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You may have never heard of Roberto Martinez but he has a lot to say about public education in Florida. Mr. Martinez is a member of the Florida Board of Education. A Georgetown Law graduate, he also holds a Masters in Accounting and a B.S. in Economics from the prestigious Wharton School of Business at…
This week, Kathleen Oropeza and Linda Kobert visited Bradenton to attend a meeting of parent representatives from local schools. Their group, headed by Christine Sket, has decided to join forces with FundEducationNow.org. About 40 parents in the Manatee school district formally merged with the group during the district’s Joint Parent Organization quarterly meeting on Tuesday.…
The White House released a report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last week. The study shows that the money saved 250,000 education jobs this year. 9% of Florida’s education budget is being propped up this year by Federal money. However, the crisis has not been averted. States nationwide are experiencing severe budget shortfalls…
On Tuesday, Amy Baker from the Office of Economic and Demographic Research gave her forecast to the Senate Budget Committee. The news was grim. Florida is facing a budget shortfall of $2.6 billion to its critical needs. State governments are required by law to produce balanced budgets so new cuts will have to be made…
In a letter dated October 5th, Commissioner Eric Smith warns school superintendents across the state that Florida is facing major deficits for critical needs including education. In his memo, he warns that deficits could be nearly 23%. It is unclear if the legislature has the stomach to find any new sources of revenue but it…
Orlandosentinel.com July 15, 2009 Sunday’s paper contained stories that should’ve left any taxpayer — no, make that anyone with a heart — shaken. Thanks to some in-depth reporting by Sentinel reporter Rene Stutzman, we learned that more than 70 of the state’s child-welfare workers have been caught falsifying records. The results? One child wound up…
FundEducationNow.org 07/06/09 *Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), HB 991, a priority of Education Commissioner Dr. Eric Smith was signed into law last month by Governor Crist. Required as part of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act, AYP measures schools based on a pass/fail system. To achieve AYP, schools must meet proficiency benchmarks in 39 separate…
Smart Money published June 29, 2009 Consumer Action by Lisa Scherzer School may be out for the summer, but across the country school boards are now wrestling with mammoth budget shortfalls that will require painful cuts in the upcoming year. Their own budgets1 in shambles, many states are inflicting deep reductions in K-12 funding. At…