Tom Auxter on Amendment 1
From Tom Auxter, statewide UFF President:
Dear Colleague:
I am writing to urge you to vote against Amendment One on January 29. To explain why United Faculty of Florida makes this recommendation, it is necessary to outline the deepening budget crisis in Florida higher education and how Amendment One will add to the damage.
The news on funding for higher education in Florida is grim. We already lost 8% of recurring funds in two rounds of cuts this budget year. A continuing decline in tax revenue will bring at least another 4% in cuts, bringing the total to 12% in the next budget year.
If the Amendment One property tax cut passes, counties will not be able to cover all the expenses for schools, fire, and police. Because the Governor has already pledged to cover out of the State budget the loss of property tax revenue for schools, higher education will again be targeted for cuts when the State covers these new expenses for schools. With the economy worsening and with Amendment One passing, we could face a total of as much as a 15% cut from our budgets next fiscal year.
Campus administrators around the state are now talking about faculty lay-offs, eliminating programs, and cancelling summer sessions as possibilities. Students face a dramatic reduction in classes offered and increased difficulty in graduating on time.
This comes at a time that Florida is already at the bottom (49th) in national rankings of faculty/student ratio. (Only Louisiana — after Katrina — is worse.) For a decade Florida has been at the bottom in rankings of per capita funding for higher education.
This recession could not come at a worse time for higher education in a state that did not live up to its responsibilities for funding even when the economic picture was much better. Instead politicians gave away tax breaks to those who did not need them, and pushed higher education funding into the cellar. As a result, our tax structure cannot meet the urgent needs Floridians have for an educational experience that prepares them for life.
United Faculty of Florida members are making the case to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission that we need a tax structure that is broad-based, diversified, fair to all, and adequate to sustain the quality of life in Florida. (www.Floridatbrc.org) We are also running a campaign during the spring legislative session to ask legislators to recognize how badly higher education has been hurt by under funding and to provide remedies. (We had a significant victory when we convinced them not to accept the Governor’s recommendation of a 6.2% cut during the first round of cuts last fall.)
Join us in efforts to save higher education from the worst possible effects of what is now on the horizon. Join us in sending messages to legislators this spring when the calls go out. And join us in defeating Amendment One on January 29!
Sincerely,
Tom Auxter
President, United Faculty of Florida
P.S. Our affiliate, the Florida Education Association, created a website that contains analyses of the damage to education from Amendment One, which were published in editorials in state newspapers. Visit www.floridaisourhome.org.
