Florida School Boards Association
Florida’s economy continues to grow, but not at the pace state budget forecasters expected. The slower-than-expected economic growth could affect tax revenue that feeds the state budget, which already promises increased costs next year for Medicaid and education. Budget analysts from the House, Senate and governor’s office gathered Friday for the State Economic Estimating Conference. Read full…
Florida Department of Education officials are looking for ways to funnel more money to the state’s aging schools and their growing backlog of deferred maintenance and repairs. On Thursday, they proposed a new formula for doling out money from the Public Education Capital Outlay fund, known as PECO. Read full article
Associated Industries of Florida moved Tuesday to build public support behind a fix for rising workers’ compensation insurance rates that business interests see as a threat to the state’s economy. The lobby solicited comments from the public “on how Florida can restore a stable, self-executing, and affordable workers’ compensation system as the Florida Legislature intended,”…
In a small, unassuming Capitol conference room last week, state pension officials made multi-billion-dollar tweaks to the Florida Retirement System’s 1.1 million-member pension plan. The two-day conference concluded with revisions to key assumptions used to determine the value of the state pension fund. The result: another $2.6 billion in public debt. Read full article
State analysts agreed Thursday to lower the expected rate of return on Florida’s $144 billion pension fund, while warning that it may be the first in a series of annual downward adjustments. The shift from a 7.65 percent rate of return to 7.6 percent may seem slight, but it has implications for the $82 billion…
The Florida Board of Education on Friday approved a budget request for the coming fiscal year that would funnel $20.9 billion in state and local tax dollars through the main formula for funding public education. The proposal, which would mark an increase of $721.6 million from the current year, now heads to Gov. Rick Scott…
Florida economists delivered some sobering news Wednesday to state lawmakers: Money is tight. Citing rising costs — especially in Medicaid spending where pharmaceutical costs have been climbing — economists forecast a $1.3 billion budget shortfall by 2018, when Gov. Rick Scott will be entering his final year as Florida’s chief executive. Read full article
Florida will have very little extra money to spend in the coming year, meaning that top legislators and Gov. Rick Scott may have slash the state budget to meet some of their promises. The annual forecast released Tuesday shows that despite the state’s gradual economic recovery Florida is expected to bring in just enough money…
As Florida Lottery Lotto jackpot winners grab millions, more than a billion dollars a year goes to fund K-12, college and university education statewide. But, for local school districts, lottery proceeds are a very small portion of their overall budget, and that source has been declining. Read full article
Despite a topsy-turvy year in the world financial markets, Florida’s $142 billion pension fund managed to show a gain for the seventh straight year. Ash Williams, executive director of the State Board of Administration, which manages the fund, told Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet on Tuesday that the fund ended the state fiscal year…