Florida public university students will actually save money if the state further increases tuition and fees, a legislative advisory board concluded, and it recommends that each of the state's 11 public universities be given that authority.
We agree that
"This is one of the most absurd reasons I've ever heard to raise tuition," said state Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, the Senate's budget chairman. "That's absolutely nuts. They need to get out of their cubicles in Tallahassee and get out here in the real world. I had advised them earlier not to waste their time. It's not going to happen in the legislature."
"I think the impact would be very negative," said Scott Ross, executive director of the Florida Students Association, which consists of 10 of the 11 student body presidents of the state's public universities.
And where did the "brain trust" that came up with this idea come from? You guessed it:
The Council for Education Policy, Research and Improvement is a nine-member board appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and the speakers of the Senate and the House to evaluate state education programs and recommend improvements.
Five (5) of the nine members of the Council for Education Policy, Research and Improvement (the "CEPRI") are appointed by "Jeb!". And, if you expected the CEPRI's board members to be experts on education, you would be wrong. CEPRI chairman Akshay Desai is a geriatric doctor, and Vice Chair Bob Taylor is the "charmain of the Mariner Group and Robb & Stucky Ltd., [and] a member of the Florida Council of 100"; the member profiled in the inagural newsletter is a surge protector manufacturer. See Insight (.pdf document),July 1, 2003, Vol 1, Issue 1 of the quarterly publication of the CEPRI.
To understand the mindset of these folks, the first thing the Executive Director reported (.pdf document) at the CEPRI's last meeting (on October 3, 2003) was that "he met with representatives of the Council of 100".
The Council of 100 is a collection of CEOs that advise the Governor. While claiming to be nonpartisan, the Council of 100 is naturally a collection of GOP stalwarts (with token Dems sprinkled in). Here's a brief description of the group from "Whose Florida?", including a 2001 Florda Today article titled "Florida Council of 100 blurs business, political lines":
Surrounded by a multi-million dollar modern art collection, seated on purple, crushed-velvet chairs that resemble thrones, Florida's top CEOs mingle amid strains of harp and piano music.
The cocktail-party setting echoes political fund-raisers hosted and attended by the same people. But on this balmy autumn evening in Orlando, the Council of 100 is setting its agenda for Florida.
The businessmen -- from developers to Disney executives to bankers -- are drafting blueprints to restructure Florida's education system, revive its economy and fight off tax reform.
Working side-by-side behind closed doors with Gov. Jeb Bush and led by Bush's own campaign finance chairman -- they are driven by the conviction that what's good for Florida business must be good for the rest of the state.
For some of them, the conviction is keeping Bush in office is good for business.
"We want to be a force in shaping public policy. We want to be influential. That's our mission," said Al Hoffman, the wealthy Bonita Springs businessman who personifies the Bush way of doing business.
Hoffman is an important GOP insider -- George W. Bush's campaign co-chair, Jeb Bush's past and future campaign finance chairman, and at the moment also the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
He also is one of the state's most influential businessmen, and at the meeting in Orlando this fall, Hoffman ascended to chairmanship of the Florida Council of 100.
VOUCHER MADNESS -With the cameras rolling, state education commissioner Jim Horne stood tall in the saddle. These private schools that get tax money, he said in the heat of August, are going to start answering for what they do and they are going to answer under sworn affidavit. If they don't, he said, their vouchers will be yanked by November.
Well, autumn is closing in on winter, and Horne is looking less like a John Wayne than a Don Knotts. As it turns out, Horne, once the cameras were turned off, took the swear out of sworn and the nip out of November. His plan to bring some immediate accountability to the corporate tax credit voucher program is beginning to resemble a substitute teacher battling to restore classroom decorum: Will you sit in your seats, pretty please?
The six-page sworn compliance form, as originally announced by Horne, was to provide assurance to the Department of Education that voucher schools were following all state laws and to give parents better consumer information about what the schools have to offer. To date, according to a review of DOE records by the Palm Beach Post, neither has really occurred. Some 67 schools have yet to even answer the questionnaire and all are apparently still free to receive tax-supported vouchers. One high school director in Boca Raton told the Post he had never heard of the compliance form, though his school still receives voucher payments. "When did they want it by?" he asked.
Ineptitude seems to play a leading role in these regulatory lapses, but political pressure is not far behind. "Come fall, the heat is off".
MORE VOUCHER MADNESS - Hundreds of Florida students are using more than $2.3 million in tax-supported vouchers to get home-schooling or attend part-time private schools -- something state lawmakers insist they never intended.
Parents don't normally get state money to teach their children at home, but at least 380 students are receiving one of two types of vouchers to be home-schooled full- or part-time, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis.
And because lawmakers in 2002 opened up the state's corporate voucher program to some students who have never gone to a public school, thousands more children who are being home-schooled could get vouchers as well, potentially costing the state tens of millions of dollars. "380 students getting vouchers for home-schooling".
BIG SUGAR, GUARDIANS OF THE 'GLADES -Have you seen Big Sugar's latest round of propaganda? South Florida sugar growers are running TV ads touting themselves as guardians of the Everglades.
All absurdity aside, it does raise a question: What is the point of this?
WHO DO YOU THINK IS PAYING THIS GUY? YOU GUESSED IT -Ken Connor, once considered the leader of Florida's right-to-life movement, will be Gov. Jeb Bush's lead counsel in the defense of Terri's Law, a measure that forced doctors to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube last month.
Connor, who works in a Tampa law firm, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss Michael Schiavo's Pinellas-Pasco lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law. "Terri's Law defender lashes out".
A GOOD READ -Next year's wide-open race for the U.S. Senate again raises the question of which political party rules Florida: the Democrats or the Republicans. "Political parties prep for battle".
MORE ENVIRO FRIENDLY NEWS FROM THE "JEB!" ADMIN -The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a seven-member board appointed by the governor, [had] postponed a decision last year after heavy criticism from environmentalists and skeptical reviews from outside scientists. "Florida wildlife commission to vote on downgrading manatees' status".
DISNEY "BOONDOGGLE" -Disney fans wonder how The Mouse could top its Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and the spin-off movie. Apparently, the answer is a new tourist draw called The Great Train Robbery.
Florida's High Speed Rail Commission has decided that the voter-mandated bullet train will run directly from Orlando International Airport to Walt Disney World, bypassing Disney competitors, such as Universal Studios, on International Drive. Shut out also is Orange County's publicly financed convention center. The Legislature has final authority to approve or alter the recommended route. "Next stop: Boondoggle".
SUICIDE -We're tempted to say, “Only in Florida.” But this kind of lunacy could happen in any other state since, we're fairly confident, the other 49 probably haven't thought to prohibit that kind of entertainment either. "Suicide watch".