News	April 17, 08

South Florida

Cutting Class

South Florida schools will bear the brunt of state’s planned $298 million education budget cuts

By Jordan Melnick

The Florida House and Senate began negotiating a $65 billion budget last week that could cut next year’s education funding by as much as $298 million — the first decrease in funding for Florida schools in 37 years.

Under the House plan, 60 percent of the cut — $129 million — would come out of South Florida’s education coffers.

“This is the most dire situation I’ve seen as an educator,” said Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, the Democratic ranking member on the Schools and Learning Council. “Some see it as cloudy. I see it as raining.”

Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow also has a bleak forecast.

“This is going to put quite a strain on schools,” he said. “You’re going to see everything from program cuts, to service cuts, to layoffs — some in the classroom. Some places are talking about limiting school nurses, crossing guards, school police officers.”

Miami-Dade School Superintendent Rudy Crew has already said that, because of the tight budget, he will be “cutting pretty deeply,” and the district has called layoffs a possibility.

Bendross-Mindingall puts it in more certain terms.

“There will be layoffs,” she said. “I think they will come across the board.”

This could be bad news for South Florida educators. Some districts have already started warning teachers that many of them might not be rehired next year.

In Central Florida, Manatee County has plans to lay off 172 teachers and Volusia County plans to close seven schools.

Bendross-Mindingall says Miami-Dade County can expect worse.

“There’s no comparison as to what can happen,” she said. “There’s going to be more bleeding in Dade County than most.”

The exorbitant cut comes as a result of declining sales-tax revenue, increased costs in Florida and a predicted $159-million drop in lottery revenues over the next two years.

Another important factor is low student enrollment, especially in South Florida. Student population is expected to decline by 4,568 students in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties next year, and by a state-leading 3,319 in Broward County. Fewer students means less money, and this is why South Florida, while educating 30 percent of the state’s public school students, will absorb a full 60 percent of the proposed budget cut.

The House and Senate proposals differ somewhat, with the House budget holding the per-student cut to $86 and leaving school property taxes alone. The Senate proposed a small hike in the property tax and a $115 per-student cut. The final draft will likely bear a closer resemblance to the steeper Senate proposal, however, since the House drew up its budget before learning about the expected drop in lottery proceeds.

A budget slash of this magnitude threatens South Florida’s school system at every level. But in the end, Bendross-Mindingall says, it is the children who will feel it the most.

“Children will not get the kind of education they deserve. Children will suffer.”