This Is Truly Outrageous - "Privatization is almost always cast as a vehicle for more efficiency and cost savings. While that's sometimes [indeed rarely] the case, an outsourcing plan for the State Technology Office is alarmingly vast yet far too short on details about benefits and consequences.Amid protests from losing bidders, the technology office backed off of plans to enter an unprecedented arrangement with BearingPoint Inc., a politically connected firm based in McLean, Va. The seven-year contract eventually would have transferred the state's central computer facility - the multimillion-dollar Shared Resource Center - to BearingPoint." See "Where's the beef in tech office plan?" Now other politically connected companies, including former DMS Secretary Cynthia Henderson's client, ACS, will have a shot at feeding at the government trough; indeed, Henderson is being accused of improperly lobbying in the matter. The question, however, is why are we transferring state assets to the private secto in the first place?
I Want My "A Plus" Plan, and You Can't Have It - Four years after Bush rammed through his plan to pay money to schools whose students do well on the FCAT, "Republican legislators unveiled plans Tuesday to scuttle the practice next year and spend the money elsewhere." The House and the Senate see Bush's phoney "A Plus" plan as a source of funds. On one hand, the House goes wild with accountability, with "a dramatic new plan to create a statewide bonus system for teachers, [with the money] spent rewarding individual teachers whose students perform well, regardless of their school's overall performance." On the other hand, the Senate takes a more disciplined approach: "A key Senate panel on Tuesday proposed putting the $120 million in ''school recognition'' money back in the overall public education budget, along with funds Bush has proposed for his other pet projects: $11 million for a reading initiative and $13 million to support mentoring programs."
In the meantime, John Ellis threatens to hold his breath until he turns blue: because "both proposals to take money from the governor's ''A+ Plan'' drew a sharp rebuke from Bush, marking the first time that the Republican governor and the GOP-led House have been at odds on how to balance the state's budget in 2003-04. . . . Until Tuesday, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd had been largely in lock step with Bush's budgeting plan, which calls for steep cuts. Senate President Jim King, though, has said the state needs additional revenue to meet the state's needs. ''We're not going to gut the A+ Plan after so much work and so much student success,'' Bush said emphatically. `It's not going to happen. . . . You don't hear me say this with a lot of regularity. Take it for what I mean.'''
Jeez, Sorry About That Emptying State Buildings Crack - Our Governor who has never managed anything (other than his own trust fund) before purchasing Florida's Governorship, has succeeded in demoralizing state workers. "The Tallahassee Democrat opines that if "the Bush administration truly cares about the state's workforce, it must do more than reassure with Dilbert-like rhetoric. Demoralized workers eventually become unproductive workers. That spells trouble for them and the people who rely on the services they provide." Service First: still unsold".
A Bi-Partisan Embarassment - "In spite of looming budget cuts that could dismantle dozens of social service programs this year, a House committee Tuesday approved legislation that will spend $700,000 to create a new office for faith-based initiatives next year." See "House panel backs faith-based office".
Class Size - "Estimates of the cost of reducing class size dropped Tuesday in the Legislature. A plan to spend $464 million next year to start implementing the ballot measure voters approved four months ago was presented in the Senate Education Appropriations Committee. That's significantly lower than the $628 million Gov. Jeb Bush used in his recommended budget, based on estimates of state economists last summer." Associated Press. The House and the Senate are taking different approaches.
Slots a Loser in the House - "As expected, a committee in Speaker Johnnie Byrd's House Tuesday killed a proposal to bring slot machines to Florida's pari-mutuel gambling parlors, a priority of Senate President Jim King." Story. Let's see what the Senated does. 7:39 AM
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