Education Dollars for Florida

From the House Dems:

Dear Governor Crist:

Florida House Democratic Caucus members are concerned by the state Department of Education’s failure to submit the necessary paperwork to the U.S. Department of Education for our state to receive Florida’s fair share of federal economic recovery dollars for schools.

Only a few days remain in the 2009 legislative session and federal monies are needed to balance the Fiscal year 2009-10 state budget. It is imperative that no time be wasted in accessing the $2 billion in federal education dollars that members of Congress and President Barack Obama helped to secure for our state’s students, teachers and other school personnel and programs.

While our caucus is pleased by your administration’s embrace of using federal economic recovery monies, we now urge you to remind Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith to expedite the necessary paperwork so that the Florida Legislature can conclude the people’s business without additional and unnecessary delay.

Thank you for your urgent consideration of this matter.

Respectfully,

Franklin Sands
Democratic Leader