2009 Message from the President Ford

Welcome back! I trust that you had a happy holiday season with family and friends.
2009 begins with a special legislative session and with the regular legislative session on the horizon, it seems to be a good time to update our members and friends on FEA's positions on a variety of issues that are likely to be of interest and impact all of us in the coming months.

 
Our state enters the new year with serious economic/financial issues that threaten to inflict long-term damage to our economy. The situation in our state's public education system is even more severe. You have felt the impacts as approximately $3.2 billion dollars in funding cuts have occurred to public schools, community colleges and universities. While the global economy is a key factor in the decline of revenues, other factors specific to Florida exacerbate the situation. Our state's tax structure is riddled with inadequacies and inconsistencies. Florida is in trouble and the state's estimate for an economic recovery is April 2010 at the earliest. Further, it is worth mentioning that general revenues are not expected to exceed the levels of 2005-06 budget year until 2011-12.

The Legislature is scheduled to meet in special session beginning January 5, 2009, to address the revenue declines in the current budget year. FEA will be working together with our legislative leaders and Governor Crist in an effort to minimize any further budget cuts during the current budget year. Our goal is that any further reductions would not exceed the 1.93% funding reduction that has already been calculated into the current budget by school districts. Our state already has several school districts facing a fiscal catastrophe and it would be foolish for our elected leaders to exacerbate that situation with deeper cuts in the current budget year.

The Legislature is scheduled to meet in regular session beginning on March 3, 2009 and again will face serious budget issues in an attempt to close a projected deficit of $2.3 billion, which is considered by most to be a conservative figure. In the current budget year, the state's share of education funding is 47.95% for K-12 schools (the first time since the creation in 1973 of the FEFP funding formula that the state's share has been less than 50%). Florida's students are also coming to school shouldering the impacts of their parent's economic struggles. For the 2005-06 budget year, 45.8 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced price meals (versus a national average of 41.6 percent... And remember that 2005-06 was a significantly better economic climate). You are no doubt aware of Florida's abysmal rankings on a variety of education related measures, so suffice it to say that we are in a crisis as we enter the new year.
Against this backdrop, FEA has taken some positions on a variety of issues that should be of interest to all of us as we prepare to address our shared challenges:

• In October 2008, FEA President Andy Ford called upon the Legislature to increase the state sales tax by $0.01 for a period of 3 years with the proceeds dedicated to public schools, community colleges and universities. This proposal would represent an additional $3.5 billion in annual revenue for public education and $10.5 billion over the life of the proposal. Note: The goal of the proposal is to stem the flow of funds out of public education and recapture some of the funding that has been lost during this economic cycle. We are not advocating a sales tax increase as a long-term solution to Florida's broken tax structure.

• FEA is committed to supporting the full implementation of Florida's Class Size Amendment. There are groups that are committed to finding a way to avoid the implementation of the amendment. However, polling data indicates that a solid majority of Florida voters not only remain committed to the amendment, but they also favor the full funding and implementation of the amendment. This amendment requires that lawmakers fund our public schools in a significant way, and those opposing the amendment have offered no guarantees that the state's current investment into public education would be maintained if some form of relief from the amendment's mandate was granted.

• All of Florida's attempts at merit pay or "bonus compensation" have been a failure in virtually every school district. The current program (MAP) has participation from very few school districts, and in many cases the personnel receiving the bonus are unable to articulate how/why they earned the additional payment. FEA does not support the continuation of this program and we oppose any further attempt to expand or redefine the program in this economic climate. FEA has indicated to the Governor and DOE that we would be supportive of a conversation about "differentiated pay" that included the union at both the state and local levels. This would serve to further the work already done as FEA participated in 2007-08 with RAND/Vanderbilt University in a research report on Florida's history with merit pay proposals, which would serve as a good basis for any conversations about a future program in a different economic environment.

• Florida has been a national leader in experimenting with charter schools, virtual schools and various scholarship/voucher programs. FEA supports authentic and meaningful accountability measures that would serve to accurately compare/contrast the work of these alternative providers against the demonstrated consistent and solid results of Florida's public schools and school employees. While we work to "level the playing field", FEA opposes any further attempts to expand any of these alternative programs, particularly the diversion of corporate tax receipts into the scholarship program known as CTC.

• By any objective measure, Florida faces a crisis in higher education. Our community colleges and universities are growing at an unsustainable rate given the funding limitations imposed by the Legislature. Recently Governor Crist has proposed an increase in tuition rates in an attempt to begin a conversation about addressing these critical issues. FEA has commended the Governor for acknowledging the issues and supported the intent of his proposal. There are several details in the Governor's proposal that are troubling to FEA, primarily the fact that the tuition increase places the financial burden almost exclusively upon the shoulders of students attending Florida's community colleges and universities. Note: Our position on this issue has caused some concern from several UFF members who support the Governor's proposal based upon the fact that the funding situation is so severe. We have worked hard to address these concerns with UFF to insure that our positions and messages echo the same theme.

• Florida's "schools on the cheap" tradition has caused many groups including FEA to explore the possibility of filing Adequacy litigation. While the state has failed in many respects to live up to it's duties to fund public education, the consensus from our legal experts is that a lawsuit would be very difficult to "win". FEA continues to monitor the situation and encourage the state to act responsibly so that an extended and expensive litigation on this issue isn't required.

• FEA will have a full cadre of items/proposals to be a part our 2009 Legislative Agenda, which you will be receiving very soon. Topics on the table include proposals on teacher retention, closing achievement gaps, ESP related (compensation, professional development, retirement benefits and working conditions), national board certified teachers and higher education issues. FEA has a broad and ambitious agenda because our members deserve nothing less than this. In the coming year, we are going to engage our members and the broader community like never before.

Each day, across Florida, more of our members are becoming engaged and taking action to voice their concerns to our elected leaders. Just before the holidays, FEA members sent over 15,000 email messages to targeted legislators asking that education be protected during the upcoming special legislative session. The work we do with Make Our Schools A Priority will only enhance that connection with our members.

We promised you at the Delegate Assembly that 2009 was going to be a busy year. As we look ahead to 2010, please do not hestitate to get involved in your local union and the many challenges and opportunities ahead for FEA and its members.