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I’m so glad I got the hell out of Florida

 
 
jcboy
 
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:00 am
Probably one of the most backwards states in the country!

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signals support for 'Don't Say Gay' bill

Quote:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced his support for a bill that would prohibit the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state's primary schools.

Asked by reporters at a Miami event Monday, he said it was "entirely inappropriate" for teachers to be having conversations with students about gender identity, citing instances of them telling children, “Don’t worry, don’t pick your gender yet," and also "hiding" classroom lessons from parents.
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:06 am
I have at least been through most of the states. Not Florida. Even 60 years ago when I was footloose and traveling I did not want to be there. Even then there was a vibe I did not trust.
jcboy
 
  2  
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:13 am
@edgarblythe,
When I lived there I rarely left the Tampa Bay area, driving through some cities was like going back in time twenty years!

Florida politics are so sad these days and completely non inclusive.
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:28 am
Florida governor: school districts that defied no-mask mandate to lose $200m

Ron DeSantis is backing a bill that would strip education funding from Democratic counties that retained Covid precautions

Quote:
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is backing a controversial proposal to strip $200m in education funding from Democratic counties that defied his executive order last year banning mask mandates in schools.

DeSantis, who is widely seen as a leading heir to Donald Trump in the Republican party, plans to send the money instead to mostly Republican counties that supported him.

The plan, which some analysts believe is almost certainly unconstitutional, was part of a budget bill that passed the Republican-dominated Florida house on Wednesday.

It was immediately attacked by teachers unions, school districts and education advocates, who say the penalties will strip further resources from classrooms in a state already in the bottom four of per-student spending nationally.

“This is retaliation by legislators and the governor,” said Jabari Hosey, president of the advocacy group Families for Safe Schools and a parent of school-age children in Brevard county.

“We are down over 150 teachers in Brevard right now. We need more social workers, there’s a performance gap because of Covid that is still present in our community. We need more funds, more opportunities, more instructors.

“To retaliate and to attack the public school system they are supposed to be promoting is very sad. Frankly, it’s embarrassing.”

Under the proposal by the Republican state congressman Randy Fine, school districts in the 12 Florida counties that implemented mask mandates last summer in defiance of DeSantis’s executive order will forfeit amounts based on their size.

Brevard, where Hosey’s children attend school, and which Fine represents, would forgo $4.5m.

Two-thirds of the money would come from south Florida, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic in local, state and national elections. Miami-Dade, the nation’s fourth largest district with 357,000 students, would lose $72m; Broward, the sixth largest with 270,000 students, would forfeit about $32m; and Palm Beach, the 10th largest with 193,000 would give up $28m.

Of the others, Alachua, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Orange, Sarasota and Volusia counties, all but three backed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Florida, which was won by Donald Trump.

“Following the law is not optional. These school districts broke the law, and they were broken for nothing,” a visibly angry Fine told fellow legislators on Wednesday.

He insisted during a turbulent session of the Florida house appropriations committee last week that the state would cut the salaries of administrators earning more than $100,000 and not “reduce funding for any direct educational service or resource that impacts the education of kindergarten through grade 12 students”.

He conceded, however, that the policy was intentionally punitive to counties who refused to fall in line with the governor. “It is intended to reward the 55 school districts, the overwhelming majority of which followed our state law and respected the rights of parents over the past year,” he said.
A protester holds a placard outside an emergency meeting of the Brevard county school board in Viera in August 2021 to discuss whether face masks in local schools should be mandatory.

Initially, DeSantis, a fierce critic of mask and vaccine mandates, declared himself against the proposal. “My view would be let’s not do that,” he said in an appearance in Jacksonville on Friday, telling reporters he instead preferred to let parents sue school districts individually if they felt children were harmed by “forced masking”.

By Tuesday, however, the governor backtracked, supporting Fine’s initiative and parents’ rights to file lawsuits. “They should get compensated for academic, social and emotional problems caused by these policies,” he said in a tweet.

Having passed the Florida house, the $105bn budget that includes the redistribution of education funds must now be reconciled in the state senate, which also has a Republican majority.

If DeSantis eventually signs it into law, it is likely to face legal challenges. Hosey’s group points out that every Florida county with mandates dropped them as soon as the original executive order became law in November, following a lengthy legal back and forth with districts who insisted they followed advice on masking from the Biden administration and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Additionally, they say, the fines target the salaries of school district administrators who only implemented the mask policies, not the school board members who set them.

John J Sullivan, director of legislative affairs for Broward county public schools, told the Guardian in a statement that students would be directly affected by the withholding of funds.

“We are disappointed in the governor’s reversal. We hope the senate will not agree to penalize administrators who have worked tirelessly to meet the unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic, always focused on the health and safety of students and teachers,” he said.

“This penalty would have a negative impact on the services the district is able to provide to our students.”

Administrators in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have issued similar statements, and educators’ unions have condemned the plan.

“We have 165 vacancies and a lot of it has to do with the salaries we can offer to teachers. So that money would mean a lot to our school district and it’s a shame that someone would do that. It’s totally punitive and politically motivated,” Wendy Doromal, president of the Orange county classroom teachers association told WMFE radio.

guardian
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:29 am
I was dismayed last year when one of my daughters vacationed there and became enamored of life on the beach. She began dreaming of moving there. I begged her not to do it. She hasn't mentioned it lately. I hope she doesn't one day pack up and go.
0 Replies
 
Mame
 
  1  
Reply Sun 20 Feb, 2022 09:40 am
Has anyone read any of Carl Hiaasen's books? All about the Florida political graft, corruption and destruction of the Everglades, but done in a Fargo-esque way - very funny.
jcboy
 
  2  
Reply Mon 21 Feb, 2022 01:28 pm
@Mame,
Not I, but I just may look him up. I miss friends in Florida but sure don't miss those horrible humid summers! Walk outside and you're sweating within five minutes. I do miss the thunder storms!
Mame
 
  3  
Reply Mon 21 Feb, 2022 02:39 pm
@jcboy,
Well, after having read his books, I'm glad you're out of Florida, too.
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  3  
Reply Mon 21 Feb, 2022 02:54 pm
I think what drives a lot of Florida's issues are retirees. While there are all types, on the whole, they are anti-taxes ("I don't have kids in schools here"), drive over development and tend to aggregate in gated communities instead of contributing to the community as a whole. We see some of that here. One local big, gated community incorporated itself so it could avoid paying local taxes to the nearby town. Unfortunately, it was half of the town.
0 Replies
 
jcboy
 
  2  
Reply Fri 25 Feb, 2022 06:46 am
Oh, and don't say gay in Florida schools anymore. But Gov. DeSantis is going to sign this after it passed the state senate. I guarantee at least 1 student will die when their teacher is forced to out them to parents.
izzythepush
 
  3  
Reply Fri 25 Feb, 2022 07:11 am
@jcboy,
We had a similar thing with Thatcher and section 28 banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools, like that's the reason people are gay, because their teachers told them about equal rights.

It was eventually repealed in 2003.
jcboy
 
  2  
Reply Fri 25 Feb, 2022 07:31 am
@izzythepush,
I copied this from a Florida friend of mine who is a member of Equality Florida.

Quote:
“Don’t Say Gay” Bill
The Don’t Say Gay bill, which bans discussion of LGBTQ people in primary grades, would further stigmatize the LGBTQ community, chill efforts to create inclusive school environments, and isolate LGBTQ young people who are already at staggeringly higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation than their peers. Its Senate companion is sponsored by Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican and staunch opponent of equal rights, who has compared LGBTQ community to “drunks” and “drug abusers,” and who has opposed anything that would “affirm” the existence of gay people and families.
“Stop WOKE Act”
The Stop WOKE Act would censor conversations about racism, discrimination, and injustice, allowing people to sue for discrimination if they are made to feel “guilty” or “discomfort” because of a training or school lesson. This extends to private businesses as well, giving employees the right to sue their employers for discrimination if trainings that cover implicit bias, racial equity, and even sexual harassment cause them discomfort. The bill would pervert the intent of Florida’s Civil Rights Act, causing companies, schools, and agencies statewide to avoid having these conversations to avoid legal liability. Already, Osceola County Schools canceled a civil rights history seminar for fear that the content could be viewed as Critical Race Theory
izzythepush
 
  3  
Reply Fri 25 Feb, 2022 07:41 am
@jcboy,
It is designed to appeal to bigots and inadequate idiots with nothing in their lives.
0 Replies
 
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Feb, 2022 02:05 pm
@edgarblythe,
I live in Texas. I never wanted to be here either. But family ties and other considerations eventually bound me here. After growing up in California I hated it here and spent twenty years leaving but always ending up back. I finally gave up.
edgarblythe wrote:

I have at least been through most of the states. Not Florida. Even 60 years ago when I was footloose and traveling I did not want to be there. Even then there was a vibe I did not trust.
Albuquerque
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Feb, 2022 02:33 pm
@edgarblythe,
That bad Texas Ed?
By the way just curious if you could chose which place in US would you pick?
edgarblythe
 
  2  
Reply Sat 26 Feb, 2022 02:53 pm
@Albuquerque,
Not sure. I grew fond of NYC in 1967-8. Always considered myself a Californian, but the last time I was where I last lived as a kid I couldn't recapture it.
0 Replies
 
 

 
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