Beginning January 22, 2002, the Florida Legislative Session will begin at the Capitol. This session will cover some of the most important topics when it comes to the state of Florida. Politics is not a popular subject for everyone, but it would be foolish to be naive to it. This session alone will cover ways to better communities all over Florida and take a closer look into bettering education in Florida.
House Speaker Tom Feeney announced the formation of the House Select Committee on Florida’s Economic Future. This committee will be headed by Representative Johnnie Byrd. The main focus of this committee will be to increase Florida’s job growth and economic prosperity. There will also be opponents and proponents to Sen. John McKay’s tax proposal. Florida is the number one tourist state in the country, and because of the recession, the economy has hit Florida in a big way. Tourism is down which means that many of the attractions that bring so much money into Florida’s economy are lacking.
On January 17, 2002, Sen. Bob Graham released a report on Florida’s education statistics. To be quite honest, they were terrible!
According to Tallahassee.com, Florida ranks 42nd in the nation in the number of high school students who go to college. Also, only 56 percent of incoming freshman graduate from high school.
These are just a few topics that will be discussed in the upcoming session. Lack of knowledge causes the people to perish. Florida A&M University is no exception. FAMU and all other state universities will probably have budget cuts. There has already been a halt in government funding and enrollment because FAMU students received their net checks early. Everything in politics is a give-and-take. Students get their net checks early, but enrollment and government funding are cut off.
Stay informed of the Florida Legislative session. Find out what’s going on when it comes to your university. Florida students, inform yourself about your city. This is no time to say politics does not apply to you. If you are registered in classes here at FAMU, then it applies to you directly.
-Antione Davis of the Editorial Board.