{"id":3464,"date":"2011-12-08T12:17:19","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=3464"},"modified":"2011-12-08T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:17:19","slug":"what-theyre-saying-about-gov-rick-scotts-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/12\/08\/what-theyre-saying-about-gov-rick-scotts-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"What They’re Saying About Gov. Rick Scott’s Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Raedle \/ Getty News Images<\/p>

Gov. Rick Scott proposed adding $1 billion to K-12 budgets Wednesday.<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s a sampling of coverage of the budget proposal Gov. Rick Scott unveiled Wednesday. Scott wants to add $1 billion to K-12 education, but it could come at the expense of Medicaid and other state programs.<\/p>\n

Scott vowed to veto any budget that did not increase K-12 funding.<\/p>\n

From the Palm Beach Post<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Floridians are concerned about two things more than any other,” Scott said. “Education and jobs. And those two things, as we all know, are inseparable.”<\/p>\n

Scott’s proposal would bring average per-pupil spending in Florida to $6,372, still well below the $7,126 high in 2008, which crashed with the recession. But next year’s level would top current classroom spending by $142 per student.<\/p>\n

Mike Burke, Palm Beach County’s chief financial officer, welcomed Scott’s new approach, saying it diverged sharply from earlier this year when the new governor sought a $3.3 billion cut in education.<\/p>\n

“That was a turnaround from his past track record,” Burke said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scott didn’t visit a traditional public school until August, but Southwest Florida leaders believe a recent visit may have influenced his budget. From the Naples Daily News<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

At some point between this February and Wednesday, Gov. Rick Scott decided to make education spending a priority in Florida.<\/p>\n

His daylong stint teaching students in Immokalee \u2014 viewed by some as a press stunt \u2014 might have been the turning point.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Scott proposed $3.3 billion in cuts to education, an antagonizing blow for educators across the state. And before Wednesday, when Scott unveiled a slimmer state budget that nonetheless found space for a $1 billion education investment, many teachers and school officials were still Scott skeptics.<\/p>\n

But recent visits to several Collier schools appear to have doused the Republican governor with cold realities of education and its importance for the state’s workforce, Southwest Florida educators said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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