School district hit with financial crisis
I am writing to express my deep dismay over the announcement on June 12 by Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor that our district is in a financial crisis.
Connor states that this is due to “rising costs, declining revenue due to legislative actions and enrollment trends that affect funding.”
One of the biggest challenges is the state voucher program. Connor writes, “Some students who applied for Florida Empowerment Scholarship but were actually enrolled in our schools aren’t being counted in our enrollment for funding purposes. The state has yet to correct this issue.”
While the district is saying they are going to support “transitions thoughtfully,” I have just learned that multiple school counselor positions have been cut.
As a school counseling graduate student, I can tell you that this will cause serious implications for our students in regard to providing necessary interventions, mental health support and academic services.
This will also detrimentally impact underrepresented students in the areas of exceptional student education, gifted education, career/college planning, AP/dual enrollment and more.
I know many families and educators who will be devastated by these cuts, and for me, I hope my personal and financial investment has not been in vain.
Tamara Solum, USF graduate student, counselor education, Sarasota
Florida will suffer from Trump tax bill
We must start worrying about how the new national budget − with drastic cuts in government services, programs and regulations, tariffs and mass deportations − will affect Florida.
Unfortunately, there are many problems ahead.
Climate change is a major issue for us. We are surrounded by an ocean that is constantly warming from carbon dioxide pollution. Our west coast hurricane damage is dramatically ramping up.
President Donald Trump has severely damaged the government’s ability to fight climate change. He has made major cuts in the clean energy programs, pollution regulations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Florida and its economy will become a disaster state.
The tariffs are a tax on our purchases. Other countries retaliate by taxing our exports. Most economists believe the tariff wars will drive us into a recession.
Florida’s economy, which depends on tourists and retirement, will suffer.
There are approximately 240,000 immigrants in Florida who could be deported by Trump.
Many have skills in construction, landscaping, tourism and agriculture.
They will be difficult to replace, and costs will ramp up.
The top 1% of the U.S. wage earners have 30% of the nation’s wealth.
They don’t need a $4 trillion tax cut.
Worried? Contact your representative and senators.
Robert Kolk, Venice
Buchanan’s poll highlights Medicaid ‘waste’
I’m not even in his district but I continue to be plagued by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s “InstaPolls.”
This week he reminds us of a recent Wall Street Journal article highlighting overpayments from Medicaid to insurers and then loads his InstaPoll question and asks if we support legislation to reduce “waste” in the Medicaid system.
What “waste”?
Is the congressman aware of something − perhaps in Florida on his watch − that we don’t know about?
And then Buchanan asks if we would support legislation that would reduce fraud even though such legislation already exists (i.e., the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback statute, Medicaid Fraud Control Units, the Florida False Claims Act, etc.)!
What are you getting at, Congressman Buchanan? More regulation?
I’m glad to discuss methods and means that might improve our Medicaid systems but I don’t like being gamed in your InstaPolls.
Jeff Lombard, Sarasota
Pro-Trump writer urges him to speak softly
The column by Nicole Russell in the June 20 edition of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is a milestone (‘Mr. President, please stop goading Iran’).
Here is an intelligent, articulate longstanding Trump supporter, a non-MAGA fanatic, who has come to realize an uncomfortable fact: Trump’s long, blasphemous, incoherent ramblings in news conferences and on social media are − well − just not right.
She stops short of an increasingly obvious conclusion: Trump is losing it.
Think back.
Many of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, were concerned with the ages of both candidates.
And rightly so.
At 97, I still have most of my marbles, but if anyone were to suggest I was qualified to run for any public office – including dog catcher – they’d be less qualified than me.
We’re looking at 3½ more years with a deranged egomaniac in the White House. God help us.
Kenneth H. Bradt, Ph.D., psychology, Sarasota
A fond farewell
Hey, fellow Opinion pagers, please join me in bidding a fond farewell to Letters Editor Julie Blomquist, who is retiring after 30 years as an accomplished journalist with the Herald-Tribune.
Julie, I’m going to miss your uncanny, unerring knack for selecting great letters, your masterful skill in working with our letter writers and, of course, your wonderful sense of humor.
It’s been a joy and an honor to call you a colleague.
Bravo, Julie, and here’s wishing you much happiness in retirement!
– Opinion Editor Roger Brown
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County school district struggling financially | Letters
Reporting by Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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