NorthWest Florida Republican

A special session of the Florida Legislature has convened to address a budget shortfall. While most state agencies are looking at four percent cuts to their budget, the school system is complaining about a two percent budget cut.

The budgets for schools and services has soared over the last few years before the housing bubble burst. Now with prices of homes falling over 20 percent in some areas the budgets are suffering and the agencies that benefited from those rising revenues are now complaining about having to cut back.

At the same time they are happy to take bonuses that were earned and parcel them out among the school staff at each school. Seems to me that if we are having a budget issue, maybe cutting back on those bonuses would be a wise decision.

Schools are still worried about the tax cuts that were made through amendments to the constitution. Even though those changes are not supposed to affect the taxes levied on homeowners that the schools enjoy. Even so, the School system would still like to increase those taxes.

The school system should be looking to tighten belts just like everyone else. Local communities can help if the schools will just help instead of looking for handouts from the Florida Legislature. And if it just isn’t enough, perhaps Florida can get a bailout just like General Motors and Chrysler.