There is an article in the Tampa Bay Times, previously known as the St. Pete Times, confirming that traditional public schools got no money this year for construction or maintenance.
Charter schools got 55 million.
State officials expect to receive less revenue from the Gross Receipts Tax, a tax on electric, telephone and cable bills that supports the Public Education Capital Outlay, or PECO, fund.
Florida unlikely to see any money for new school construction
This year, traditional school districts did not receive PECO money. About $55 million went to the state's charter schools. Public colleges and universities received about $57 million.
In light of the projection, state officials this week stopped payments to some projects, including some that may only be halfway completed. Additionally, Gov. Rick Scott asked schools and colleges to return as much as $250 million to the state to cover other projects already approved.
"Due to this significant shortfall, it has become necessary for difficult decisions to be made on which projects may be funded and which must be discontinued at this point in time," Scott wrote in a letter that he sent out to top education officials Tuesday.
There was more about this in July of 2011. I had been expecting to read about Florida teachers being up in arms and fighting back about this. Yet this is the first I have read about it since July.
From the July 25 Orlando Sentinel:
Charters get $55 million for upkeep, other schools get zero
Traditional public schools in Florida will get no money from the state this year for additions or needed repairs to thousands of aging buildings, but charter schools will score big. All of the state cash budgeted for school construction and maintenance is going to the independent, tax-financed charters favored by the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.Rick Scott.
The charter school operated for children of employees of The Villages, the Republican stronghold in north Lake County frequented by Scott and former President George W. Bush, is expected to receive about $1 million.
School district officials across Florida are bemoaning the Legislature's decision to cut traditional public schools out of PECO — the Public Education Capital Outlay program. The state's 350 charter schools will share $55 million, while the approximately 3,000 traditional schools will go without.
"Every cent allocated for school construction went to charter schools," complained Lee Swift, a Charlotte County school board member who heads the Florida School Boards Association.
It appears to be a conscious effort to stop funding traditional public schools and deprive them of the resources to maintain themselves.