Rep. Fine proposes sending Brevard County tax dollars to other counties in retaliation to mask ma…
Channel: The Space Coast Rocket
Date: 2022-02-05

Fine proposes eliminating the salaries of county administrators such as grant directors, budget managers and chief financial officers.

It’s being called the ‘Putting Parents First Adjustment’ and it comes as a punishment to the district over its mask mandate policy from earlier in the school year.

The announcement came at the conclusion of the House K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday.

1,600 non-classroom school administrators making over $100,000 in 12 counties would have their salaries redistributed to other districts.

“Their salaries are $200 million and that is where we will be funding and that is where we’ll be funding the Putting Parents First categorical,” said Committee Chair Representative Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay).

Fine said the proposal comes as retribution against districts who bucked the state’s mask mandate ban.

“We looked at these 12 school districts that didn’t think that they had to follow the law and frankly spent taxpayer resources violating the law. So, we realized they have more money than they need,” said Fine.

It should be noted that what Fine is referring to was not a law, but an emergency rule. The rule eventually became law later on to which the districts complied with.

"A number of school districts intentionally broke the law, but 55 of them did not," Fine said at the meeting. 

Jacksonville State Representative Tracie Davis said the cuts would be devastating for DCPS.

“This is the complete situation of penalizing school districts for listening to our medical professionals, for listening to the majority of the parents and the community,” said Davis (D-Jacksonville).

Fine said the districts would be prohibited from back filling the salary cuts with funds meant for the classroom.

“They can cut back on the legal fees they’ve used to sue the state when they don’t like state law, they can cut back on Critical Race Theory directors and training,” said Fine.

But Davis is hopeful Fine’s plan won’t make it in the final state budget.

“My colleagues and I are going to continue to fight these bad education bills and the attacks on the school board members and we can be confident that the Senate is not looking at this type of attack on our school districts,” said Davis.

Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said he wasn't surprised by the line item, calling Fine "a childish, immature bully who simply hates public schools."

The proposal is unlikely to stick as is was not in the Senate’s recommended budget, nor was it in the Governor's. Fine has made many proposals for pure shock value and headlines in the past such as threatening to close down the University of Central Florida.