Not About The Children

Even though the WayneWho staff enjoys a good scoop now and again, sometimes we find the depths at which elected officials are willing to sink appalling. And so the story goes with an un-news item we had published this past week titled "School Board Rulez" about the School Boards attempt to remove the limitations of law that taxpayers of a community have agreed on, allowing them to essentially override local governments and the will of the people. You may in a momentary lapse of American Values believe that steps such as these should be looked at if the school governments are to protect and teach our children, but the new legislation that is being pushed right now has nothing to do with children. This legislation, Senate Bill 474, allows School Boards to build low-income housing anywhere they wish. The amendment to the bill has been left so wide open that the public would have no recourse in stopping a school board housing project from being built, and it gives them incentives to become an unstoppable low-income development force. If this bill passes, they will be able to do all of this development without ever having to prove how it is going to help in the education of our children.

We have not yet been able to confirm the actual author of the amendment, but it is pretty easy to assume that it is connected to developer Johnathan Wolf who was one of the architects of the legislation that made the state (your tax) money available to build the "Preserve" housing project in St. Cloud. This is an idea that is also being pitched in other communities and all ties back to the same developer. This developer recently lost the battle to construct a housing project in St. Cloud, so now it seems that the campaign contributions have gone out, and the elected official help has come in to create legislation that will cripple the public's ability to protect their quality of life and the value of their own property.

And again we will repeat the fact that none of this helps our children in any way.

The legislation in question is Senate Bill 474 that has already been approved by the Community Affairs Commission. The bill is now going to the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, which if approved will then go on to the floor.

The lines of the amendment are 353-355, 660-661, 744-753, and 3869-3912. Starting with line 3868 the amendment currently reads as follows:

Notwithstanding ss. 1013.28 and 1002.33(18)(e), the properties identified as
appropriate for use as affordable housing on the inventory list adopted by the
district school board may be offered for sale and the proceeds may be used to
purchase land for the development of affordable housing or to increase the local
government fund earmarked for affordable housing, sold with a restriction that
requires the development of the property as permanent affordable housing, or
donated to a nonprofit housing organization for the construction of permanent
affordable housing. Alternatively, the district school board may otherwise make
the property available for the production and preservation of permanent
affordable housing. For purposes of this section, the term "affordable" has the
same meaning as in s.

420.0004.
Section 21. Sections 339.282 and
421.615, Florida Statutes, are repealed.

Section 22. Subsections (13)
and (15) of section 1013.33, 3885 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
1013.33 Coordination of planning with local governing bodies.--
(13) A
local governing body may not deny the site applicant based on adequacy of the
site plan as it relates solely to the needs of the school. If the site is
consistent with the comprehensive plan's land use policies and categories in
which public schools are identified as allowable uses

Sounds familiar doesn't it?

To see the full bill visit this Web Page .

You may believe that a bill so ludicrous would never be passed, but this bill does have support. Local state support that we have been able to find is from Representative Frank Attkisson and State Senator Mike Haridopolos. Even if they did not support the amendment, the entire bill is bad legislation because it does such things as "absolving a developer from responsibility for mitigating school concurrency backlogs or addressing class size." You might ask yourself how bad legislation like this can be passed to favor developers? Simple, follow the money. Follow the campaign contributions. Remember the donors who supported Donna Hart's campaign for mayor that the media had questioned and that many believe were unethical? The same donors can be found on the contribution lists of many of the committee members who hold our communities fate in their hands with this legislation.

And again we will repeat the fact that none of this helps our children in any way and this bill is a growth management bill that actually makes it easier for developers to choke our community. As typical for a republican controlled governmental body, the titles such as growth management, mean the exact opposite of what they say. "Growth Management" really means "Growth Unfettered." Again we are witnessing bills being passed and approved without ever seeing the light of day, and with no elected official lobbying for the rights of the people.

It is up to you to stop this. It is up to you to at least voice your concerns about this bill and especially about this amendment. The school board should be in the business of teaching our children, not developing housing projects.

Below is a list of the members of the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee. You need to contact them and ask them "not to calendar this bill for their committee". You should also express that you are not for the school board being in the development business. We recommend that you contact all of our Central Florida State elected officials and tell them the same.

Committee on Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations

Chair: Senator Mike Fasano (R)
Vice Chair: Senator Gwen Margolis (D)
Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla (R)
Senator Anthony C. "Tony" Hill, Sr. (D)
Senator Daniel Webster (R)

Local State Officials:
Senator Mike Haridopolos
Representative Frank Attkisson

We would like to thank all of you who contributed information to this entry. Your efforts are appreciated and welcomed. We look forward to working with all of you to protect our community.