Governor Crist makes it official: pony up time for students and their families.

Tuition goes up to pay for more faculty who probably will not have to teach enough to lighten the teaching load significantly, although that is how the U bigwigs sold it at Wednesday's meeting, no doubt. Students and their families' wallets will be much lighter.

Tuition will jump at 3 universities June 28, 2007, Luis Zaragoza and John Kennedy, Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE - Thousands of new college students will start paying a premium next year to attend a trio of Florida's top-ranked public universities. Gov. Charlie Crist unexpectedly reversed his opposition to legislation that will allow the University of Florida and Florida State University to charge up to 40 percent more than the state's base tuition rate. The University of South Florida will be able to charge a 30 percent premium... Crist had earlier vetoed a 5 percent, across-the-board tuition increase for the state's 11 public universities, saying he opposed hiking costs for students and their parents... Crist huddled behind closed doors Wednesday with Florida's university presidents and told them that he would sign the bill... UCF President John Hitt said after Wednesday's meeting that the loss of the anticipated money for growth translates into dozens of faculty members whom the school won't be able to hire and hundreds of courses that it won't be able to offer.

The way that you can see their nefarious selling strategy is: John Hitt's statement. When he says, "dozens of faculty members whom the school won't be able to hire," it is code for dozens of expensive-to-hire hotshot research faculty who will have light teaching assignments. President Hitt and UCF do not care much about faculty who teach lots of students. Ask any faculty member at his university. These U bigwigs only care about researchers who can give them the reputation of "elite, research-oriented public schools in other states." I wager that the governor got sucked in when they dangled elite in front of the governor's eyes: dollar signs, national recognition, national office, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue etc. etc. Cf., e.g., the 4th chapter of Matthew for an anecdote from the past of an amusingly similar blandishment:

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

And if you want to find the devil here, look in the numbers. We do not know the exact numbers the U bigwigs quoted to the governor, but we can make an estimate.

1. Dozens of faculty ←for a conservative estimate, let's call that 24 faculty.
2. Hundreds of courses ← for a conservative estimate, let's call that 200 classes.

The approximate teaching load for these new faculty would be about 8 classes per year! NOBODY teaches 8 classes per year, not even the lowest ranking lecturer on punishment.

Or put it another way: $70 million annually for this new fee for the three schools, once it is fully in effect. Let's say that they share the money equally, and use it for 24 new faculty at each U. Under this estimate, $70 million between 72 faculty members, comes out to about $97,000 per faculty member. But not all of that goes to salary. Part of that $97,000 goes to benefits like health insurance, some goes to overhead like office and light bill and so on. And that is only if there is ZERO "startup package" for the faculty member. Not many faculty will be happy with salary that far south of $97,000 and no startup. Recruiting will be tough.

So the numbers paint a picture of impending failure. No new faculty will want relatively low pay without startup package for the privilege of teaching 8 sections per year.

But the governor did not catch that, or he ignored it. Or perhaps they gave him different numbers, shorter numbers: some of the science departments across the state can break into the first rank nationally with just a few more research faculty.

But the public purpose, to help the teaching of students, is going to suffer.

They should be building up both kinds of faculty, hotshot researchers and faithful teachers and, best of all, faculty who do both tasks well.

For the reporters and editors of this article, the embarrassment is that the person who pays, the persons who receives this service -- the student and his family -- are left to the last few lines. But I will make them prominent here:

Teri Stonebraker, a Kissimmee resident who will have two children enrolled at FSU this fall, said she understood how the increasing cost of keeping quality staff and programs in place could raise costs for students.

"I just wish the state would find other ways to allow all students to get an education," she said.

Even for the Orlando Sentinel editor, this looks like an afterthought. But the teaching of students should be the priority, top of the article, not at end of page two.

Status of Democratic votes undecided...again

This article's headline about manipulation of Democrat party voting makes one think of nefarious GOPers deviously at work.

But on account of this being Florida, it is actually Democrat party smartness messing things up.

"Status of Democratic votes undecided," June 21, 2007, BETH REINHARD, Miami Herald

Whether Florida's Democratic votes in the Jan. 29 primary will count remained in limbo Thursday after a closed-door meeting in Washington between members of Congress and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Dean has said the state's primary ''essentially won't count'' because the date violates national party rules that allow only four smaller states to vote that early. Candidates who campaign in scofflaw states lose any delegates to the national convention that they earn in those states, even if they win the most voters.

Huh? "The state's primary essentially won't count." ←Planned voter suppression, courtesy of Howard Dean! Politicians can flip-flop on policies and ideas, but they should resist the urge to flip-flop the franchise.

Also, I consider it loathsome for Howard Dean and these other suits in D.C. to call the shots for Florida by remote control. Let it be the decision of Florida Democrats: state officers and county executive committees. They like Jan. 29. So does the Republican party of Florida.

Actually, this might work out. Just have Theresa LePore design the ballots for the primary. Hold the primary on Jan. 29. Then start counting. Since they are Theresa LePore ballots, it will take multiple recounts, mutual restraining orders and a chain of federal judges to ensure an "accurate" tabulation of returns, and by that time, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina voting will be long over with and done, ancient history. So Florida CAN vote early and still meet all DNC party rules.

Shifty-eyed politicians, vote-counting fish stories

Whenever a politician tells you he is an honest man, check quickly that your wallet is still in your back pocket. Abe Lincoln followed that principle.
This article describes the fog of rhetoric surrounding a Florida election recount, with politicians navigating by foghorn. Facts are optional.

Senators seek inquiry into GOP's Duval acts, 6/20/2007, J. Taylor Rushing, Capital Bureau Chief, Florida Times-Union

The U.S. Justice Department has been asked to investigate whether there were intentional efforts by the Republican Party to suppress Jacksonville's African-American vote during the 2004 election. The request, by Democratic U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and Sheldon Whitehouse, suggests the Senate Judiciary Committee has uncovered e-mail evidence supporting an investigation. Kennedy and Whitehouse are members of the committee... "It's malicious and absolutely untrue that I tried to do this," said [Tim] Griffin, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas who resigned two weeks ago during the controversy over U.S. attorney firings. But Jacksonville's African-American community praised news of the request and eagerly backed an investigation. Juan Gray, board chairman of Jacksonville's chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said black leaders have long suspected Republican foul play in both 2000 and 2004. "I'm delighted that we have congressional oversight," Gray said. "It's way overdue." NAACP Jacksonville Branch President Isaiah Rumlin said he was personally unaware of the specific voter suppression tactic suspected by Kennedy and Whitehouse but said there were "significant problems" before and during the election. "We wouldn't be one bit surprised, and we welcome an investigation," Rumlin said. "If there's evidence out there, that needs to come forth. Just because I don't recall this specific tactic doesn't mean it didn't happen." Kennedy and Whitehouse accuse the Republican National Committee of "vote caging"... Both Hightower and Scheu, who was the interim supervisor of elections during the 2004 election, note they participated in daily meetings with local black leaders in which the subject of caging was never raised.

Trouble:

1. DOJ investigation requested but without evidence from anyone in Jacksonville -- Rumlin: "If there's evidence out there, that needs to come forth."  No offense to Mr. Rumlin, but probable cause is a normal part of an investigation.
2. Community leaders suspected foul play but nobody mentioned it in daily meetings with election supervisors.

Knowing a bit about pollwatching on election days, I would tend to believe the men and women from Jacksonville, not so much Rumlin or Hightower but the people at the polls: clerks, inspectors, deputies plus pollwatchers independent of the government. Unfortunately, nobody bothered asking them; the article mentions no pollworkers or pollwatchers. Least credible are the senators from D.C., neither of which is actually from Florida. What have Senators Nelson and Martinez got to say? That would be nice to know. Who benefits from the investigation? Some bigshots in D.C. or regular voters in Jacksonville? As always, when a politician shifts his gaze toward you, hold onto your wallet.

But Florida being what it is, there is probably a mare's nest of foolishness shared equally by mules and elephants ←the Theresa LePore tradition. If anyone has YouTube footage of a pollworker stuffing secret ballots into his socks or a pollwatcher nagging a voter like somebody's mother in law, then I hope punishment is savage: forcible conscription to work another election!

Great Wall of China not welcome in Jacksonville

It is always amusing to see citizens mobilize against the nefarious economic forces that want to pull a fast one. The unnamed lady (sixth paragraph) has the most powerful geometric objection to the storage facility.

Julington Creek residents voice apprehension about storage facility 6/20/2007, TIFFANY PAKKALA, The St. Augustine Record

Carrabas. A movie theater. A post office. There are plenty of neighbors Julington Creek Plantation residents said they would like to have. A 75,000-square-foot self-storage facility isn't one of them. That's the message that more than 100 residents of the master-planned community brought Tuesday to a meeting with Ash Properties. The company has plans to put a three-story, climate-controlled storage building within Julington Creek... [Julington Creek resident, David Taus] pointed out that the 35-foot-high building will be just 15 feet from the sidewalk. "It will be like walking right next to the Wall of China!" one woman cried out... [Ash Properties Vice President Randall] Whitfield said his company has already met with neighbors in the nearby South Bridge townhouses, and they gave Ash a relatively "good response." But then Annette Winter, who lives in one of the town homes, spoke up. "I was at that meeting, and there were only two other people there," she said, adding that none in attendance approved of the storage building.

Also lovely is Annette Winter, demolishing Whitfield's attempt at sleight of hand. Way to go, Annette!

Lies, boldfaced lies and accounting

In my opinion, the keepers of money -- accountants -- have mastery of information that would hornswoggle a rocket scientist. When they are government accountants, they hornswoggle under color of law. Or, as the used car salesman said, "It's all perfectly legal."
If hornswoggling by government accountants were false, then this newpaper article from Tallahassee would never appear.

Fuzzy math in new tax plan? June 19, 2007, Paige St. John, Tallahassee Democrat FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU

City and county government officials are accusing Gov. Charlie Crist of deliberately putting out false information in an effort to win property-tax cuts. They're reacting to Crist's assertion that local governments are fighting property-tax cuts even as they sit atop $9 billion in reserves. Local officials say the governor's "reserves" are grossly inflated, lumping general-fund reserves from unspent property taxes with other pools of money, including debt reserves and money for construction projects... "I will refrain from calling them boldfaced lies," said Rockledge's upset city administrator, Dave Henderson. He said he had $6.3 million in reserves, less than half of the $14.7 million claimed by Crist's office.

Mutual aspersions and accusations. Lies, boldfaced lies and accounting. Tsk tsk. Government accountants should serve the public, or, as the truism goes → "We're from the government and we're here to help."
BRAINWAVE: Maybe they could hire Theresa Lepore as a consultant to straighten out this accountant ruction.

Jennifer Kesse case similar to Ft. Lauderdale case?

This Ft. Lauderdale kidnap/murder case has a few factors that resemble the Jennifer Kesse kidnap case up in Orlando.

LAUDERHILL: 2 bodies found in trunk June 18, 2007 Nirvi Shah and Jennifer Mooney-Piedra, Miami Herald

An hour after Lauderhill police were called and told that someone was placing what looked like a body in the trunk of a silver car Saturday night, Sunrise police found a car matching the description about a mile away... The car had apparently been driven from the 5200 block of Northwest 16th Court in Lauderhill to an apartment complex about a mile away at 6121 NW 11th St. in Sunrise near Sunset Strip, Lauderhill police said.

The similarities are that the criminals drove a mile away and dumped off the car at an apartment complex near a shopping center with easy access to major highways. The Fort Lauderdale crime involved a group of three criminals, not an individual.
Geographic layout of Lauderhill/Sunrise crime scene

Five learning curves

Five different offenses to learn in five years ←enough to discombobulate any normal humanoid! In this case, however, you have a pro player who also has the amusing penchant for using the classic line, "They are the same, only different."

Garcia: "I’m Not Where I Want To Be" June 14, 2007 Beth Gaddis/ROY CUMMINGS TBO.com

TAMPA – For a guy who is said to be "way ahead" of everyone else in the battle for the starting quarterback job, Jeff Garcia sounded an awful lot on Thursday like a guy who is way behind his competitors... One reason Garcia is so behind mentally is that this is the fifth offense he’s been forced to learn in the last five years. He said this is "similar but different" than the others but that he’s catching on – slowly.

Nice work, Jeff Garcia!

Fewer students so that more faculty can be hired

Apparently, the politicians feel it is better to have fewer students if the savings can guarantee more faculty and staff. And tack on a surcharge at UF, FSU and University of South Florida (Tampa-St. Pete) so that more faculty and staff can be hired.

"FSU will freeze enrollment to curb costs," June 16, 2007, Luis Zaragoza, Orlando Sentinel

Florida State University will freeze enrollment as part of a cost-cutting campaign it blames on years of state under-funding for enrollment growth, the loss of a tuition increase and uncertainty about revenue, officials said Friday... The University of Central Florida and other state universities also are looking at spending cuts for the same reasons, but FSU is first to announce an enrollment freeze.

And here is a comment that is eloquent in its omission: "Other cuts at FSU include putting off repairs and maintenance, reviewing travel and reducing journal subscriptions." The omission → no mention is made of the suits cutting their own salary raises! Ditching journal subscriptions will not save much.

I wager that if the legislators could interview individual faculty members, departmental accountants and other low level staff members, without the deans and provosts around, the legislators would learn that a big part of the under-funding is a result of paying huge startup fees for sexy new research faculty instead of paying for the teaching infrastructure that is now suffering neglect. Ditto for new research "centers of excellence." Each is an example of robbing Peter to pay Paul, because the state wants to push and shove its institutions up into the club of famous top-tier research universities like Harvard and Cal Tech, a good goal and attainable if done carefully.

It was not done carefully.

You can see it was not done carefully because of the current jam they are in, not enough faculty to carry the teaching load.

The danger is that new savings and new fees, if they go through, will be diverted to more startup fees but not help with the teaching load or keeping the universities open to more students.