There’s good news and bad news for Florida in federal stimulus bill.
The bad news: Congress won’t bail out public education systems that are starved by state legislators who refuse to step up and find more revenue. The good news: Florida’s lawmakers now have an additional incentive to fix the tax code that’s remained broken for years.
The “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund” in the stimulus package sets aside $3.5 billion to help Florida’s public schools. But there's a condition: the state must first show that it can fund its K-12 and higher education institutions at 2005-2006 levels up until 2011.
That’s a big problem. Florida has chopped its education budget down to the bone during the past several legislative sessions.
State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, who heads the higher education appropriations committee, blamed the recent economic downturn. She avoided mentioning that, beginning in 1994, the state GOP handed multi-billion dollar tax breaks to wealthy special interests. Rather than revisit those tax exemptions, the legislature has preferred to cut school spending.
Florida needs to come up with $600 million for its public schools in order to qualify for the education stimulus funds. Gov. Charlie Crist should immediately call a special session to obtain that revenue. Congress should also give states like Florida an extended deadline to satisfy the “maintenance of effort” rule.
FAMU alumnus and state Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson recently introduced a proposal that could produce two-thirds of the required money. By closing the “combined reporting” loophole, which helps multi-state corporations avoid paying taxes in Florida, Lawson believes lawmakers could generate $400 million annually.
A modest review of other tax loopholes tailored exclusively for high-end developers and non-Florida based corporations could create the remaining $200 million.
Instead of crying foul and lobbying Congress to strike the “maintenance of effort” requirement, Florida’s legislative leaders should simply restore some of the public school money they gave away to the state’s wealthiest individuals and companies.
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