Senate considering penny sales tax hike
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida Senate leaders are considering a ballot proposal that would tie a permanent penny per dollar increase in the state sales tax to help pay for public schools to loosening class size limits.
Senate Education Pre-kindergarten-12 Appropriations Chairman Stephen Wise disclosed the proposed state constitutional amendment Wednesday along with the first draft of a new education budget that would leave public school spending unchanged at $6,860 per student.
The proposed education budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would rely on federal stimulus dollars and expanded Seminole Indian gambling to offset declines in sales, property and other tax receipts.
It does not include any money from the sales tax proposal, which would increase the statewide rate from 6 percent to 7 percent. The amendment would have to be approved by voters either in a special election later this year or at the general election in 2010.
The measure would bring in $2.8 billion annually, which could be used to restore prior school spending cuts and fill the budget gap that will be left when the federal stimulus program expires after the 2010-11 budget year, Wise said.
Although the Legislature could increase the tax on it’s own, getting the votes to do that would be difficult at best because both chambers are controlled by Republicans who usually have little appetite for taxes.
“It’s political,” said Wise, R-Jacksonville. “The House has said they’re not taking taxes. Well, they’re not passing a tax. They’re passing a bill that puts it on the Constitution for the people to vote on it.”
The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, earlier floated the idea of temporarily adding another penny to the sales tax for three years; the Senate proposal would be a permanent increase.
The amendment also would be a way to get the teachers union and its Democratic allies in the Legislature to support changes in the class size amendment voters approved in 2002.
It sets limits of 18 students per class for kindergarten through third grade, 22 for fourth through eighth grade and 25 for high school beginning with the 2010-11 school year. It’s being phased in, though, through implementing legislation. This year the limits must be met on a school average basis. The new proposal would keep the limits at that level.
Local school officials and most Republicans argue that imposing the limits on every class will be too rigid and too expensive. Wise’s budget proposal includes $2.8 billion to meet the school average limits and it would cost even more to bring every classroom into compliance.
The House has not yet rolled out any budget figures, but the Senate’s proposal was a relief to school officials who fear more spending cuts because Florida’s economy remains in decline.
“I never thought we’d be begging for zero and be satisfied to get it,” said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association. “It’s probably as good as we’re going to get this year.”
He said it should enable most school districts to avoid additional layoffs and program cuts.
There’s no guarantee, though, Florida will get federal stimulus money for education including nearly $866 million in Wise’s budget proposal. Florida needs a waiver from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan because current state school spending is less than it was three years ago. Gov. Charlie Crist, though, says he’s confident the waiver will be granted.
“It’s not in the bag and the money is not in the vault,” Wise said.
Stimulus dollars and Seminole gambling money – also not a sure thing until approved by both chambers – is built into the first draft of the Senate’s higher education budget as well. It also has an 8 percent tuition increase for state university and community college students. That combination will enabled the schools to avoid any cuts in classroom spending.