Target #1: Education, Dan Gelber Says “Hope”

The Republican Legislature and Governor have given us a Billion Dollar deficit. Soon we will begin facing the cuts and one of the first and possibly one of the largest targets will be Education, which means children are going to be suffering the consequences of our actions.

CFNEWS13 highlights the Education cuts that might be coming:

Still, Tuesday, the State Board of Education began taking a cold look at what might happen if cuts go deeper than expected.

Schools would have to put off buying textbooks. Teacher bonuses would be scaled back and bus routes could be cancelled.

Plus, at the university level, enrollment would be frozen and faculty would be laid off.

Poorer books than other states, continued lower-paid teachers than other states, cut bus routes, and a reduction in the number of students in college…is that what we need in Florida’s schools right now? Is that what our children deserve???

We can do better than that and it’s time we stop the Republicans from getting away with it. The children of Florida are going to suffer because of their decisions, at a time we should actually be increasing teacher wages, lowering class sizes, and increasing access to our university system.  

Here was Democratic House Leader Dan Gelber’s response:

State House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, Miami Beach, said even the minimum cuts, like reducing office staff, could be the tipping point that throws public education into turmoil. “My hope is that they hold education harmless. I mean, I hope they do, but honestly, if you look at Florida’s per capita spending, we’re next-to-last in the nation. We obviously haven’t been holding education harmless in our good years. So i’m not sure you can expect them to hold us harmless now.”

Is that the official Democratic message on this? We just have to “hope” the other party doesn’t screw this up? It’s time to fight back much harder on this. The budget cuts today are a result of the practically constant Republican rule we have had over the last decade and they should get the credit they deserve on it.

Florida Republicans are giving Democrats a huge opening for the 2008 legislative elections. It’s time for the Democratic party to fight back on a strong investment message and a turnaround on the failures of Republicans. We need to give the voters something else on education, like actual investment rather than reduction.

Minimum Wage Bill Passed: Six Florida Republicans Vote No

Today, the US House passed legislation to raise the minimum wage on a 315-116 vote, as 80 Republicans joined with 100% of the Democrats to pass the bill to help workers in America. In fact, 10 out of 16 Florida Republicans voted Yes, only six of them did not.

Six Florida Republicans appealed to the far-right wing of the party on this vote and made their vote against progress for American workers, against steps to end the class-divide in America. They voted in favor of special business interests, while they cut and ran from workers.

Jeff Miller (R) District 1, John Mica (R) District 7, Adam Putnam (R) District 12, Connie Mack (R) District 14, Dave Weldon (R) District 15, and Tom Feeney (R) District 24

All of these Republicans voted No on doing what Florida voters have already passed in a statewide referendum, raising the minimum wage.

Dave Weldon, who just had a not-so-impressive election victory against an underfunded opponent was one of the Republicans who voted No. Here were the results of his last election.

District 15:     Weldon 56%     Bowman 44%

The reason: Dave Weldon does not vote the way his constituents expect him to. More and more voters in district 15 are catching on and if Dave Weldon continues to cut and run from the people of his district and on progress for the country, people will not respond positively to that.

 Today the US Congress took a step to move forward again in our country and to help out workers. Many workers will now benefit with a decent standard of living. At the same time, six Republicans in Florida voted for the corporate and powerful and against workers.