Pasco teachers union: The Florida Legislature is against us

By at 17 March, 2010, 2:51 pm

A day after Pasco school district leaders released a list of budget cutting possibilities , the United School Employees of Pasco put out an urgent alert to its members. The message: Tell Florida lawmakers to stop putting the screws to public education: "… Funding for our schools is in serious jeopardy, and the legislature is not fulfilling its obligation to adequately fund public schools, leaving local school boards with the task of making drastic cuts. Instead, our legislature is actively working against our success by not only underfunding our schools but also seeking to roll back class size caps, mandating performance and differentiated pay, removing job security, basing continued employment on student performance, and undermining retirement benefits. Our legislators, from the Governor

to our local representatives, need to hear from you today. " Lawmakers have suggested they will keep state funding steady and also not increase the local district required tax rates, even as taxable property values continue to slide. The decrease in revenue combined with increasing expenses has district officials scrambling to find ways to slash millions in spending. USEP called the Pasco list "scary and dramatic" because most of the ideas would impact employees negatively. With salaries and benefits comprising a huge chunk of the total general operating budget, they make a logical but painful place to cut. Watch negotiations carefully this year. Expect the strain to show.

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Pasco teachers union: The Florida Legislature is against us

Categories : Education | Florida | Tampa




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