{"id":3451,"date":"2011-12-07T16:21:28","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T21:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=3451"},"modified":"2011-12-07T16:21:28","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T21:21:28","slug":"governor-proposes-billion-dollar-boost-in-florida-education-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/12\/07\/governor-proposes-billion-dollar-boost-in-florida-education-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Proposes Billion Dollar Boost In Florida Education Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"
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www.flgov.com<\/p>

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Gov. Rick Scott has unveiled his proposed budget<\/a> for the next fiscal year. It\u2019s $4.6 billion less than the current state budget, but education gets a big boost. Scott is seeking a $1 billion increase in education spending with a focus on grades K-12. \u201cDespite tough economic times,\u201d said Scott, \u201cthis investment will provide the third highest level of state funding ever into Florida\u2019s 67 school districts at 9.5 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an about-face for Scott, who proposed a 10 percent cut in education last year. Lawmakers ultimately gave him an 8 percent decrease<\/a>. As Scott\u2019s popularity ratings took a nosedive, he started looking at how education could play into his plan to create 700,000 jobs in the state over seven years. \u201cAfter traveling the state, I\u2019ve heard what Floridians have told me about education,\u201d said Scott as he announced his budget proposal at the Capitol. \u201cI will not sign a budget<\/a> for the Legislature that does not significantly increase state funding for education.\u201d Scott wouldn\u2019t say what he considers \u201csignificant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott said he\u2019s heard from Floridians over the last few months about their priorities. Their top two concerns are education and jobs, two things that he called inseparable. \u201cEvery person in our state should have the opportunity to receive a high quality, relevant education so that they have the skills and training they need to succeed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that a highly skilled workforce is the foundation under which Florida can grow its economy in the 21st<\/sup> century and that with a highly skilled workforce other important things will follow.\u201d Scott says those “important things” include a decrease in the Medicaid rolls and the prison population, and less reliance on other government assistance programs.<\/p>\n

The governor is proposing a hike in spending of just over $100 per student.\u00a0 A big component of his statewide listening tour was teachers, who\u2019ve been none too happy with Scott over changes in their tenure and retirement plans. As he laid out his budget proposal<\/a>, which will include more layoffs of state workers, Scott said he was elected to make the tough choices. \u201cI am absolutely committed to acting on what I have heard,\u201d he said, \u201cand prioritizing education funding in this budget<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Rick Scott has unveiled his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. It\u2019s $4.6 billion less than the current state budget, but education gets a big boost. Scott is seeking a $1 billion increase in education spending with a focus on grades K-12. \u201cDespite tough economic times,\u201d said Scott, \u201cthis investment will provide the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1036,1028,180,197],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}