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Highlands Today

School Board Lobbies Legislators At Capital

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By MARC VALERO Highlands Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 20, 2009

SEBRING - In the face of state budgets cuts and a faltering economy, the School Board of Highlands County is boosting its usual annual presence at the legislative session in Tallahassee.

"So far what we've heard, it's going to be worse than we originally thought," School Board Chairman Andy Tuck said Thursday between meetings with legislators in Tallahassee.

The bad part is the district won't know anything about its state funding level until the middle of July, he said.

"I wasn't surprised that it was going to be worse than expected, but what is disturbing me is it is going to be hard to plan as far as timelines go," Tuck said.
School Board members Donna Howerton and Ned Hancock, and Assistant Superintendent Business/Operations Mike Averyt were also in Tallahassee on Thursday. Tuck, Howerton and Averyt were in the state capital on Wednesday and Hancock was there earlier in the month.

Since the district knows that more funding will not be coming, Tuck said they are talking to lawmakers about not implementing any initiatives that would require more district spending.

The district also seeks flexibility with the funding it does receive like the use of capital funds and funds tied to specific purposes.

Lawmakers seem to understand the school districts' need for flexibility, Tuck said.

The district is also calling for a revision to the Class Size Amendment.

According to the district's legislative agenda, the school board opposed the constitutional class size reduction provision from its inception.

"While we support reasonable class sizes, such a rigid requirement does not belong in the constitution," according to the school board. "We support a constitutional amendment to maintain the class size at the school level for each of the grade groupings and that the number of students in any individual class may not exceed the constitutional limit by more than five students."

Superintendent Wally Cox will be in Tallahassee March 24-27 and Howerton will return to the capital April 14 and 15.

Also, about 2,000 parents, teachers and students rallied outside the capital Wednesday to protest potential cuts to public schools.

With the state facing a huge deficit, schools may bear the brunt of the cuts, meaning layoffs for teachers and less resources for students.

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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