Friends of Lee County Public Schools:

Some have suggested that reducing salaries is good way to address budgetary reductions the District is facing. I must disagree. Cutting salaries should NEVER take place – it’s merely a Band-Aid solution for a much bigger problem.

The reality is our legislators should bear the responsibility to provide for a quality education for our children. In fact, it is something mandated in our state constitution.

So why are our lawmakers still reluctant to address the root cause of the budgetary crisis now crippling Florida? Rather than revamping our antiquated tax code and finding new, more stable revenue streams, their solution continues to be cut taxes and reduce budgets.

Their plan isn’t working.

Over the past two years, our district has reduced its budget by more than $67 million. And for 2009/10, we’re facing even more draconian cuts – between $42million -$70 million.

If those projections are correct, we’re in crisis. It’s time for our legislators to meet their obligation and do what’s right for students, parents and the community. Our children deserve what the State Constitution clearly states, specifically, the legislature has a “paramount duty to provide a high quality education.”

There are no qualifiers in that language to indicate their responsibility to do what is best for children only applies in good economic times. The reality is that in good economic times, Florida still ranked 46th out of 50 states in per-student funding.

Interestingly, we spend approximately $40,000 per person in our jails yearly and only around $8,000 per student. Doing what’s right for students and communities should be a first priority. And to do that, our legislators should look at:

n Elimination of special interest group sales tax exemptions (sports sky boxes, ostrich feed, charter fishing boats, etc.) There are over 300 of these exemptions dating back to the 1940s, which total over $35 billion. Eliminating antiquated exemptions would put billions of dollars back into state coffers. It’s inexcusable that special interest groups are funded on the backs of students.

n Applying a sales tax to Internet sales, which would require no new legislation, is estimated to generate approximately $1 billion annually.

n Applying an additional 1-cent sales tax for the next 2-3 years, which would generate approximately $3.8 billion annually.

n Raising Florida’s cigarette tax – currently among the lowest in America – by $1 per pack (would raise $1 billion annually.)

n Defining the Class Size Amendment at the school level, not classroom-by-classroom. This would save approximately $850 million annually. To date, this amendment has cost the District over $310 million.

If the projected reduction figures hold, the District is considering:

n Laying off 300-400 employees (teachers, support and administrative staff) when the unemployment rate in Lee County leads Florida at a 10 percent.

n Reducing the current employee work calendar by 14 days.

n Reducing and/or eliminate sports, electives, music, arts, career tech programs, International Baccalaureate program and other academic programs.

It’s obvious lowering taxes has not stimulated the economy, except for the wealthy. Laying off hundreds of employees will only dig a deeper hole in a community that already has the highest foreclosure rate in America.

Instead, we need a stable and reliable income source for education that affects middle to low income populations the least. The best place to begin is with sales tax exemptions. While it may not make our legislators popular at election time, it’s the right thing to do.

I urge everyone to contact our lawmakers in Tallahassee to impress upon them the time to stop cutting is now, and the time to fix a broken system is upon us.