Budget Balancing
May 5th, 2009 by flanewsFriday state lawmakers will vote on next year’s budget.
The budget proposal was printed and given to lawmakers today. Drivers, smokers, and college students are being tapped to fill the 3 billion dollar budget deficit. The proposal includes increased licensing fees, a tobacco tax, and a tuition hike. Stimulus dollars are being used to boost K–12 education funding. Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association says using stimulus dollars to fund schools is only a temporary fix.
“We are still a little bit behind the times and if we want a top flight education system so we can get the best businesses to come to Florida we are going to need to address this problem at some point in time,” said Pudlow.
Educators said lawmakers need to change the state’s tax structure and eliminate some sales tax exemptions to find a permanent source of education funding.
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