The truth is that we, in Seminole County, have dodged another bullet. A day or two after our bargaining teams settled on a proposed salary schedule, districts across the state received a communique from Tallahassee with dire predictions for the future funding of public education. This had the immediate and universal effect of shutting down just about all negotiations across the state.

Once again, our bargaining teams exhibited a knack for choosing just the right time to settle. Remember, the School Board tried to put negotiations off until November 2? That, we learn now, would have been disasterous.

I, for one, appreciate the great work our teams have done over the past few years. The question remains, "Where would we be without the Union?" I hope our membership understands this and ratifies the contract. We shall see.

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Legislature faces $1 billion K-12 school budget shortfall

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

TALLAHASSEE — Spiraling property values, a migration of private school children and the final year of class-size reductions have state lawmakers staring at a $1 billion hole in the public school budget next year.

But there may be good news yet for Florida's students, parents and educators: Education tends to fare well in an election year.

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Read the entire article on palmbeachpost.com.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...udget_1008.html