State: Senate's budget plan sends a message

TALLAHASSEE -- The Senate unveiled its own spending plan for state government Thursday that shreds health care and public safety programs and targets Gov. Jeb Bush's pet projects.

Many of the cuts appeared to be part of a strategy to whip up public outrage and force Bush and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd to agree to raise taxes or generate added revenue through expanded gambling.

"This is the perfect example where more revenue, whether through increased taxes or increased tax base, is needed just to meet the basic needs," said Senate Majority Leader Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island. Jones said he is hoping for a "ground swell of support" from the public.

It prompted cries of political posturing and a warning of early release of convicts.

The Senate would gut all state money from Bush's reading initiatives and restore funding for the state library, which Bush wanted to transfer to a private university. It also would eliminate all bonuses for high-performing schools under Bush's A+ Plan and funding for the governor's reading initiative.

The state's Medically Needy program, an optional Medicaid program for people who have exhausted their own insurance, would disappear altogether, while shelters for runaways and teen counseling programs would get nearly all the money Bush cut in his spending plan. Universities and community colleges would get no money for enrollment growth.

In effect, if Bush wanted something, the Senate cut it. If he wanted to cut something, they funded it.

"I want him to have as much on the table as I do," said Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville. "Politics is the art of give and take."

Bush spokeswoman Jill Bratina said it's still early.

"Ultimately, we're certain that the Legislature will fund reading, mentoring and other important education initiatives," Bratina said. "Making every Florida child a reader should be our top education priority."

The Senate's budget proposal brought a swift response from the House Republican leadership, which accused King and the Senate of playing political games with people's lives.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the strategy," said Byrd, R-Plant City. "They've got to predict doom and gloom, the end is near ... They've got to sell the public that we need to raise taxes. We've got a wonderful budget, I think."

The House presented a budget that meets most of its priorities, from teacher pay raises to smaller classes to a $25-million center for Alzheimer's research at USF. Cuts in programs for troubled teenage girls, runaway shelters and health care coverage for the medically needy were averted, and the House would spend $315-million to reward outstanding teachers and $300-million to reduce class sizes.

House leaders are proposing no new taxes and their spending plan is more in line with Bush's than the Senate's.

The House did not release documentation showing where it got all the money, but Byrd said the House balanced its budget with millions of dollars from surpluses in trust funds, special accounts supported by gasoline taxes, documentary stamp fees and other sources.

"We will sweep money in trust funds that's not being used. It's just sitting there," Byrd said.

Bush also cobbled together a budget with trust-fund dollars, but the Senate used little.

The Senate proposed a $44-million cut in the Department of Corrections budget, which brought a dire warning from secretary James Crosby.

"This budget will force us to begin early release of prisoners on July 1 of this year," Crosby said, adding that number could be as high as 2,700 prisoners.

Both the House and Senate budgets would increase tuition by 7.5 percent. The House funds Bush's reading initiatives and transfers the state library to the private Nova Southeastern University in Broward County as Bush proposed.

While vague on how they'd pay for it, House leaders said Thursday they want to put $291.4-million into the state's Medically Needy program. The Senate would cut this completely, while Bush proposes shifting the 26,000 it serves to a prescription drug program.

House Democratic Leader Doug Wiles of St. Augustine complained that the Republican-controlled House wrote a press release, not a budget.

"The House budget is really a show-me-the-money budget" distributed in "bits and pieces," Wiles said.

The Senate would put $525-million more into public schools, providing a $177 boost in per-pupil spending and enough new money to cover the more than 50,000 new students expected this fall.

The House plan increases school funding by $284-million, yielding a $140 per student increase. It also wants to establish a new $315-million teacher-pay program.

-- Times staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report, which includes information from Times wires.

Budget winners and losers

Winners

State library: Move to private university blocked.

PACE Center for Girls: Slight budget cut, not eliminated.

Runaway shelters/youth counseling centers: Slight budget cut, not eliminated.

Losers

Medically Needy program: Eliminated.

Governor's reading initiatives: Eliminated.

Universities: No money for enrollment growth.

Governor's A+ Plan: No bonuses high-performing schools.