 | Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177 |
The start of our second season in Tallahassee – in between football seasons -- the legislative session officially begins this week with the State of the State address Tuesday, the last such address of Gov. Charlie Crist, a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Here’s a quarter that says the governor will exude optimism about the future of Florida, while acknowledging these are tough times. That same quarter says he will tell us the state’s economists are projecting growth – for the first time in years – but that the worst is not over.
Here’s another quarter that he doesn’t mention that our children are falling further behind and that more and more of their parents can’t even so much as look for work – even if it could be found – because wait lists for quality child care centers grow longer and longer.
In April, during Children’s Week at the Capitol, the Tallahassee Democrat will publish a comprehensive look at the state of Florida’s children, while watching closely how lawmakers vote on bills to either help or hurt our kids.
Nothing could have been a more pointed reminder for state workers than the sudden announced closing of the Gwen Cherry Child Development Center, which shuts down April 30. Sponsored by the state Department of Education, the center served the families of state employees for 25 years.
If money is the issue, parents offered to increase their fees. So it isn’t money.
What then?
Parents were given six weeks to find new arrangements and, guess what? Child care is already in short supply. The Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend has a long wait list to get into child care facilities.
In a letter from Whole Child Leon to Crist, WCL’s steering committee said:
“One of Whole Child’s goals is to increase the number of quality child-care sources in our community, with a particular emphasis on encouraging and incentivizing employers to provide site-based care for their employees. As the largest employer in our community, state government should be expanding these options, and the State Department of Education should be leading the way.”
Here’s another quarter that says the governor won’t talk about the growing numbers of homeless, including children, living on our streets or in temporary shelters, resulting in part from the Florida unemployment rate hitting a record 12 percent.
What happens next, when the federal stimulus money runs out? Have we used it to generate economic growth or a Band Aid® to cover the hurt?
Will the governor include in the State of the State the number of people our universities have sent packing, people of talent and intellect, the type of economic-development generating talent we need now and well into the future?
In a column Sunday in the Tallahassee Democrat, Senate President Jeff Atwater said the focus of the Legislature should not be on how to increase revenues as it tries to balance the budget. He said we need to be “investing in programs that improve our job market and create new jobs.”
A quick translation of that says: Our children, our universities and schools, the homeless and others who might be considered the weakest links in our societal chain are in even deeper muck. It is an admission that three years of consecutive budget cuts already worth $7 billion has not helped stimulate the economy or fix what is broken, yet leadership is looking at $3 billion more this session. It is a further admission that all we have done is talk of investing in job growth, not actually creating jobs.
I’ve got one more quarter that says the governor won’t say that, either.
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