In May 2011, in front of hundreds of cheering supporters in The Villages, under a banner proclaiming “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a state budget that cut nearly $1.4 billion from Florida’s public schools.
Sixteen months later, the GOP legislators who passed that budget at Scott’s urging are under siege across Florida from Democrats who accuse them of slashing pre-K-12 funding and sacrificing traditional public schools in favor of alternatives such as charter and private schools.
In Central Florida, Democrat Karen Castor Dentel has sent mailers blistering her opponent, Republican state Rep. Scott Plakon of Longwood, as “wrong, wrong, wrong on schools.” In television ads, the Maitland public-school teacher tells voters, “I’ve seen firsthand how Tallahassee is hurting our schools.”
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