Re: Rewarding schools' grades is punishment for budget, June 22 editorial
Editor: I feel it is imperative I respond to your editorial in which you avoid the importance of the school grading issue. Children are learning in Pasco County. What fabulous news! As a parent of a child who attends a school that went from a D to a C, I am thrilled. As an educator, I am ecstatic for the children of Pasco County. As a legislator, I am proud of the Pasco school employees for their dedication and accomplishments.
Your misguided perception that I "voted blindly on a budget bill, not knowing what the financial ramifications were for her own school district" is inaccurate.
Though I am not a member of the Education Appropriations Committee, I am well aware I voted for a budget that provided Pasco County schools a $22-million increase with flexibility for the use of those dollars. That amount is a 7.77 percent increase over what the district received last year, which is above the state average for all other school districts. I voted for a budget that fully funded the Bright Futures Scholarship Program and preserved the Florida Pre-Paid College Program. Among many other things, it also contained full funding of the Medically Needy Program and prescription drug coverage for our neediest seniors.
Though it was not a perfect budget, I wide-eyed and knowingly supported it because of the positive impact it will have on many Floridians.
For the past five years I have been in office, the state education budget has increased by 33.6 percent, from $11.1-billion to $14.8-billion, and Pasco's education budget has increased by 43.4 percent, a more than $97-million increase. I am proud of my efforts and work to improve education in our state.
First and foremost, I am an educator. My love for education is rooted in my desire to see every child reach his/her maximum potential. I will continue to advocate for additional spending on education because I believe that an investment in our children is an investment in our future.
I guess the difference between an educator and an accountant is that I would have praised the teachers and students for a job well done instead of talking to the press about the sky is falling over an unverified dollar amount. Chief Financial Officer Chuck Rushe's prediction of doom and gloom is the result of shifting less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the district's $586,689,873 budget.
Please remember the important issue: The children of Pasco County are learning. The people closest to these children, their parents, teachers, and other school-based employees will decide how their reward money can best be used to continue the academic success of their children.
Who better to make such a decision - the officials at the school district? I for one trust our teachers and school personnel to work with parents and make a decision that is in the best interest of our children.
-- Heather Fiorentino, State Representative, District 46
- EDITOR'S NOTE: On April 8, Fiorentino and all House Republicans approved their version of the state budget, which included no breakdown of how much money would be coming to individual school districts. The final budget, approved during special session, did include that data.
-- Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite represents only affluent
Editor: Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite was elected in 2002 to represent all the people of the Florida 5th Congressional District. To this point, she has been working mostly for the most affluent members of the district. She voted for the massive tax cut that also cut veterans' benefits. Fortunately, the Senate wouldn't go along with all the House provisions and cut the reduction amount and added some benefits.
I sent an e-mail to her asking that she oppose the Family Time Flexibility Act. That is the bill that allows an employer to give a worker time off in payment of overtime work, rather than time-and-a-half money. In return, I got a handout that said, in part, it was a good act as families would have more time together. Not much money but lots of time.
When the tax reduction bill omitted help for those with children who make between $10,000 and $26,000, the House crafted and passed a bill to put that provision back. That is good, but the House didn't stop there. Members made it into an $82-billion tax cut, but allocated 96 percent of the reduction for those earning $110,000 to $200,000. That happens to be the range into which a House member's salary falls. That's great. They gave themselves another tax cut. Did Brown-Waite vote against that farce? Not on your life.
In the June 19 Times, it was reported that the House had voted to make the repeal of the estate tax permanent. That tax had only affected those estates with a value of more than $1-million. The article also noted that Brown-Waite voted for the cut.
I am sure the affluent members of the district will be pleased to vote for Brown-Waite when she runs for re-election in 2004, but I have difficulty deciding why the rest of us would want to do so.
-- Neil A. Hilmer, Weeki Wachee
Honor Bo Harrison by uplifting communities
Editor: Recently, I have read several letters and editorials regarding Rep. Heather Fiorentino's initiative to rename a portion of U.S. 301 after our fallen hero Bo Harrison. I want to commend Rep. Fiorentino for taking the initiative to honor a man who served our county so diligently and faithfully. As Rep. Fiorentino stated, renaming the highway is only a small first step in addressing a much larger and complex sociological problem in east Pasco.
After working in Lacoochee, Trilby and Dade City for many years in the mid 1990s with the Pasco County Housing Authority, I watched the problems that seemed then to be unsurpassable escalate. The problems of poverty, crime, lack of educational opportunity, poor transportation, inadequate housing, and lack of concern by the residents of Pasco County have not gone away.
The solutions do not lie with another government program as many have suggested. The solution lies within the community. The solution lies within the private sectors, within the churches and other nonprofit organizations of our community. Several years ago, we were able to obtain funding for the Lacoochee Community Center, a worthwhile project, but not the sole solution. We do not need another government program; we need individual responsibility, family empowerment, and community leaders to step forward, stand up and tackle these problems.
It is only fitting that there have been many articles addressing our only D school in Pasco, Cox Elementary. Many of these children do not have the same opportunities to excel that many of the A school students have. The Dade City, Lacoochee and Trilby area is an ideal location for a charter school. My staff and I, at Dayspring Academy, would welcome the opportunity to provide assistance to those community leaders who want to offer parents a worthwhile alternative. A charter school will begin to give the children of the Dade City, Lacoochee and Trilby area the proper tools they need to succeed. This may begin to break the endless cycle of poverty. Helping the children escape from poverty and giving them a first-class education will honor Bo Harrison.
Instead of looking to government for solutions, let us take the problems and solve them ourselves. This will make our communities stronger.
-- John Legg, New Port Richey
[Last modified June 26, 2003, 05:21:31]
