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Tax relief does take a toll on state's school funding

Re: Education doesn't suffer because of state tax cuts, letter, Dec. 4.

Gov. Jeb Bush throws out a lot of numbers regarding public school funding in Florida. Yet the Florida education system continues to remain near the bottom in various state rankings (except for Florida's calculations of these rankings, of course). Obviously, either the public school system is not receiving enough funding or, like his brother's results in Texas, his education plans are a failure.

As for his tax cuts, they have not gone to the "hard-working residents of Florida," as he claims. They have gone mainly to large corporations and billionaires. For example, over the last seven years, a couple with $10-million in assets subject to the intangibles tax has received an annual tax cut of more than $10,000; if these assets were $500,000 the tax cut would be around $1,000 per year. But an average middle-class couple with the majority of their assets in their house and retirement savings has received a tax cut of zero. Perhaps the governor should look at the state's own statistics that show only 2.5 percent of Floridians have enough assets to be subject to the intangibles tax.

While the governor pooh-poohs his "tax relief" as only 4 percent of the budget, based on his numbers of an average of more than $2-billion per year in tax breaks to the large corporations and billionaires, he could have increased our school spending more than 12 percent this year. This clearly shows that this "tax relief" has come at the expense of education and this criticism is not "disingenuous and inaccurate," as the governor claims. The fact is the Times' Nov. 20 editorial Hard to imagine, indeed hit the nail on the head.

A failing education program

Re: Education doesn't suffer because of state tax cuts.

The governor recites a long list of the impressive-looking numbers in the state's education budget and concludes that Florida spends enough on education to satisfy the constitutional requirement of adequately educating Florida's children. It doesn't. And he blandly asserts that there is enough tax revenue left over for low-tax Florida to provide tax cuts, also. There isn't.

Mere repeated use of the word "billions" proves nothing. This isn't Delaware or Rhode Island - it's Florida, the fourth-most-populous state in the nation with a huge - and burgeoning - school population. The governor's budget numbers need to be put in context.

Each year newspapers across the country print the all-state comparison of per-capita spending on education. Florida is invariably at or near the bottom of the list. Want to know why we can't attract or keep good teachers? Florida's starting teachers' salaries are in the lowest quartile. Want to know why the governor supports giving away billions of dollars to attract new, high-wage business into the state? We have a service-oriented economy due in part to the highest school dropout rate in the nation.

It isn't the Times' opinion that Florida education is underfunded that is "disingenuous and inaccurate." It is the governor's determination to put a happy face on a failing program of education - in large measure because it is underfunded.

State has no control over private school

Re: Storefront high, Nov. 30.

This Times editorial seems to blame Gov. Jeb Bush and the Department of Education for the alleged misdeeds of University High, a private school in South Florida.

The Legislature, in a statute adopted more than 25 years ago, explicitly intended that the Department of Education not "regulate, control, approve or accredit private educational institutions." In addition, the statute states that the owners of private schools are "solely responsible for all aspects of their educational programs."

While the department cannot accredit or approve private schools, it is required to report certain data to the state. As a service to the public, the Department of Education is required by law to maintain, update and make available a database of general information about the state's approximately 3,100 private schools. However, the information is self-reported by the private schools as outlined in the statute. We have since added language to our Web site to ensure the source of this data is clear to parents and students.

Further, University High is not affiliated in any way with the state of Florida's scholarship programs. Had it been, the school would have been subject to the strict controls the department applies to all private schools participating in these programs.

If the allegations against University High are true, then the conduct of those associated with the school is indeed deplorable. In fact, it may be criminal. There are existing laws that relate to private schools and penalties for those who choose to disregard them. That is why I sent a letter to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office and asked it to investigate this matter. A quality education - be it public or private - is critically important and should be protected within the confines of the law.

Misguided desegregation

Re: Parents choose schools that are close to home, Dec. 8.

Thank you for publishing the article regarding how people consider desegregation a lesser priority than other issues. To me, the desegregation effort was a misguided directive from the courts and government to achieve equality. Desegregation and equality are two completely separate issues.

I believe most of us agree that fairness and equality, regardless of gender, race or creed, are or should be important values in this country. However, the effort to ship kids out of their communities in the name of desegregation serves more to dilute one's sense of community than achieve equality. First, you end up spending more money on transportation and less on the education system itself. Parents are probably less involved in distant schools, and the kids have less time to do homework and be with friends because of the commute.

Why don't we spend the travel money on making the children's schools as good as the ones they are traveling miles and miles to?

Neighborhood schools make sense

Re: Parents choose schools that are close to home.

It was a relief to read this on the front page, as it underscores the logic and necessity of rebuilding our communities so that schools are closer to our homes. In this type of community children's classmates are their neighbors as well. They can walk to and from school together. In these schools parents know one another and become familiar with the children and teachers because of sheer proximity. The community becomes more solidified, as benefits and problems are common.

Diversity can be encouraged more by an attitude of inclusion than by forcing groups to intermingle. There could still be magnet schools, which could be offered as a choice over a local school, but parents would be required to fund, arrange and be responsible for the transportation to that school.

Children need a safe and stable environment in which to learn. I say take the money that now goes to busing and retrofit some of the aging or unused buildings and acreage in our neighborhoods for smaller schools more appropriate for managing groups of young children.

Officer acted in anger

Re: In handcuffing incident, focus on the child, not the officer, letter, Dec. 2.

There is no excuse for the behavior shown by Officer Roberto Rolon in handcuffing this 13-year-old. I hope his handling of this situation is not an example of how these officers are trained. Officer Rolon had clearly lost his cool and was acting in anger. After stopping the bus, Officer Rolon could have had another officer conduct the investigation.

If this 13-year-old was innocent, she had every right to voice that innocence. Not doing so could be seeing as conveying guilt. This girl had a right to keep quiet while being accused, being manhandled and at any point afterward. Hers were not acts of disrespect for authority but of demanding to be treated like a human being.

Officer Rolon's actions did nothing toward promoting respect for himself and his fellow officers. This 13-year-old should not be blamed for Officer Rolon's mistakes.

His actions were reasonable

Many people have been quick to judge police Officer Roberto Rolon's decision to handcuff the girl on the school bus to quiet her down and to control the situation. It now becomes evident with further review that she was very much out of line.

Please put yourself in the officer's place. He was clearly shaken by nearly being killed or injured by the actions of one of the juveniles on the bus. As he was trying to determine who had thrown the object at the car that swerved at him, the girl was making a scene that not only showed disrespect for the officer, but also for his plight. With her actions there was no way to conclude the situation. He acted to bring the situation to a close. Now that all the details are reported, it looks like the officer acted more reasonably than at first glance.

Don't blame the parents

Re: Cuffing on bus is put in context.

I think it is absolutely ridiculous how parents always get blamed by society for their children's behavior. I am 22 now, but I remember being 13 years old, and how I acted at home was not how I acted outside of my home.

At home, I was this really good daughter who made good grades. As soon as I walked out that door, I was a totally different kid. I was rude, obnoxious and had a big mouth. I know for a fact that it was nothing my parents were or were not doing that made me behave that way. Believe it or not, some kids just are their own person and do things that have nothing to do with the way they were raised.

So please stop blaming the parents every time a kid does something wrong. If the parent was there, that would be understandable. But there were no parents on that bus when that boy threw an object out the window and when Ashley Marie Mitchell decided to be a drama queen. Sometimes kids just do stupid things on their own!

More ways to ease displacement

Re: County mulls ways to ease displacement, Dec. 3.

Well, congratulations to Pinellas County officials for considering plans to help mobile home residents who are uprooted by developers. As a resident of Bay Pines Mobile Home Park, a retirement community of more than 500 people in danger of being "uprooted," I would like to take their plans one step further. In addition to the idea of having developers identify alternative housing and offer rental aid to displaced residents, I propose that the land owner be required to buy, at a fair market price, each mobile home that will be affected by the sale.

They also suggest that the developer who seeks rezoning or other official action that forces park residents to relocate to name the affected tenants, specify the rent they pay and list the number of adults and children who live in each home. I would like to suggest that they also should include the age and special needs of each tenant. For example: 85-year-old widow; 50-year-old veteran in wheelchair. This information will help personalize the plight of the people who are being evicted instead of just being numbers.

Condo boom will squeeze out many

Florida used to be the state where the elderly came to enjoy the warm weather and have fun in the sun on a low budget. Today I look at the high rents and the price of homes and condos that have doubled or tripled. It's turning into a state for only the rich.

Everywhere one looks, it's more condos. It won't be long until a lot of us will have to move to other states where things are cheaper so we can survive.

Working on affordable housing

Re: The affordable housing deficit, Nov. 25.

We applaud the recent Times editorial calling on the business community to partner with government to address the affordable housing deficit in Tampa Bay and want to point out that the housing and mortgage finance industries are two business segments that have been actively involved in providing workforce housing opportunities in the Tampa Bay area and nationwide.

Our industry, too, believes that a healthy, vibrant economy relies on effectively addressing the housing needs of the community's workforce. Flexible new mortgage programs are already helping low- and middle-income families achieve homeownership, the result of partnerships with Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and FHA. Barriers to homeownership, such as lack of down-payment, rigid mortgage criteria and high home prices, are being addressed by flexible financing programs and reduced down-payment requirements for some loans.

We also support efforts to address workforce housing here in our own back yard. The recent Think Tank event shows that our local governments and the Regional Planning Council all recognize that putting homeownership within reach of our workforce protects and enhances our quality of life.

We join the Times in urging other Tampa Bay businesses to follow up on some of the Think Tank's ideas for supporting workforce housing, and we stand ready to work with government and industry to help bring these ideas to fruition.

Getting different treatment

Re: Power broker calls, land use plan changes, Dec. 7.

As the former chairman of the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Owners Association, I find it curious that in this article, several of our commissioners stated that they were called by former Ambassador Mel Sembler and proceeded to hold conversations with him. The St. Petersburg Times quotes Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart as saying, "The significance of somebody like Mel Sembler calling and lobbying on an issue is not something that would go unrecognized or unheeded."

As the chairman of a mobile home park undergoing a rezoning attempt, I felt that the commissioners needed some particular (generic) information as well as bringing several points of concern that involved not only Golden Lantern but every nonresident-owned park within Pinellas County to their direct attention.

During the first rezoning, when we/I requested an interview, whether by telephone or in person, it was considered a conflict of interest as we had an issue pending that the commissioners would be voting on. I was told by our Pinellas County Attorney's Office that we were an affected party that stood to gain by the decision, therefore there was conflict of interest. After the first rezoning was denied and before the second attempt was registered, I made the request again. The answer this time was since the county knew that the owner of the property would refile, it was still a conflict.

I am ashamed to say that what our county officials are showing us ordinary residents is that unless you are rich or famous or powerful, you don't deserve consideration. What I am witnessing is that an ethical code only applies when those in power wish to apply it. This should scare every resident in Pinellas County, particularly those in mobile home parks who are relying on our county administrators to be fair, impartial and unbiased.

The real cost of condo conversions

The recent trend in converting apartment complexes into condominiums is likely to cause Pinellas County to lose even more necessary low-to-medium paying jobs such as nurses, teachers and law enforcement. Many people with these careers cannot afford the skyrocketing cost of homes and are being squeezed out of the county. Some may look into jobs in counties or states that are more affordable. This trend also makes it harder for local businesses to attract people to jobs in the area since unless the pay is very attractive they will likely not be able find affordable housing.

Another issue is that the current tenants have few rights under the law. You either buy or move even if you've lived in your current apartment for many years. In my case I moved out of one apartment complex that converted only to move into another complex that coverted after I had been there only one month.

The county leadership needs to find ways to make these conversions less attractive, perhaps through new taxes or incentives for owners to rent. If left unchecked, the county will be paying the consequences for many years into the future.

Take a different approach to your tree

As the holiday season approaches, many otherwise kind people are heading to local lots to buy their annual Christmas tree. These trees are living creatures chopped down by the millions so people can string lights on them and watch them slowly wilt in their living rooms. How is it beautiful to watch something die? Why is this considered an appropriate way to celebrate? What are we teaching our children?

Parents, please start a new tradition this year. Plant a Christmas tree with your children. Let them join you in caring for it and naming it. It will not only help you bond as a family, it will also be a permanent reminder of a special time you spent together.

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:51:18]