Backs funding for certified teachers, officers
news-press.com wire services • January 23, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist
has vowed to use his line-item veto power next
week to reverse at least some of the budget cuts
passed by lawmakers, including a 2 percent cut
to a program that pays teachers a bonus for
earning national board certification.
The Legislature last week produced a $2.6
billion budget-balancing package that included
$1.2 billion in spending cuts.
Crist also said he would restore cuts that cost
66 rookie probation officers their jobs. The
Department of Corrections announced the layoffs
a day after lawmakers adjourned.
“It shouldn’t shock you that as a former
attorney general and education commissioner,
that public education and public safety are near
and dear to my heart," Crist said.
The governor has until next week to act on the
Legislature's budget. Crist spoke to a gathering
of newspaper editors from around the state.
"That's great," Lee County public schools
Superintendent James Browder said. "But we need
to make sure the cuts next year don't go up
exponentially."
Brad Cornell, a policy advocate for Audubon of
Florida, hopes Crist restores the Florida
Forever program, which is used to buy land for
conservation. If not, four Lee County properties
would get the ax: Depot Park and Carpenter Lane
River Park in Bonita Springs; Yucca Pens Unit in
north Lee County and Pine Island Preserve at
Matlacha Pass.
"We recognize there are huge constraints this
year, but Gov. Charlie Crist recognizes how
important that program is," Cornell said.
House Speaker Ray Sansom said Crist should
suggest ways to offset items he vetoes in a
deficit-elimination package.
Senate President Jeff Athingyer, a North Palm
Beach Republican, said he and Sansom would grant
Crist's request to delay his budget
recommendations by 18 days until Feb. 20 due to
the deficit package.
Sansom focused most of his remarks on the state
economy and his plans for dealing with a
potentially $4 billion budget shortfall this
spring.
He said the House will target state agencies for
elimination or consolidation if lawmakers
determine they have overlapping missions. He
declined to give specific examples or say how
many jobs the state may have to eliminate.
Sansom also promised to revive a controversial
plan to eliminate the billions of dollars worth
of property taxes that the state levies for
schools and replace it with an increase in sales
taxes.
- Staff writer Ryan Hiraki contributed to this
report
