at 5 percent.
Corporate Tax Cut Out, Privatizing Prisons and 3% Public Pension Contributions In
As the Legislature’s 2011 session veers uncertainly toward its final days, lawmakers struck deals Saturday on privatizing prisons and compromising over public employees’ pension contributions, but no deal yet on health care and education cuts.
Proposal to Split Florida Supreme Court Faces Long Odds in the Senate
The proposed constitutional amendment would create a criminal and civil supreme court, change the way justices are picked and the way the judicial system is funded, but the idea may be dying.
Florida Legislature Redrawing Abortion Rules, Targeting Women, Physicians and US Law
The House approved a slew of bills that would force women to submit to ultrasounds before an abortion, broaden parental notification when minors are seeking an abortion, and require physicians to own abortion clinics, among other bills.
School Districts Will Have to Vastly Expand Virtual Education; Charters to Click In
At least one virtual class would be mandatory for graduation, kindergarten students could take online courses, and charter schools could offer full or part-time classes in what’s almost certain to become law.
Gun-Toting Bills, Supplanting Doctors and Local Governments, Poised to Become Law
One bill would penalize local governments with stricter gun restrictions than the state. Another would muzzle doctors’ abilities to ask their patients about gun ownership.
Growth-Management 2.0: Local Government Whims Sprawl Over State Oversight
Republicans have complained for years that growth management rules slow growth in the state. A glut of empty homes suggests otherwise. Local governments will be empowered to take advantage of far more lax growth rules.
Bail Bondsmen Would Cash In at Taxpayers’ Expense As Pre-Trial Release Is Scaled Back
A bill written to boost bail bondsmen’s business would force inmates to post bond to get out of jail rather than rely on county-run pre-trial release programs. Taxpayers are likely to pay the price as fewer inmates can afford bond and jail populations soar.
Property Tax Reform: 50% Exemptions, Breaks for Investors, Losses for Local Governments
Supporters of the overhaul say it’ll fill up empty homes. Critics say it’ll also slash local government revenue and further shift the tax burden to current residents, exacerbating inequities.
More Losers Than Winners as HMOs Skim Off Florida’s $20 Billion Medicaid Overhaul
Managed-car plans will take over almost all of Florida’s 2.8 million Medicaid patients. The overhaul does nothing to change the status of 3.8 million uninsured Floridians.
“Education Savings Accounts” Would Shift Public Money to Private and Home Schools
A vast expansion of school vouchers, Education Savings Account would shift 40 percent of per-student funding to children attending private school, to college savings accounts or to home-school spending, among other diversions from public-education budgets.
Charter Schools To Be Allowed To Go Virtual As Florida Expands Online Public Education
A proposed law would let charter schools open full-time K-12 “virtual” charter schools, all students would be required to take at least one online class, and school districts would have to offer full or part-time virtual programs.
At 14.5%, Flagler Unemployment Drops to Lowest Level in 2 Years, Florida’s at 11.1%
The unemployment rate locally and statewide appears to be trending downward consistently and finally following the national trend, which has been improving for most of the past year.
Union-Busting Bill Narrowly Clears Hurdle and GOP Dissents Before Full Vote at Florida Legislature
The proposed law forbids union deductions from public employees’ paychecks, essentially gutting unions. It passed a committee, 11-9, with three Republicans breaking rank to oppose it.
Popping Again: Drug Database and Pill-Mill Regulations Return From the Dead
Taken for dead only weeks ago, a revised bill that would preserve many pill-mill regulations, ban doctors from dispensing some pills and require permitting process for pharmacies cleared a Florida House committee Tuesday.