Florida would secure $2.4 billion in stimulus money for public schools if state officials can prove that education spending has not dropped faster than the total state budget, The Palm Beach Post has learned. The state needs the option because of a requirement in the stimulus plan that education money be reserved for states that have maintained school spending levels. If Florida shows it has maintained proportional school spending in recent years, the U.S. Department of Education would waive the requirement, an adviser to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Saturday.

Florida is ineligible for the school-related stimulus money because the state's kindergarten-through-12th-grade budget was cut by $1 billion, or 6 percent, in the 2008-09 budget. Politically, it's not a surprise that federal officials are finding a way to help Florida secure the education money. It is part of the three-year federal stimulus plan, which could mean $13.5 billion for the state.

Gov. Charlie Crist has been one of the few national Republican figures to support the stimulus plan pushed by President Obama. On Friday, Duncan said he was well aware of the state's problem and added, "Let's just say we want to help." But the indication that Florida will receive the stimulus money comes at a critical time. The state's budget, down nearly 10 percent from the $72 billion lawmakers initially approved in 2007, is facing a potential $5 billion shortfall in sales and real estate taxes for 2009-10. That shortfall does not include a $1.1 billion property tax deficit in the K-12 budget as a result of the drop in real estate values this year.

Information about the waiver will be released by Monday, an adviser to Duncan told The Post on Saturday. Florida's higher education officials also will have to show college and university spending has remained proportional to ensure their share of stimulus money. But the K-12 waiver may depend on how state officials define the education budget.

While the proportion of the total education budget has remained level in the past two years of spending cuts, the burden of the school budget has shifted from the state to individual property owners. In 2005-06, property taxes accounted for 43 percent of the K-12 budget, while state revenues made up the rest. Since then, property tax collections, which lawmakers refer to as a "required local effort," have increased by $1.9 billion and now account for 50.5 percent of the state's education spending. Crist has called for lawmakers to hold the property tax rate steady this year, but Republican leaders in the House and Senate have not made that commitment. "The stimulus money would cover a lot of that shortfall, but there could still be some deficit," said Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. Alexander said Senate leaders plan to accept the stimulus money, but will comb through the federal requirements. "We'll have to look at the details," Alexander said. "The last thing we want to do is take the money and not be able to live up to the commitments."

A spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state, said the stimulus money should not bail out lawmakers from reviewing the state's tax structure. The teachers union is pushing lawmakers to increase the state sales tax for three years from 6 percent to 7 percent and dedicate the additional $3.5 billion annually to schools. "A federal influx of money would help, but education has still taken a big cut," FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow said. "We're hopeful the Legislature will look at some other revenue sources to soothe and ease some of the losses we've taken over the years."

House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, said last week that a temporary sales tax hike could be debated in the chamber. "One of the great things about being part of this process is there are always ideas," Cretul said. Cretul, meanwhile, is pushing a constitutional amendment that would cut state spending on schools. He said House Republican leaders would push for a measure (HJR 919) that, if approved by voters, would weaken the class-size reduction mandate voters passed in 2002.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...mulus_0308.html

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/10/na...nds/news-metro/
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Thanks to Mark Pudlow for the clip and the leads.