• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

S. Florida Schools Leaders Want State to Increase Education Spending

Posted on: Friday, 20 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Douane D. James, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Jan. 20--What Florida schools really want is to be average, School Board members from five counties agreed Thursday.

That is, they want Florida to rank in the middle of the pack, instead of near the bottom, when compared to other states in how much it spends per student on education.

School Board members from Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Lee and Monroe counties met midday at the Broward County School Board building in downtown Fort Lauderdale to discuss goals for the 2006 Legislative session.

Board members noted that Florida ranked 47th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in per-student spending in 2002, the latest year in which available U.S. Department of Education data allowed national comparisons.

"We're 47th now; we want to get to 25th," said Evelyn Greer, Miami-Dade County board member.

Adjusted for regional cost differences, Florida spent just under $6,500 per student, more than $1,200 short of the national average.

"We're not being greedy. We don't want to be first or second," said Ana Rivas Logan, a Miami-Dade board member. "We just want to be somewhere in the middle."

The School District leaders agreed to develop a marketing plan through Web sites, bumper stickers, fliers and phone messages -- to relay the point to parents and other residents starting next month.

They hope parents, in turn, will pressure legislators to pump more per-student money into the state budget, the primary source of public school funding.

"We need our parents to start calling legislators and making a fuss before the session starts [in March]," said Beverly Gallagher, a Broward County School Board member.

Officials renewed complaints that the state's school funding formula short-changed property-rich South Florida to benefit smaller, less wealthy areas of the state.

"This is a 'what goes around comes around' state," said Frank Till, superintendent of Broward County schools. "Right now we're in the 'what comes around' part."

The officials said it was time to stop "playing the victim" and become proactive.

A simple campaign to get parents to care is what's needed, Miami-Dade board members suggested.

The board members said they hoped their "Let's get to 25th in the nation" rallying cry would draw school districts together instead of setting them against one another.

They approved a lobbying platform for the upcoming legislative session, agreeing that legislators should set aside more money for hurricane relief, required class-size reduction and compliance with the Jessica Lunsford Act.

School officials were pleased with the meeting, calling it a great start to inter-county collaboration. "It may not be done in a year," Till said. "But realistically it can be done."

-----

To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

More News in this Category