State lawmakers approve budget
Fiscal plan has fewer Central Florida projects as lawmakers respond to Parkland shooting
TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers passed a nearly $88.7 billion budget Sunday, along with a $170 million tax cut plan, ending an overtime legislative session overshadowed by last month’s mass shooting in Parkland and the vigorous gun debate that followed.
Public schools will get $21 billion, a 2.4 percent increase on the current year, or $7,408 per student, more than $101 over the current year. Much of that increase, however, will go to school resource officers and mental health counselors, part of the Legislature’s response to the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead.
“The most important thing we did this year was we listened to the families at Parkland,” Gov. Rick Scott said. “We did something to make schoolchildren in our state feel safe.”
For Scott, who is term-limited and considering a run for U.S. Senate, the session was his last. He and other Republicans said his agenda of cutting business regulations and tax cuts helped pull the state out of
the Great Recession.
Eight years ago, Florida was “a place of malaise,” said House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes. “And now eight years later, it is so transformed.”
The budget passed 95-12 in the House, and 35-3 in the Senate. All of the no votes were cast by Democrats, some of whom are frustrated that GOP leaders have emphasized tax cuts ahead of additional spending on K-12 schools and the opioid crisis.
“That’s this complete, absurd revisionist history,” Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, DMiami, said of Corcoran’s remarks. “I don’t know what state he’s been living in because it also has been an uneven recovery.”
Democrats are also upset at a large education bill, HB 7055, passed earlier in the session that Scott signed on Sunday. It sets up a Hope Scholarship program that gives the parents of bullied students a stipend to attend private school, using sales taxes on vehicle purchases to pay for the program.
Many Democrats said it was a backdoor way to siphon money from traditional public schools into private schools, but it was another provision cracking down on teachers’ unions that got the most criticism. It requires unions to reveal the number of employees they represent and specify which pay dues and which don’t. It also requires 50 percent of its members to pay dues.
The bill also expands scholarship programs for low-income and disabled students, but also requires more site visits from state administrators of schools participating in the program. The additional oversight is in response to the Orlando Sentinel’s “Schools Without Rules” series that found serious problems at some of the schools that take the vouchers.
Corcoran, who spearheaded the push for the bill, dismissed the criticism and said he was only trying to offer a “world class education” to all students, including those abused in school.
Included in the tax cut bill, HB 7087, is a sales tax holiday on back-to-school items from Aug. 3-5, and a sales tax holiday June 1-7 on hurricane preparedness items like generators, batteries and tarps.
There were fewer local projects for Central Florida in the budget as lawmakers scrapped to fund their response to the shooting, but one program that did make the cut was a clinic at University of Central Florida for veterans, first responders and other suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It got $500,000.
Lawmakers also tacked on a provision to the tax cut plan allowing local governments and tourist development councils for the first time to spend hotel tax revenues on tourism-related infrastructure projects such as roads and sewers. The move was opposed by the tourism industry, but also requires tourist development councils to spend at least 40 percent of their revenue on marketing.
Scott signed another bill Sunday to expand Bright Futures scholarships and other college scholarship programs for low-income students. Academic scholars in Bright Futures can now receive 100 percent of tuition, Medallion scholars will get 75 percent of tuition and recipients will be able to use the money for summer credit hours.
Another part of the bill eliminates “free speech zones” on college campuses and makes it easier for speakers to sue colleges who prevent them from speaking.
The bill was a top priority of Senate President Joe Negron, who wanted to boost the quality and reputation of Florida’s university system. The bill also increases funding for universities to recruit top professors and faculty.
“This legislation will help more students graduate on time, while elevating the national reputation of Florida’s excellent state universities,” said Negron, R-Stuart. “[We] are telling Florida students and families that they can count on the Bright Futures Scholarship as they plan their investment in an education.”