Did you think this was going to be an attack on the failure of our public schools and teachers? Don't feel bad. You've been conditioned to think this way, as have many Floridians.

But this piece argues that the State of Florida has failed public education despite pleas and even an amendment to Florida's Constitution that is the strongest in the Nation in support of education. The disconnect is our failure to elect legislators who were disposed to, and capable of, satisfying the will of the people, as well as cutting the revenues needed to accomplish the task.

Smell a law suit somewhere? There are two at this point.

Read the articles on-line and leave a comment.

Thanks to Mark Pudlow for the clip and the leads.

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“Florida voters, bless their changeable hearts, voted overwhelmingly in 1998 to put an amendment into the state constitution declaring that running quality schools is a basic job of state government. It is, the amendment says, ‘a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.’ Since 1868, Florida has had some kind of constitutional mandate for educational quality, but since 1885, the language was just for show. After 1998, though, language became more emphatic. In fact, it is one of the strongest such declarations in any state constitution in the nation. Sadly, state voters did not follow up this declaration by electing legislators committed to school funding. And anytime the same voters had a tax cut in front of them, they jumped at that, too. The unsurprising result is that Florida schools remain among first things the state cuts in bad times. Florida now spends $1,694 per student less than it did in 2006-2007. And when it's not cutting public education, Tallahassee is pushing educational responsibilities off to locals. In 2000-2001, Florida paid 62 percent of public school expenses. Now, it pays only 45 percent. Local taxpayers pay 50 percent and the federal government provides the remaining 5 percent. You can declare on paper that schools are a vital priority, but this has a way of becoming just another vague, noble sentiment when it comes time to sweat out a state budget.”

-- Daytona Beach News-Journal columnist Mark Lane.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJour...lFOOT112009.htm

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http://www.tallahassee.com/article/2009112...ation-violation