Source: The Executive Office of the
Governor January 22, 2002
(Good morning. Mr. President, Mr. Speaker,
members of the Legislature, honored guests, and my fellow Floridians.
Good morning to you all.
In most years, we mark change by the passing of
foreseeable events. We take measured steps into a predictable future.
The patterns are reassuring, the progress orderly and planned.
In this room for example, laws are debated, budgets
are passed, and an old and familiar rhythm guides your actions.
Florida has its own rhythm, too. People go to work,
they watch their children learn and grow and start families of their
own. They play in the sun and pass their lives enjoying the outsized
blessings that make our state unique.
But since I spoke here last, a new rhythm has been
violently layered over the old. We awoke one morning in September, and
the world lurched on its axis. We awoke one morning in September, and we
confronted a threat that is unprecedented for our generation.
As I have come to expect from Floridians, we have been
extraordinary in our response to that threat.
Here, above us, is the face of someone who is
extraordinary. Here is the face of a hero. Here is the face of a fellow
Floridian, CeeCee Lyles.
CeeCee is a woman who, with her husband Lorne, raised
four sons and stepsons, sometimes working three jobs to support her
family. Amazingly, she also found time to volunteer at Restoration
House, a faith-based women's shelter.
She worked her way up from patrol officer to police
detective in the Ft. Pierce Police Department, and she wasn't above
tackling fleeing criminals if the need arose. She had a way of making
her dreams come true. Ultimately, she was able to realize her dream to
see the world by becoming a flight attendant for United Airlines.
And so on September 11th, she boarded Flight 93 headed
from Newark to San Francisco. As you probably know, it was a flight that
never reached its destination. Somewhere over Pennsylvania, the
passengers and crew helped bring down the plane that was minutes from
its intended target in the Washington DC area. But before they did,
CeeCee Lyles called home to tell Lorne of her love for him and the boys,
and then she calmly prayed.
Lorne Lyles and two of his sons are here with us
today. I would ask them to stand …. and ask you to join me in honoring
CeeCee Lyles.
Thank you.
CeeCee Lyles was a Floridian. Like so many Floridians,
she reminds us of the power of resolve and our inherited imperative to
seize the American Dream. Who among us is not humbled by the
accomplishments in her life? Who among us is not awed by the depth of
her courage on that fateful day?
It is not just the way she died, but the way CeeCee
lived, that is heroic. CeeCee Lyles was a hero long before she boarded
that plane. She reflects what is best about our state: the push beyond
conventional expectations, the limitless opportunity for individual
growth, and the elevation of those whose lives we touch. It is because
of CeeCee Lyles and Floridians like her that we will continue to rise as
a state.
As a state, we will meet, and soon overcome, the
obstacles that evil has devised. We will understand, and soon eliminate,
any barrier that would keep this state from realizing its destiny. And
when we do, we will be stronger and better for it. Floridians are united
as never before, and when the current crisis has passed, we will remain
bound to one another in a spirit of caring and community that will
endure. Stronger, wiser, with an unshakable determination: that is the
state of our state.
So let us begin our work this year by ensuring that
CeeCee Lyle's sacrifice and that of our other fellow Floridians, and
other Americans, was not in vain. We must continue to thwart those who
would harm us. We must renew our commitment to ensure the security of
our citizens and our guests.
Immediately following the terrorist attacks on
September 11th, we acted quickly. By executive order, I put in place new
programs that bolstered law enforcement's ability to deal with the
terrorist threat and authorized specialized training for domestic
security personnel.
I am proud of the rapid response of the Legislature in
aggressively addressing this new threat. A few weeks ago, in special
session, you dedicated more than $17 million in new programs to bolster
homeland security, put into place harsher criminal penalties for
terrorist acts, and created a new, coordinated system for law
enforcement's response to terrorism.
But we must do more. I am proposing this session that
we spend $45 million to further strengthen domestic security, including
$6 million to continue the efforts begun in the current year.
In addition, we will enhance our ability to
aggressively confront bioterrorism by building new labs that will
quickly analyze and respond to terrorist threats. We also propose nearly
$10 million to strengthen our network of truck inspection stations,
including the purchase of machines that can provide an X-ray picture of
the contents of an entire truck at one time. We have set aside nearly $4
million to continue to fortify our regional domestic security task
forces and fund the statewide domestic security database and training.
Over $14 million is devoted to expand critical laboratory capacity,
response capability and staffing for the seven regional disaster areas
including Medical Assistance Teams. Let me be clear: we will do all
within our means to thwart any terrorist attack.
And while we will never lose sight of the enormous
human toll caused by these barbaric attacks, we also acknowledge the
financial impact they have had on our economy. No state was immune from
the fiscal consequences of the terrorist attacks, including Florida. In
recent weeks, we have already taken bold steps to help restore our
economy, launching programs like Operation Paycheck and passing an
economic stimulus package aimed at creating more than 33,000 new
construction jobs in this state.
And I am pleased to say that these measures are
working. Today we have in our audience Archie Arosemena, a Floridian and
father of two from Orlando. Until September 11th, Archie worked for
American Eagle Airlines, earning about $8.50 an hour. He was laid off,
but then he heard about Operation Paycheck on the news. He entered the
program, and he will now be re-trained as a high-tech worker. In two
weeks, he starts courses at the University of Central Florida to become
a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. When he graduates, he can expect
to earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year. Archie, please stand and let us wish
you good luck.
It is great to hear the soon-to-be success stories
like Archie's, but there is much more work to do. Over the long haul, we
must restore the health of the businesses we already have and we must
grow new businesses that diversify and strengthen our economic base.
Chief among the new industries that will transform Florida are those
that create high-tech jobs, from Florida's globally-recognized strengths
such as the simulation, optics, and space technology fields to emerging
new sectors such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial
intelligence.
That is why this session I propose that we dedicate
$100 million to create the Florida Technology Development Initiative.
This initiative will build centers of excellence among our universities
dedicated to the key research necessary for building our promising
technology sectors. New facilities, laboratories, and endowed academic
chairs will be the catalysts for entrepreneurial investment. If we build
it, they will come. If we seize this opportunity, the best and the
brightest academics, researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs will
call Florida home. And they in turn will help build businesses that will
fuel our economy for the next century.
While the long-term economic prospects are bright,
today we are faced with the challenges of a short-term recession. State
government, along with all of Florida, has had to cope with the effects
of this economic downturn. When you met in special session a few weeks
ago, you dealt with a $1.3 billion shortfall in our budget, and, in
doing so, you protected Florida's top priorities.
Even after the Special Session, education funding
remains at historic levels, and per-student funding is at an all-time
high. The K-12 budget is over $2 billion higher than when I took office,
and funding for direct classroom instruction has been enhanced.
Health and human services spending has increased by a
record $4 billion. For example, under our KidCare and Medicaid budget
recommendations, 1.3 million children will be receiving health care
coverage, up 69 percent from four years ago. The number of
developmentally disabled being served has increased by 330 percent.
Public safety, too, has been protected, and convicted
criminals will continue to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.
Over the last two years, the violent gun crime rate is down by more than
25 percent, translating into 18 fewer gun assaults each day in this
state in 2000 compared to 1998.
You deserve our thanks. Thank you, the members of the
Florida Legislature, for your vision and courage in challenging economic
times.
On a personal note, I want to extend my thanks to a
few leaders in the room with us today. First, Lieutenant Governor Frank
Brogan. Frank, we have accomplished so much together, and I thank you
for your friendship and leadership. And I particularly thank you for the
pretzels which you are constantly offering these days.
I also want to give special thanks to President McKay
and Speaker Feeney. Together we have undertaken visionary reforms for
the people of Florida in a whole host of areas. You each should be proud
of what you have accomplished in your leadership of the Legislature.
Senator King and Representative Byrd, I want to extend
once again my congratulations to each of you for succeeding such worthy
leaders. I look forward to working more closely with you.
Under these leaders, you, the members of the
Legislature, have improved the lives of all Floridians. You should be
proud. As we move forward we must continue our commitment to fund a
state budget that focuses on our policy priority, making improved
educational opportunity our top long-term goal. Let me say that again:
excellence in education must be our highest priority.
When the children of Florida receive the education
they deserve, other goals -- a strong economy, lower crime rates,
healthier families, and fewer demands on government -- fall within easy
reach. Education is not just part of the foundation on which we build
the next Florida, it is the foundation.
Consider how far we have moved in education in three
short years. Today, we take for granted things that were almost
unimaginable a few years ago.
In 1997 and 1998, I visited more than 250 schools
across our state. I listened and learned. I heard parents say that they
wanted to know if their children were going to good schools, and they
wanted a choice if their children were trapped in a failing school. I
heard teachers say that they wanted the opportunity to be measured and
rewarded for their efforts, and that they welcomed the chance to grow as
professionals. I heard principals say that they were frustrated with a
disjointed education bureaucracy that siphoned money from the classroom
and tied their hands.
And so, three years ago, with your help we put into
place the A+ Plan. For the first time in Florida, schools were held
accountable. They received a letter grade based on student achievement.
Parents were given knowledge that should be commonplace, but at the time
was remarkable. They were told how good their schools were, based on
student learning. Children who were trapped in "F" schools for
two years were given the opportunity to attend better schools. Teachers
were given more training and greater rewards for their successes. And
principals were given more power over their school budgets.
And the results? They are nothing short of amazing.
Here is a map of Florida showing the "F"
schools in 1999. There were 78 of them. Consider this picture. These are
not just dots on a map. They illustrate the sad consequence of low
expectations and little accountability. They were 78 sites that held the
buried potential of thousands of our schoolchildren.
But look what happens to the "F" schools in
the two years since we implemented the A+ Plan. They are gone. They have
disappeared.
But unlike most great disappearing acts, there is no
magic here, only the extraordinary efforts of parents, teachers, and
students who rededicated themselves to excellence and learning.
One of the disappearing red dots on this map
represents Hollywood Park Elementary in Broward County. It is a school
with 84% percent of its students in free and reduced lunch programs, and
it was struggling. In 1999 it earned an "F" and in 2000 rose
to a "D." Then things really began to turn around. They
retained a full-time reading resource specialist and a full-time reading
teacher. They instituted a full-time reading plan. The result? They went
all the way from a "D" to an "A" in 2001. It's just
one of the great stories that each one of these 78 former "F"
schools represents.
But the success does not end there.
Here is a map that shows the number of high-performing
"A" and "B" schools in 1999. Only 21 percent of our
schools were high-performing. But now look at what happens over two
years.
Now there are twice as many high-performing schools,
41 percent in all. With the A+ Plan, we have nearly doubled the number
of high-performing schools in Florida. We have provided a first-rate
education for hundreds of thousands more students. And better still, we
have made some of our greatest gains among minority and disadvantaged
students.
As this graph shows, last year's average gains on the
FCAT for grades 8 and 10 in math were higher for African-American and
Hispanic students.
I'm also happy to report that minorities are making
progress in reading. On the 4th Grade FCAT, 56 percent of
African-American students scored at the lowest level - Level One - in
1999. That dropped to 43 percent by 2001. Hispanic students scoring at
Level One dropped from 40 percent to 29 percent.
Let me be clear, we still have a long way to go, and
the achievement gap between ethnic groups is still too large, as it is
across the nation. But these results demonstrate that we can make
progress, and we must keep our commitment to leave no child behind. We
are beginning to win this fight.
But now is not the time to grow complacent. We must
strive to improve, to raise the bar. School grades will now measure the
annual learning gains of students, which was part of the original vision
of the A+ Plan. Now, in addition to tougher standards in reading and
math, schools will be held accountable as well as rewarded for the
progress of their lowest performing students, and there is a greater
focus on reading in measuring schools. We must continue to push the
envelope, to accept nothing less than the best for and from our
students.
To help build on the successes of the A+ Plan, we must
continue to increase funding for our schools. Here is a graph showing
the increases in total K-20 education funding over the past three years.
This includes - in the K-12 system - an 18 percent, $2
billion increase in student funding for Florida's public schools over
the last three years. We should continue this trend, and so this year I
am proposing we greatly increase total K-20 funding.
I would like to dedicate almost a billion dollars in
new money to education, of which $726 million would be for the K-12
system, a 6.1 percent increase over the current budget, which is equal
to a 3 percent per-student increase.
In tough economic times, this kind of commitment
requires that we make hard choices; that we sacrifice. But what greater
reason to make these sacrifices than Florida's children?
Just as the state has a vital role in paying for
public education, so do local governments have the task of responsibly
planning for growth. There is a price that comes with development, but
in the past we have shied away from acknowledging the link between
building permits and overcrowded classrooms. We must find the resolve to
improve our growth management laws to address the challenges of a new
century. It is time to plan for schools with the same enthusiasm we show
for planning the development that will fill them. This session, I urge
you to change our growth management laws so school construction can keep
pace with development.
Of course, education is about more than just building
classrooms. It is about mastering the core skills we need to succeed. If
education is the foundation of success in our state, then reading is the
foundation of education. That is why this year I urge you to commit this
state on a long-term basis to fundamental reading initiatives that will
achieve the goal of helping all children read at grade level by fourth
grade. Yes, all students by fourth grade reading at grade level.
Today, only 53 percent would meet this goal, which is
a tragedy waiting to unfold. Almost half our fourth grade students can't
read at a fourth grade level. We have allowed it to happen over and over
again. This is the precursor to dropping out of high school. It is the
precursor to rising crime. It is the precursor to burdening society in a
variety of ways. Worse yet, it is the ever-rising barrier for a person
to pursue big dreams. All the research shows that if children aren't
reading at grade level by fourth grade, the chances to learn going
forward are diminished.
But once students are at grade level in the early
years, we need to make sure reading is not ignored after that. Just as
working out regularly keeps the body in shape, so does reading
instruction past fourth grade help the mind and overall learning. In the
past, once students achieve our expectations in the early years, we have
ignored reading after that. This creates a failure to meet high
expectations.
As part of this initiative, we are currently
evaluating the effectiveness of reading programs statewide so we can
identify the programs that are most effective at improving reading.
Combined with federal funds made available through the Reading First
initiative, I am recommending that next year we spend more than $50
million in state and federal funds to enhance reading in kindergarten
through 8th grade. This money will go toward professional development
for teachers and innovative programs for students that are aimed at
meeting our reading goals.
Our reading initiatives will not only be linked
closely with the A+ Plan, but also with our school readiness program.
We're reaching 30,000 more disadvantaged Florida children than we were
in 1999. Learning begins early, and we must ensure our next generation
of readers arrives at school ready to learn.
There are many people in this room who understand the
vital importance of our reading initiative, but there is one I want to
mention today. Deborah Clark is a teacher at Frontier Elementary in Palm
Beach County. When she was in high school, Deborah realized her dad
could not read. At that moment, she committed herself to teaching him
that vital skill. And since then, she has taught countless others, using
her awesome determination to ensure that they would not have to suffer
under that burden.
Deborah Clark has achieved remarkable results. Some of
her first-graders are reading entire novels by the time they leave her
class, and her second-graders show reading test improvements that almost
defy belief. Deborah understands the power of teaching and the fairness
of measuring results. She believes in the A+ Plan. Deborah, please
stand, and let us thank you.
Deborah and the thousands of teachers and
administrators who are equally dedicated have earned our trust. I urge
you to make permanent the budgeting flexibility for our school
districts, as well as for our universities and community colleges, that
we allowed recently to meet the current budget shortfall. This session,
I am asking that we give our fine educators the flexibility to change
their budgets. Accountability in return for freedom to act. I believe it
is a good bargain.
And finally, at is relates to education, we must
conclusively address the issue of social promotion so that we once and
for all eliminate the practice of advancing students because of their
age rather than their knowledge. The A+ Plan sought to eliminate social
promotion, but many of Florida's school districts have failed to comply
with the intent of the law. For example, during the 2000 school year,
thirty out of a hundred fourth graders scored at the lowest level in
reading, level one out of five, but only three out of a hundred fourth
graders were held back. We aren't doing our kids any favors when we
challenge them with advanced material before they've mastered the
basics.
I propose we give the social promotion language some
teeth so that school districts won't give up on teaching our kids how to
read. We should insist they clearly communicate to their communities
their promotion and retention policies. School districts should report
the number of students performing below grade level and how many of them
actually get a new chance to establish their reading skills before
moving on.
The best solution, of course, is to remediate
struggling readers during the school year, to get them the extra help
they need to stay on track.
But for school districts that continue to circumvent
the intent of the law, there should be consequences, perhaps including
the withholding of administrative funds. The people have spoken through
you, the Legislature, on this issue. Enforcing the social promotion
portion of the A+ Plan law is a commitment to never wash our hands of a
child's future.
If we make Florida secure and provide educational
opportunity, our state will grow and thrive. But government must hold up
its end of the bargain. It is our duty to take a sound fiscal approach
toward the operations of state government. Part of our job is to ensure
we have a fair tax structure. President McKay and others have suggested
a bold revision to our current tax system, essentially lowering the
sales tax rate while broadening its application to a host of services
that are now untaxed. I commend him for his willingness to advocate a
big idea.
As Governor, I want to facilitate full, honest and
transparent dialogue on this issue. As the debate has begun, the answers
to some common-sense questions should determine the direction we take on
this issue. How will this plan affect the competitiveness of Florida's
businesses, especially the small businesses that are driving our
economy? How will the debate over the next two years impact our
investment climate? What of tax equity and fairness? Will Floridians
have to pay more and our tourists less? What about the costs of
compliance?
I do not know the answers to all these questions. But
what I do know is this: we are building in Florida a business climate
that is second to none in the country. During the last year, Florida has
led the nation in job growth. We've grown by over 600,000 new jobs since
1999. Our current tax structure, coupled with tax relief, has fostered
economic growth and job creation. And while improvement is always
welcomed, let us be careful not to legislate away something that is a
competitive advantage that benefits the people we serve.
As for me, you know my philosophy. It is not the job
of government to constantly seek more revenue for itself, but to provide
essential services responsibly, to create a climate of achievement, and
then to let families, entrepreneurs, and communities do the rest.
As we ponder important fiscal issues, there is another
that commands our attention. Our Administration worked diligently with
citizen groups, environmentalists, localities, farmers, this
Legislature, and our leaders in Washington to create an historic accord
to save and restore the Everglades. This agreement, once fully
implemented, will allow the Everglades to function much more like it did
a century ago. But implementation of this plan is threatened because
funding for the project has become uncertain. That is why this year I am
proposing a dedicated funding source for the plan that will generate the
state's annual contribution of $100 million. I urge you to approve this
funding plan so the Everglades will be protected forever.
These, then, are some of the issues and programs I ask
you to consider this year. There are others that are also
extraordinarily compelling: our ongoing battles against drug abuse and
domestic violence, our support of seniors, and our commitment to the
developmentally disabled. But as the debates intensify and the workdays
lengthen, we should not lose sight of the more powerful forces or higher
goals beyond this room that shape our state each day.
It is our people, and not our government, that
determine whether we rise or fall as a state. It is their spirit, and
not our programs, that propel us forward. We need only remember CeeCee
Lyles and the millions of Floridians like her to remind us of the
greatness that quietly resides in our people.
We, in this room, have the privilege of serving the
people of Florida. In the coming weeks, let us serve them well. Let us
serve them so that when our children look back on this time, they will
see the moment of change when our state grew together and solidified its
place in the top tier. There are 16 million Floridians. There is but one
destiny.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless Florida.
516 North Adams Street ● Post Office Box 784 ● Tallahassee, Florida 32302-0784 ● Phone: (850) 224-7173 ● Fax: (850) 224-6532 ● www.aif.com
