Will the State of Florida ever be rid of the influence of Jeb Bush? He’s gone but not forgotten and maintains a political force but boy there are many citizens very pleased that his Taxation and Budget Reform Committee (TBRC) may have struck out with an attempt to again, and further undermine the future of the state’s educational system.
I suppose he and his 25 puppies assumed current residents are as dumb as today’s students would be if Amendment 5 were placed on the November General Election Ballot.
The decision of Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper to keep the initiative from being decided by voters was a big blow to construction influences, including builders, real estate brokers, county property appraisers and a whole slew of other supporting businesses.
Actually, Gov. Charlie Crist last year appointed 11 of the current board members and Senate President Ken Pruitt and Speaker of the House Marco Rubio each selecting 7 members. An additional 4 non-voting members of influence in the Florida Legislature, split equally between the two political parties, round out the group of 29 decision-making individuals. Many of these people were followers of Jeb Bush during his two-term, too long a period as governor.
Amendment 5 would have reduced school taxes by 25-40% and replaced with a penny sales tax and reviewing the tax-exempt status of various services, which is believed to possibly bring in $4B but a far cry from lost funds that estimated to be in excess of $10B. There’s also some doubt that if the Amendment were placed on the ballot it wouldn’t pass the required 60% voter approval.
The Amendment would also put a cap on non-homestead properties at 5% assessment value from the 10% currently level.
If the Amendment passes the expected appeal, more would be at stake than just lost funding. If the construction business were to miraculously come bounding back and add more children to the school system, additional funds wouldn’t likely be available. It’s not likely that the Florida Legislature would take the action to replace lost funds by cutting moneys allocated to other budget programs.
School boards, superintendents, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, among other interested parties, made the appeal that challenged the wording of the Amendment. Another opponent is the Associated Industries of Florida, whose mission statement includes the goal “To promote the general welfare and prosperity of the commonwealth of Florida as a whole.” Silly me, I thought that’s what we voters elected our officials to do!
Florida residents want reduced taxes but it would be a sad day for education in Florida if the Amendment eventually appears on the ballot and passes. When teachers are given little choice but to teach to Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) standards; when extra curricular activities are suspended to provide additional time to prepare students for the test; when financial bonuses are given to schools that have a passing grade or improve their scores; when parents and teachers view the test as a hindrance and a poor judgment of student achievements; when all of these items are considered, FCAT’s own failure as a learning tool is demonstrated by Florida’s education rating level last among the 50 states.
A senior having failed the FCAT three times has the option of using scores from the American College Test (ACT) or the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Another option is to pass Florida’s Common Placement Test (CPT), which is required for entrance to any community college or state university.
Of course, there’s that other acronym: GED.
For now, Amendment 5 has been given the Deep 6 by the grace of a Leon County Circuit Judge. Will the sound of the judge's gavel on the block reverberate through Election Day or will it be silenced by the decision of a higher judicial official?
Is there anything Judge Cooper can do about the placing the Florida Hometown Democracy on the November ballot. All he's have to do is allow all petitions be counted that had been submitted by the deadline of February 1?
Friday, August 15, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
A Very Sweet Deal
Oops! Florida Governor Charlie Crist thought he was being environmentally conscious with the announcement on June 24 that he had negotiated a deal with U S Sugar to purchase the company for a cool $1.7B, but lawmakers in Washington see things in a different light than the promise of speeding up the goals of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project.
It’s difficult to deem the acquisition of over 187,000 acres, a part of the 700,00-acre Everglades Agricultural Area established in 1950 to promote farming in the area, poor judgment for what could very well assist in saving the Everglades from pollution.
The problem that surrounds Crist is the way the deal was made, without involving the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Water Management District, the agencies who were commissioned in 1948 to address the effects of major hurricanes that occurred from the 1920s to the 40s and who continue to be fundamental overseers of restoring what is called “The River of Grass”.
Among the worst of these storms was the “Okeechobee Hurricane” of 1928 which devastated south Florida as it hit landfill in Palm Beach County and swept over Lake Okeechobee, killing more than 2,500 people. In 1933, there were two hurricanes that led to the evacuation of residents in the Lake area. The “Labor Day Hurricane” in 1935 is still considered one of the most intense to have made landfall in the United States.
The 1947 “Fort Lauderdale Hurricane” passed slowly over the state from Palm Beach to Fort Myers; a 20-foot storm surge nearly compromised a dike along the south shore of Lake Okeechobee. The devastation from flooding has put lives, and agriculture interests in the surrounding areas, in danger throughout Florida’s history.
[It wasn’t until 1953 that hurricanes and tropical storms were given names.]
Florida’s legislative representatives in Washington, the Corps and SWFMD feel the secrecy of the deal between Crist’s administration and U S Sugar has already created problems and resulting delays in proceeding with current restoration plans that would have to be reworked, taking into consideration the magnitude of the deal.
The affects on economies in Hendry, Glades and Palm Beach Counties would be devastating. U S Sugar employs 1700 but a total of over 10,000 jobs would be lost in related businesses, including transportation and manufacturing, and workers in the citrus operations of U S Sugar.
Pending real estate transactions are being cancelled because of the reported negotiations in a part of the state where unemployment figures are greater than any other area in Florida and where declining home values have become further depressed.
The deal would take away over $1.6B in annual revenues, including lost local, state and federal revenues of 127M and more than 370M in labor income.
The tentative agreement would allow a minimum of six years before U S Sugar would bring an end to its annual production of 600,000 tons of sugar 20 million boxes of oranges. Still, that allows a very short-term time period to resolve the economic instabilities that would be caused by the closure of the nation’s largest sugarcane grower. Layoff announcements would be frequent.
Independent analysts have priced the worth of U S Sugar at approximately half the offered $1.75M, taking note that a private offer would never consider such an exorbitant figure. Growing environmental concerns, reduced government subsidies (costing American consumers nearly $2B a year) and greater federal regulation put the industry at odds with the same degree of profitability as in the past. Recent years of drought have also eroded production numbers.
Tariff fees on sugar products from Mexico are set to expire at year’s end and other growing sentiments to ease restrictions on sugar imports have also put the future of domestic sugar in question.
Currently, American consumers pay about twice the amount of world sugar prices.
Sugarcane accounts for 75% of worldwide sugar production.
The deal won’t be done until the fat cats sing – or not – but the state must first get an appraisal of U S Sugar holdings before negotiations can proceed. Another aspect of the tentative offer would include a lease-back arrangement for a minimum of six years. Because of this clause the public is expected to have faith that the affect on other local businesses and workforces will be less immediate, perhaps giving unemployed workers opportunities at local competitors Florida Crystals and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative. These two corporations also jointly own American Sugar Refining and its Domino products.
In August 2007, Florida Crystals was selected by the University of Florida as the site for a $20M grant to do research in cellulose ethanol as an alternative energy source. The company already produces enough clean energy to run its own operations plus 60,000 homes.
The eventual goal of the acquisition of the properties on the south side of Lake Okeechobee would still maintain the need of the levies, canals and the Herbert Hoover Dike, whose current repair work won’t be complete until 2013, but it would also provide the opportunity to develop a freshwater reservoir instead of tapping into the Florida Aquifer. This would take no less than ten years to come to completion. The perception of the area becoming a “flow-thru” to the Everglades is misplaced because of the inherent needs to control such large volumes of water to limit flood damage.
No doubt, Governor Crist chose to announce the agreement with U S Sugar at a time when election campaigns are about to heat up at the Republican and Democrat conventions to finalize their presidential choices. The deal also keeps his name in the news for that possible position as running mate on the Republican ticket.
Actually, Crist is making points with a couple of very intense political interests. He’s promoting offshore drilling along the Florida Coast so patriotic Americans who value the price of oil more than conservation of pristine shorelines could conceivably provide backing for his vice presidency.
Ecologists are justly enthusiastic on the prospects of cleaning up the Everglades in a shorter time span than could otherwise be expected. They may view this as an antidote to the possibility of expanding offshore oil drilling. Besides, with sugarcane lobbyists having contributed tens of millions of dollars in campaign interests, there’s another powerful ally for Governor Crist.
It’s difficult to deem the acquisition of over 187,000 acres, a part of the 700,00-acre Everglades Agricultural Area established in 1950 to promote farming in the area, poor judgment for what could very well assist in saving the Everglades from pollution.
The problem that surrounds Crist is the way the deal was made, without involving the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Water Management District, the agencies who were commissioned in 1948 to address the effects of major hurricanes that occurred from the 1920s to the 40s and who continue to be fundamental overseers of restoring what is called “The River of Grass”.
Among the worst of these storms was the “Okeechobee Hurricane” of 1928 which devastated south Florida as it hit landfill in Palm Beach County and swept over Lake Okeechobee, killing more than 2,500 people. In 1933, there were two hurricanes that led to the evacuation of residents in the Lake area. The “Labor Day Hurricane” in 1935 is still considered one of the most intense to have made landfall in the United States.
The 1947 “Fort Lauderdale Hurricane” passed slowly over the state from Palm Beach to Fort Myers; a 20-foot storm surge nearly compromised a dike along the south shore of Lake Okeechobee. The devastation from flooding has put lives, and agriculture interests in the surrounding areas, in danger throughout Florida’s history.
[It wasn’t until 1953 that hurricanes and tropical storms were given names.]
Florida’s legislative representatives in Washington, the Corps and SWFMD feel the secrecy of the deal between Crist’s administration and U S Sugar has already created problems and resulting delays in proceeding with current restoration plans that would have to be reworked, taking into consideration the magnitude of the deal.
The affects on economies in Hendry, Glades and Palm Beach Counties would be devastating. U S Sugar employs 1700 but a total of over 10,000 jobs would be lost in related businesses, including transportation and manufacturing, and workers in the citrus operations of U S Sugar.
Pending real estate transactions are being cancelled because of the reported negotiations in a part of the state where unemployment figures are greater than any other area in Florida and where declining home values have become further depressed.
The deal would take away over $1.6B in annual revenues, including lost local, state and federal revenues of 127M and more than 370M in labor income.
The tentative agreement would allow a minimum of six years before U S Sugar would bring an end to its annual production of 600,000 tons of sugar 20 million boxes of oranges. Still, that allows a very short-term time period to resolve the economic instabilities that would be caused by the closure of the nation’s largest sugarcane grower. Layoff announcements would be frequent.
Independent analysts have priced the worth of U S Sugar at approximately half the offered $1.75M, taking note that a private offer would never consider such an exorbitant figure. Growing environmental concerns, reduced government subsidies (costing American consumers nearly $2B a year) and greater federal regulation put the industry at odds with the same degree of profitability as in the past. Recent years of drought have also eroded production numbers.
Tariff fees on sugar products from Mexico are set to expire at year’s end and other growing sentiments to ease restrictions on sugar imports have also put the future of domestic sugar in question.
Currently, American consumers pay about twice the amount of world sugar prices.
Sugarcane accounts for 75% of worldwide sugar production.
The deal won’t be done until the fat cats sing – or not – but the state must first get an appraisal of U S Sugar holdings before negotiations can proceed. Another aspect of the tentative offer would include a lease-back arrangement for a minimum of six years. Because of this clause the public is expected to have faith that the affect on other local businesses and workforces will be less immediate, perhaps giving unemployed workers opportunities at local competitors Florida Crystals and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative. These two corporations also jointly own American Sugar Refining and its Domino products.
In August 2007, Florida Crystals was selected by the University of Florida as the site for a $20M grant to do research in cellulose ethanol as an alternative energy source. The company already produces enough clean energy to run its own operations plus 60,000 homes.
The eventual goal of the acquisition of the properties on the south side of Lake Okeechobee would still maintain the need of the levies, canals and the Herbert Hoover Dike, whose current repair work won’t be complete until 2013, but it would also provide the opportunity to develop a freshwater reservoir instead of tapping into the Florida Aquifer. This would take no less than ten years to come to completion. The perception of the area becoming a “flow-thru” to the Everglades is misplaced because of the inherent needs to control such large volumes of water to limit flood damage.
No doubt, Governor Crist chose to announce the agreement with U S Sugar at a time when election campaigns are about to heat up at the Republican and Democrat conventions to finalize their presidential choices. The deal also keeps his name in the news for that possible position as running mate on the Republican ticket.
Actually, Crist is making points with a couple of very intense political interests. He’s promoting offshore drilling along the Florida Coast so patriotic Americans who value the price of oil more than conservation of pristine shorelines could conceivably provide backing for his vice presidency.
Ecologists are justly enthusiastic on the prospects of cleaning up the Everglades in a shorter time span than could otherwise be expected. They may view this as an antidote to the possibility of expanding offshore oil drilling. Besides, with sugarcane lobbyists having contributed tens of millions of dollars in campaign interests, there’s another powerful ally for Governor Crist.
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