Senate seeks school funding change as budgets pass

By BRANDON LARRABEE
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, February 11, 2016..........The Senate unveiled a proposal Thursday that would require the state to pick up at least half of any increase in education funding --- a move aimed at lowering property taxes --- as the chamber's lead budget-writer blasted proposals to slash taxes by $1 billion.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate gave final approval to spending plans for the year beginning July 1, setting up negotiations about the budget and tax cuts that will shape the last month of the annual legislative session.

Lawmakers have expressed confidence that this year's spending talks will go more smoothly than last year's discussions, which deadlocked over health-care spending and led to the collapse of the legislative session. A special session was called in June to resolve the clash.

But the Senate's new proposal on education spending showed that even some of the more basic aspects of the budget remained fluid as the session entered its second half. The legislation, approved by the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, is meant to counter criticism that about 80 percent of the proposed increases in public school spending for the 2016-2017 year would come from a property tax known as the required local effort.

"This is not just a tax cut," said Sen. Don Gaetz, the chairman of the subcommittee and one of the leaders of the push on local taxes. "This is making sure that the state, through its other revenue sources, picks up our fair share of our partnership with local school boards and local property taxpayers."

Under the bill, at least half of the boost in education funding would have to come from state funds, not the required local effort. But Senate leaders seem to be treating the bill like a statement of their intent rather than formal legislation; it has no House counterpart and has started moving relatively late in the budget process.

Using the Senate's budget proposal --- the most generous one on education funding --- the state would need to kick in another $183.2 million to increase school spending by the same amount and get to an even split. An equivalent rollback in property taxes would be about $12.40 on $100,000 of taxable value.

Democrats also backed the principle.

"To me, a deal is a deal, and a 50-50 split, just to the man on the street, sounds like a reasonable thing to do," said Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who doubles as CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.

There were still unknowns about how exactly the proposal would work. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, repeated on Thursday that he would be interested in the proposal as long as lawmakers ensured the money made it back to taxpayers.

"Because if we're just pushing money back to locals and not cutting the millage, then that's not ideal, unless we're writing checks back to the individuals that pay property taxes," he said.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said the proposal would likely work by lowering the millage and not by sending rebates directly to taxpayers, which he said would incur large postage bills.

The proposal lands in the middle of a budget process that is entering a critical phase. With the House and Senate voting Thursday to approve their versions of the spending plan, Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, will now begin hammering out how much money is spent in each section of the budget.

After that, joint House-Senate conference committees will work out compromises on how to divvy up the funding in each area.

The House passed its budget on a nearly party-line vote, 85-29, after sharp debate. Five Democrats voted with Republicans to approve the measure, while Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, voted against the budget.

Democrats continued to pound away at a prohibition in the House budget on funding for Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion among its health-care services for women. There is already a federal law preventing the federal money that flows through the state budget from being used to pay for abortions.

"The funding that they get from this state is for the things that women need," said Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach.

The Senate, meanwhile, unanimously approved its version of the budget, which does not specifically ban funding for Planned Parenthood. Though they voted for the spending proposal, some Democrats complained about the lack of funding for some areas of the budget as lawmakers ready a sizable tax-cut package.

"For me, personally, even though I'm going to support this budget, I just want to let you know: I think it's more important for us to spend that money on our students than it is to spend it on a tax cut," said Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. "I think it's more important to spend this money on health care for children or on mental health services than it is for a tax cut."

At the same time, Lee seemed to all but rule out tax packages of around $1 billion floated by Gov. Rick Scott and the House.

"I can tell you that, in my view, if we even begin to entertain tax cuts remotely in the area of that billion-dollar number, it would be fiscally irresponsible of us," Lee said.