Step Up For Students is making available applications for private school vouchers for the 2009-10 school year. ...more

April 25, 2009

The program Step Up For Students now is making applications for private school vouchers available for the 2009-10 school year. ...more

April 24, 2009

The number of students in Florida receiving private school vouchers backed by corporate taxes has grown by 86 percent since 2003, to nearly 21,500 students, according to the Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, an agency that conducts research for the Legislature. ...more

January 6, 2009

Not Your Father's Democratic Party In his letter of Dec. 12, Dallas Dunlap included a list of significant achievements by the Democratic Party. Also of significance was the fact that the most recent of these dates to over 40 years ago. The reason is simple: That was around the time that Mr. Dunlap's party lost its course. The party of Roosevelt, Truman and JFK began its death spiral in the 1970s. ...more

December 14, 2007

personal and corporate income taxes, the payroll tax for Social Security, and the estate and gift tax. These would be replaced by something called the FairTax, a 23 percent national retail sales tax on virtually everything you buy, including many things that are not presently taxed by state sales taxes. ...more

October 1, 2007

The session is scheduled from Wednesday through Oct. 12. The House, Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist are staking out their positions. Here is a look at what may be in store in major areas of spending. ...more

September 30, 2007

The state's brain trust of economists meets regularly to assess Floridians' spending habits and estimate how much revenue is coming in to state coffers. The news in early August was bleak: The $72 billion spending plan approved for the fiscal year that began July 1 would come up about $1.1 billion short, largely due to the slowdown in the once-red-hot housing market. Other collections have also been lighter than expected, from the sales taxes on purchases related to homes to corporate income taxes. State lawmakers return to the capital this week in a special session to slice and dice. A balanced budget is a constitutional requirement in Florida. It's not an easy process. Lawmakers already pushed back the session when House and Senate leaders decided they were too far apart to waste time in Tallahassee at a cost to taxpayers of about $40,000 a day. The session is scheduled from Wednesday through Oct. 12. The House, Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist are staking out their positions. Here is a look at what may be in store in major areas of spending. ...more

September 30, 2007