Your Government... My View 8/21/08

By: Ernie Padgett
I had the opportunity last Friday to accompany my 4th grade granddaughter while she met her new teachers. After visiting with her two new teachers we returned to her Mother’s (my daughter) 3rd grade class. I sat around for about an hour watching and listening as parents would bring their kids by to meet their new teacher. Of course as a Father, I’m very proud of my school teacher daughter.
That was not the only thought I had during my visit to her 3rd grade class. Sixteen out of twenty new students came by with their parents to see their new classroom and meet their new teacher. I am sure that many of these parents had to take off from work on a Friday to be with their child, take the time to meet the person that would be teaching them for the next school year, and see the class room where they would be spending most of their day. But, it was that important for those 16 parents, to be there.
I wish our state leaders would show more concern and leadership when it comes to education in the state of Florida. Every citizen has a vested interest in the quality of education in our state. It doesn’t matter whether it’s our child or a grandchild or even if we have no family in public schools, the bottom line is….we ALL have a vested interest in education.
Florida ranks very low when it comes to funding for schools. To make matters worse, the Tax and Budget Commission put an amendment on the November ballot known as Amendment 5. This amendment would eliminate the required county local effort portion of property taxes for school funding. It requires the Legislature to put up equivalent state funds to replace the money for education, but only for one year! Plus……does anyone remember what the lottery money was supposed to do for education? It never happened. The Legislature seems to never get around to doing what they say they will do when it comes to funding education……why then should we believe that it will happen this time? We shouldn’t. The potential disaster of this approach is that nothing is spelled out explaining how the Legislature will replace this revenue loss of 9 to 11 billion dollars a year. What other taxes will have to be raised to make up for this? What other budget cuts will be necessary? What sales tax exemptions will have to be eliminated? None of these questions have been addressed in this ill-conceived Amendment 5. State Senator Mike Haridopolos, a Republican from south Florida has been quoted as saying "The amendment is a bad deal for Florida and is a "bait and switch" proposal of the worst kind."
Governor Charlie Crist is a strong supporter of this bad amendment. The Governor is not saying how the money for schools will be replaced. This is NOT leadership! If he wants to take as much as 11 billion dollars from our public schools, then he needs to have the backbone to stand up in front of the people of Florida and without wobbling, tell us where he’s going to get the money to fund the future of our state………our public schools.
Bill Cotterell, a writer for the Tallahassee Democrat put it well last week in his article. He said "Gov. Charlie Crist’s record at putting his political career on the line for difficult, needed things is not going to rank him with LeRoy Collins or Reubin Askew in Florida history books." There was good news coming out of Tallahassee last Thursday. A circuit judge ruled that Amendment 5 tax-swap could not go on the November ballot. He said that the legal title and summary do not tell voters what the proposal really does. Judge Cooper further stated that the ballot summary was misleading and didn’t give voters "fair notice of the content and sweep of the proposal."
Another very important part of Judge Cooper’s ruling was his position that the Amendment 5 language did not tell voters that the amendment only requires the Legislature to replace the local property tax money for one year.
Where are our leaders? Good leadership is basic to good government. Simply tell citizens the whole story, truthfully, and let them evaluate the issue and take their position. Our Governor and Legislature are hired by us, to protect the well being of our state, our schools and the quality of life in the state of Florida. They are there to make difficult decisions on our behalf. We shouldn’t have to be on guard against the people elected to protect us, but sadly, we do.
Even though I’m opposed to replacing school funding with other taxes and cuts, I’m not against citizens voting on the issue if it has not been designed to mislead in order to help its chances of being passed by the voters.
As it stands now, most of Florida’s business community opposes Amendment 5 because of the uncertainty about who gets taxed and because it takes the school funding away. The Florida Realtors are the ONLY major business group that supports Amendment 5. Some of the opponents include the AARP and Florida Farm Bureau, to name just a few. There are many, many more.
Judge Cooper’s ruling will probably not be the final say on this issue. It will be appealed by supporters to the Florida Supreme Court. If they decide to let Amendment 5 go on the ballot I hope the citizens of Florida will say NO to this misleading amendment that will cripple education in Jackson County and throughout the state. Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Hatcher Publications or its staff.