Page 2 - StoryBoard May 2017

By Matt Reed
Superintendent Desmond Blackburn joined all other Florida superintendents
in asking Gov. Rick Scott
to veto the Legislature’s proposed state budget, which includes numerous tacked-on education bills.
Associations representing BPS’ school board and teachers also called for a
veto of House Bill 7069, crafted in the final hours by House leadership to win votes by merging the budget with popular education bills.
BPS would suffer a cut in basic state funding
of about $16 per student while coping with flat property-tax revenue (the Legislature sets rates) and new mandates to fund charter schools.
Blackburn’s decision came after careful analysis
of House Bill 7069. For Brevard, it includes some positive measures including teacher bonuses, money to expand vocational training in construction, and good first steps toward reducing high-stakes testing. But it also would direct about $2.1 million to charter schools from BPS tax revenue for construction while curbing the district’s discretion in spending federal Title I funds on high-poverty schools.
“While I’m most appreciative of the time and energy our Space Coast lawmakers have put
into this legislation, I stand with my fellow superintendents in support of asking our governor to veto it,” Blackburn said. “We are hopeful this action will lead to a special legislative session where
I, along with the other 66 superintendents, will further our commitment of collaboration to get this right for all concerned.”
Showing uncommon unity, groups that called on Gov. Scott for a veto and special session included the:
• Florida Association of District School Superintendents, representing all 67 district leaders.
• Florida School Boards Association, representing Brevard and 63 other district boards.
• Florida Education Association, including the Brevard Federation of Teachers
• Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition, representing Brevard, Orange, Hillsborough, Lake, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Volusia and four other districts.
• Florida PTA, representing parents.
Said the school superintendents, in a joint statement: “K-12 education policy should not be buried in a $419 million, 278-page piece of comprehensive legislation that is conceived through a process void of transparency and dropped on the last day of session.”
In Brevard, the only increase in basic operating revenue would come from recent growth and development. That would be more than offset by requirements to hire new teachers to serve that growth; increase the district’s payment to the Florida Retirement System; and share operating tax revenue with charter schools. BPS Chief
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BPS STORYBOARD - MAY, 2017 - VOL V, ISSUE 8 - PAGE 2
Blackburn Calls for Budget Veto
continued on page 6