http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-closings0108apr01,0,7096341.story">Budget crisis prompts Volusia board's OK to close 7 elementary schoolsErika Hobbs | Sentinel Staff Writer
April 1, 2008
The Volusia County School Board will close seven schools in three years in an attempt to avert a budget crisis.
The five board members overwhelmingly voted to close the schools, saying they had no choice because they were "held hostage" by a lack of state funding.
"We're being slammed every way we turn," board member Candace Lankford said.
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By closing the schools, board members hope to save $4.6 million in an effort to stave off a cash crunch caused by a drop in state funding, partly because of declining enrollment, and by an anticipated loss of revenue from the Amendment 1 property-tax measure.
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Closing schools -- especially elementaries -- is always a heartwrenching experience. Parents tend to form deep bonds with the teachers and staff who educate their youngest children, and do so close to home. Elementary schools, too, tend to act as community anchors, serving as a place where the public can meet for sports, performances and other activities.
And in Seville's case, parents fear losing a beloved landmark. The school, built in 1924, has 12-foot ceilings, hardwood floors and Depression-era paintings of sailing ships on the walls.
"The survival of the city I live in depends on the next generation, and the quality of education we have in our city," said Oak Hill Commissioner Mike Thompson.
"Business will not come to a city that does not have quality education . . . and we'd like to keep it," he said, reminding them that voters will may not re-elect them to office in coming years.
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Florida is suffering a catastrophic budget shortfall.
It is because of Jeb's $19+ billion tax cuts to his very wealthy friends. It is also because of the Republican-pushed Amendment 1 that is sucking funds from schools, police, fire, libraries and other local services. And Jeb is finishing off public education with a butcher knife by engineering the obscure Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to amend our constitution, resurrecting private school vouchers and forced use of public money for religious institutions. Florida is Jeb Bush's personal slush fund. It is immaterial that he is out of office. His minions, led by Speaker Marco Rubio and his political hacks perching on obscure commissions, push on with Jeb's Revenge.
This Republican legislature is marching in lockstep to give $649 Million in dessicated state funds to a private railroad corporation, in a deal cooked up between CSX and Jeb Bush, in secret, with no knowledge of, or input from, the citizens this deal will most affect.
This CSX deal must be stopped cold.
Where is CFO Alex Sink on this?
A federal investigation would be in order.