T H E C A B I N E T
S T A T E O F F L O R I D A
Representing:
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
The above agencies came to be heard before
THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Bush
presiding, in the City Hall, 900 East Strawbridge
Avenue, Council Chambers, Second Floor, Melbourne,
Florida, on Tuesday, December 12, 2000, commencing at
approximately 9:06 a.m.
Reported by:
LAURIE L. GILBERT
Registered Professional Reporter
Certified Court Reporter
Certified Realtime Reporter
Registered Merit Reporter
Notary Public in and for
the State of Florida at Large
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
100 SALEM COURT
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32301
850/878-2221
2
APPEARANCES:
Representing the Florida Cabinet:
JEB BUSH
Governor
BOB CRAWFORD
Commissioner of Agriculture
BOB MILLIGAN
Comptroller
KATHERINE HARRIS
Secretary of State
BOB BUTTERWORTH
Attorney General
BILL NELSON
Treasurer
TOM GALLAGHER
Commissioner of Education
* * *
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December 12, 2000
I N D E X
ITEM ACTION PAGE
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION:
(Presented by Barbara Jarriel,
Chief Investment Officer)
1 Approved 18
2 Approved 19
3 For Information Only 19
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE:
(Presented by James A. Zingale, Ph.D.,
Executive Director)
1 Approved 30
2 Approved 42
3 Approved 42
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION:
(Presented by Wayne V. Pierson,
Deputy Commissioner)
1 Approved 45
2 Approved 91
3 Approved 92
4 Approved 96
5 Approved 97
6 through 18 Approved 97
19 Approved 98
20 Approved 98
21 Approved 99
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December 12, 2000
I N D E X
(Continued)
ITEM ACTION PAGE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT
TRUST FUND:
(Presented by David B. Struhs,
Secretary)
1 Approved 104
Substitute 2 Approved 109
3 Approved 110
Substitute 4 Deferred 113
5 Approved 115
Substitute 6 Approved 117
CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 123
* * *
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STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 5
December 12, 2000
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (The agenda items commenced at 9:23 a.m.)
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Now we're going to start
4 our regular agenda.
5 And before we do that, I think I might ask
6 General Butterworth -- I haven't asked him to
7 do this, so -- but you're -- you're a pretty
8 good extemporaneous speaker as well -- to
9 describe the Cabinet, because we do have
10 students here.
11 And this is a unique -- a very unique, I
12 think one-of-a-kind institution in our -- in
13 our -- of all the 50 states.
14 And perhaps you could describe a little bit
15 about what -- why we're gathered like this, and
16 then -- and maybe talk about what two years
17 from now the -- where the Cabinet's going.
18 And then -- and then we'll -- we'll start
19 our agenda. And maybe it'll give a little
20 context to -- to why we have this meeting every
21 other week.
22 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH:
23 Five minutes, Governor?
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: However long it takes.
25 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Okay. I
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December 12, 2000
1 think Erica could probably do it better than I
2 can. But I'll try my best.
3 The -- Florida, ever since it became a
4 state, had a shared Executive Branch. In the
5 beginning, with the seven of us that are
6 here -- of course, there were other people back
7 in 1882, you know.
8 But the --
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Some.
10 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Some.
11 I feel like I've been here since the
12 beginning.
13 But the -- and literally the -- all seven
14 of us would have shared the -- the identical
15 powers.
16 So what Florida had is that Florida had a
17 state that -- that very much did have,
18 unfortunately, a weak Governor form of
19 government. And everyone shared.
20 And for many years, the Governor was term
21 limited in office, and could only serve a
22 couple of terms, whereas someone on the
23 Cabinet, such as Secretary Mayo, or -- or
24 Commissioner Doyle Connor, would serve 30, 40,
25 50 years, because they had an airplane -- if
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December 12, 2000
1 they made airplanes -- they -- we all had
2 staffs, and actually were treated like
3 governors. In essence, they did share all the
4 power.
5 As time went on, they started putting more
6 and more power into the Governor, as it should
7 be. And I think back in 1968 was one of the
8 major changes that was made. And so far, it's
9 been -- from the standpoint, used to have,
10 like, 117 different organizations in -- in
11 Florida government. That was then carved down
12 to 25, and the Governor and Cabinet preside
13 over about seven of those.
14 In 1998, we had the Constitution Revision
15 Commission, which is -- so -- those of you that
16 want to come to Tallahassee or to Miami when we
17 have our next meeting, it's going to look a
18 little bit different, because the voters
19 decided that they didn't -- that they wanted
20 to -- to change the state of Florida a little
21 bit.
22 Both Treasurer Nelson and -- and
23 Comptroller Milligan came before the
24 Constitution Revision Commission, which meets
25 once every 20 years, to look at our
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December 12, 2000
1 Constitution, and get citizen input to see how
2 it should be changed and modernized.
3 Florida's one of the few governments that
4 do that. And both of these Commissioners came
5 before the -- the Revision Commission to say
6 that in the best interest of the State of
7 Florida, we should be merging our particular
8 jobs. And that would then take the Cabinet
9 down to six.
10 The Constitution Revision Commission then
11 decided they wanted to reduce it even further.
12 There have -- there have been citizen
13 initiatives over the years to abolish it
14 completely. Many people believe that more than
15 one person should decide certain issues, such
16 as law enforcement; such as clemency; and such
17 as on the issue of bonds, which would be
18 pledging the full faith and credit of the State
19 of Florida. It really should be more than one
20 person.
21 And also when it comes to the State lands
22 that the -- that the State owns as the Board of
23 Trustees, we should be able to have more than
24 just one person handle that.
25 The Constitution Revision Commission
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December 12, 2000
1 decided then to go with four persons. It'd be
2 the Attorney General, the Comptroller, the
3 Agriculture Commissioner, and the Governor.
4 And I believe that was a good combination.
5 Many people originally said it should be three
6 people, without the Agricultural Commissioner
7 being on there.
8 The -- that meant that the -- that the
9 three people would, in essence, be able to
10 determine what we have now, which would be the
11 Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports
12 to us, certain parts of the Department of
13 Environmental Protection when it comes to State
14 lands reports to us, as well as the Florida
15 Department of Law Enforcement, and Department
16 of Revenue.
17 The -- when it came to State lands, many
18 people who owned a lot of -- of lands in the
19 State of Florida decided they -- that they
20 wanted an Agricultural Commissioner to also sit
21 on, because their interests were -- were
22 basically -- should at least be looked into,
23 and they were correct.
24 And that's the way that was passed. And --
25 and what was good about it, I think, from the
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December 12, 2000
1 standpoint of the State of Florida having more
2 of its power in -- in the Chief Executive
3 Office of the Governor, if there would have
4 been three of us up here, then -- then the two
5 of us could have outvoted the Governor.
6 With four people, if there's a tie,
7 2-2 tie, the tie goes with the Governor.
8 So for the first time in the history of
9 our -- our state, we're going to be more in
10 line with most other states about where the --
11 where the Chief Executive of the state will be
12 able to talk at -- and be a stronger
13 Chief Executive, as opposed to sharing a lot of
14 the power.
15 But still when it comes to those areas of
16 full faith and credit, the bonding, when it
17 comes to State lands, when it comes to the
18 chief law enforcement of the state, that
19 particular authority will be shared.
20 And when it comes to revenue in the state,
21 that'll be shared.
22 We receive very, very few powers from the
23 Constitution as a Board. And the only two
24 would be the State Board of Education. And,
25 of course, the Commissioner of Education will
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December 12, 2000
1 also be gone.
2 And that will be conducted by a -- the
3 Governor will appoint a Board I believe of
4 12 people? And then --
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: I think it's seven,
6 I believe.
7 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Seven?
8 And that -- and that Board will then
9 determine who -- who the Commissioner of
10 Education should be. So that role will be
11 taken away from us constitutionally. But
12 originally, that was one of the functions we
13 had as -- as a -- a Cabinet.
14 Another one is the Department of -- of
15 Veterans' Affairs, which reports to us. And
16 constitutionally, it reports to all seven of
17 us. Subsequently, it'll only report to -- to
18 four of us.
19 But the whole thing, as -- as we have been
20 changing over time in order to meet the needs
21 of the state, as I said before, Florida is very
22 unique in that once every 20 years, we will --
23 we will submit to the people constitutional
24 reform.
25 And I'm sure 18 years from now, there will
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December 12, 2000
1 be additional changes being made. Most of our
2 powers and duties come from what the
3 Legislature gives us. They literally can take
4 the Department of Law Enforcement away from us
5 and give it to somebody else; they can -- they
6 can take away the Department of Highway Safety
7 and Motor Vehicles, which includes the Florida
8 Highway Patrol, and put that somewhere else.
9 And many people have advocated that that
10 may be -- is the way it should be done. And I
11 would see that as time goes on, the Legislature
12 also is looking at the possibility of -- of
13 maybe taking Insurance out of an elected
14 official's role; or taking Banking out of an
15 elect official's role; or adding more power and
16 authority to the Secretary of State, which may
17 end up being driver's licenses and things like
18 that, like a lot of other states do.
19 But the Secretary of State will no longer
20 be on the Cabinet. And I guess the Secretary
21 of State will be an elected office --
22 SECRETARY HARRIS: Appointed.
23 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- will be
24 an appointed office. So -- so from that
25 standpoint, I -- I think we're going to be
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December 12, 2000
1 seeing more duties going to that particular
2 appointed person, and -- and we might see more
3 of the international stuff going to the -- to
4 the Secretary of State, which -- which maybe I
5 think is a very important thing to do.
6 But -- but in a thumbnail sketch, Governor,
7 that's probably -- if it wasn't too confusing,
8 that's -- that's how I --
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, General.
10 Anybody else have any comments that they
11 want to add or delete or correct from the
12 General?
13 Good.
14 We don't like to contradict the
15 Attorney General of the state. That's a bad
16 thing.
17 The -- the beauty of this is that we do
18 combine the -- the strength of local
19 government.
20 Mayor, when you come here and your Council
21 comes here, people can come right up and let
22 you have it, don't they?
23 And they do it, I imagine.
24 Brevard County's got a rich tradition of the
25 citizenry expressing their opinions. And
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December 12, 2000
1 that's wonderful.
2 And most State governments are removed from
3 the people, and they don't have the opportunity
4 to -- to have direct input from -- from them.
5 But we have Cabinet meetings every other week,
6 and people come up, and they let us have it if
7 they think we're doing the wrong thing, or they
8 express their opinions. And -- and this form
9 of government, I think, is very healthy in that
10 regard.
11 And while it's being adjusted to reflect
12 a -- a more modern state, since this was
13 created in a -- in a different -- a different
14 time, we're still keeping the public meetings
15 and the public notices, and the -- as
16 General Milligan would tell you, the government
17 in the Sunshine, which I think adds a
18 tremendous vitality to our State government.
19 So, once again, we're delighted to be here.
20 Now we're going to start our meeting.
21 And, Tom Herndon, are you here?
22 MS. JARRIEL: I'm not Tom Herndon, but
23 I'm --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: No, you're not. That's
25 clear.
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December 12, 2000
1 State Board of Administration.
2 Where is Tom?
3 MS. JARRIEL: He's in New York. He had
4 some business meetings this week, so I was the
5 appointee for today.
6 So with your permission, Governor, I'd like
7 to do a brief overview of our --
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Please.
9 MS. JARRIEL: -- organization and its
10 activities, since the audience here may not be
11 as familiar with the State Board of
12 Administration, as the audience in Tallahassee.
13 The State Board of Administration was
14 created as a constitutional body in 1941, and
15 approved by the electorate in 1942.
16 Our original --
17 (Secretary Harris exited the room.)
18 MS. JARRIEL: -- responsibility included
19 the administration of a gas tax, and the
20 statute delineated powers conferred by law.
21 Subsequent to that time, almost all of the
22 duties that have been assigned to us have been
23 predominantly investment and debt related --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Excuse me.
25 Can you -- can you all hear back there?
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December 12, 2000
1 AUDIENCE: No.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: I didn't think so.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Tell her to get
4 real close.
5 MS. JARRIEL: I've just got to get closer.
6 Okay.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: There you go.
8 MS. JARRIEL: How's that?
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: I think that's -- is that
10 better?
11 MS. JARRIEL: Yes.
12 I'll start back a little bit then.
13 After we were originally created as a
14 constitutional body in 1942, our original
15 responsibility was the management and
16 administration of the gas tax.
17 Subsequent to that time, most of our
18 responsibilities have predominantly consisted
19 of investment and debt management activities.
20 We currently have 127 billion dollars in
21 assets under management. Our two largest funds
22 are the consolidated Florida Retirement System
23 Pension Fund, the FRS; and the Local Government
24 Investment Pool.
25 I'd like to mention that the FRS is the
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December 12, 2000
1 fourth largest pension plan in the country, and
2 the sixth largest in the world.
3 Our Local Government Investment Pool serves
4 as a liquid, high quality vehicle for counties
5 and municipalities, and is currently about
6 11 billion dollars.
7 In fact, we have monies for the City of
8 Melbourne Airport fund, the City of Melbourne
9 Claims Fund, we have funds under management for
10 Brevard County School Board, as well as the
11 community college.
12 Our other large mandates include the
13 management of debt service funds, Florida
14 Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the Lawton Chiles
15 Endowment Fund, and funds that we administer on
16 behalf of the State Lottery.
17 I wanted to mention that our operations are
18 funded exclusively through the assessment of
19 management fees. In other words, we receive no
20 funding through the legislative appropriation
21 process.
22 And our fees currently on average are
23 1.75 basis points. And a basis point, for
24 those who do not know, is 100th of 1 percent.
25 So we believe that we're extremely
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December 12, 2000
1 cost-effective in the management of our funds.
2 The most recent responsibility assigned to
3 us is the implementation of the Optional
4 Retirement Program.
5 And with your permission, I'll just wait
6 and do a brief overview of that when we get to
7 the --
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
9 MS. JARRIEL: -- the status report.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Great.
11 MS. JARRIEL: But beginning with our
12 agenda, the first item of business is approval
13 of the minutes of the meeting that was held on
14 November 29th.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: By the way, the Treasurer
16 and the Comptroller and the Governor comprise
17 the State Board of Administration, not the
18 entire Cabinet.
19 Just as a little aside.
20 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And I'll -- and I'll
21 move the minutes.
22 TREASURER NELSON: And I'll second.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
24 Without objection, it's approved.
25 Item 2.
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1 MS. JARRIEL: The second item is approval
2 of fiscal determination of amounts not
3 exceeding nine million five hundred and
4 forty thousand, tax exempt; and four million
5 nine thousand, taxable --
6 (Commissioner Crawford exited the room.)
7 MS. JARRIEL: -- Florida Housing Finance
8 Corporation Housing Revenue Bonds, series to be
9 designated 2000 series, Wyndham Place
10 Apartments.
11 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move Item 2.
12 TREASURER NELSON: Second it.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MS. JARRIEL: The third item we have on the
16 agenda is our fifth status report on the
17 Optional Retirement Program.
18 And at this time, again, for the benefit of
19 the audience, I'd like to just do a brief
20 overview of that program.
21 The Legislature passed legislation this
22 past year which offers employees the
23 opportunity to participate in a defined
24 contribution program --
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Why don't you describe
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December 12, 2000
1 defined contribution, and compare it to defined
2 benefit.
3 MS. JARRIEL: Right. Defined --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: In English.
5 MS. JARRIEL: Defined benefit is basically
6 where you have a benefit for life based on your
7 tenure and salary level.
8 Under a defined contribution plan, the
9 advantages that employees who feel they have
10 expertise in investments, and who want to
11 actually make their own choices as to how they
12 invest their assets to accumulate retirement
13 benefits, can do so.
14 The disadvantage, of course, is that the
15 individual participant bears the investment
16 risk.
17 With the DB plan, the Legislature
18 guarantees the benefit to employees.
19 So really it offers flexibility to
20 employees.
21 It's called the Public Employees Optional
22 Retirement Program, and for lack of a better
23 shortened name, we're calling it PEORP. So if
24 you hear me use that term, that's what it
25 means.
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December 12, 2000
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Mayor, do you have acronyms
2 down here or --
3 MR. BUCKLEY: Yes.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just checking.
5 If you can find the cure for them, will you
6 let us know up in Tallahassee?
7 Thank you.
8 MS. JARRIEL: This --
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: PEORP.
10 MS. JARRIEL: PEORP.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's a very meaningful
12 term, isn't it?
13 MS. JARRIEL: It's very meaningful.
14 This will be the largest DC plan transition
15 in history. It involves over 800 employers,
16 many of whom are in the room today; and over
17 600,000 active members.
18 So we have quite a challenge in terms of
19 the educational component on the program.
20 The implementation has been assigned to the
21 SBA. And, of course, we will have to implement
22 the program in conjunction with the State
23 Comptroller's Office, Division of Retirement,
24 and the local employers.
25 The first participant elections will occur
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December 12, 2000
1 in June of 2002 for State employees; followed
2 by School Board employees in September of '02;
3 and then lastly, local government employees.
4 There will be an aggressive three--
5 three-month period of education prior to that
6 time.
7 And new employees will automatically be
8 enrolled in the DB plan, and given 180-day
9 window to make a choice if they would like to
10 elect DC.
11 Our goals for this program are to offer
12 sufficient choice for our participants without
13 creating unnecessary complexity to the program.
14 We want to be cost-effective, while
15 offering best in class options. In fact, the
16 statute's very specific with regard to low
17 costs.
18 And, lastly, we want to employ best
19 practices in the hiring of all of our service
20 providers, the third party administrator, the
21 education providers, as well as the investment
22 service providers.
23 In addition to the SBA staff implementation
24 and oversight by the Board, we have two
25 advisory bodies, the Investment Advisory
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December 12, 2000
1 Council, which is our existing advisory council
2 for the DB plan; as well as the PEORP
3 Advisory Council, which was created by the
4 Legislature in conjunction with the legislation
5 itself.
6 We're making a lot of progress, as you'll
7 see in our status report, and we still have a
8 ways to go.
9 So I'll begin with the -- with the status
10 report. This is status report number 5.
11 We had our third meeting of the Investment
12 Services Implementation Group on November 9th
13 to review the selection and evaluation criteria
14 for the unbundled providers.
15 Second item, we received 21 responses on
16 November 13th to the education advisor vendors.
17 And for your information, we've attached a list
18 of those respondents.
19 On November 14th, we conducted a workshop
20 on the asset transition rule. And I have a
21 further update on that.
22 Interested parties had until November 30th
23 to provide their comments, and we've
24 incorporated a number of those into the
25 workshop draft.
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December 12, 2000
1 The present schedule is for the rule draft
2 to be presented to the advisory groups in
3 January, and then ask the Trustees to -- for
4 permission to file for notice at our
5 January 23rd meeting.
6 Item Number 4, we selected a media
7 consultant, James E. Arnold, Incorporated, on
8 November 15th, and he will assist in the
9 implementation of the education program.
10 On November 27th, we had our fourth meeting
11 of the Education Implementation Group.
12 Item Number 6, we conducted a rule hearing
13 on the Investment Policy Statement rule on
14 November 28th. And, likewise, I have an update
15 here.
16 Comments were received at that hearing, and
17 at that time, two vendors had indicated that
18 they intended to challenge the rule. We did
19 have challenges on Friday, December 8th, and,
20 in fact, there were three challenges, as
21 opposed to two.
22 And, unfortunately, no other action to
23 adopt this rule will be possible until after
24 the litigation proceedings have been completed,
25 and we have a final order from the
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December 12, 2000
1 Administrative Law Judge.
2 Item Number 7, we had a joint meeting of
3 the IAC and the PEORP Advisory Council on
4 November 29th to review the selection and
5 evaluation criteria for the unbundled
6 investment product providers, the evaluation
7 criteria for the education advisors, and the
8 evaluation criteria for the asset transition
9 broker.
10 Item Number 8, we withdrew the original
11 TPA RFI on November 27th, and the --
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: TPA RFI.
13 MS. JARRIEL: Oh, I'm sorry.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Third Party
15 Administrator --
16 MS. JARRIEL: Third Party Administrator,
17 Request for Information.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
19 MS. JARRIEL: -- on November 27th, and
20 reissued a new one on November 28th.
21 Certain activities with regard to the TPA
22 would have been halted until a resolution had
23 been reached, or the parties had withdrawn
24 petitions in this regard.
25 A further update on that: There was an
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December 12, 2000
1 original protest filed on December 1st, but
2 staff has engaged in negotiations with the
3 representatives of -- of that vendor, and
4 reached an accommodation with no substantive
5 change to the current RFI.
6 Consequently, we'll continue along that
7 path, and responses will be due back from the
8 bidders on December 18th.
9 It's now anticipated that this selection
10 process will be concluded by staff, and we'll
11 have a recommendation to the Trustees in late
12 January or early February.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: So we're still on tim-- on
14 track?
15 MS. JARRIEL: We're still on track with
16 that for now.
17 I understand from our General Counsel's
18 Office that we can proceed since there has been
19 no challenge.
20 As you know, Governor, our goal was to have
21 the challenge relate to only one item, and that
22 was the Investment Policy Statement.
23 So as you can see from our report, we've
24 accomplished a lot to date. We do have one
25 upcoming meeting, a joint meeting again, of the
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December 12, 2000
1 IAC and the PEORP Advisory Council --
2 (Secretary Harris entered the room.)
3 MS. JARRIEL: -- on December 21st to
4 solicit comments on the selection and
5 evaluation criteria, the education -- and the
6 education advisor criteria, and the asset
7 transition broker criteria.
8 And the last item I have: We still have
9 one member of that Advisory Council yet to be
10 appointed by the Speaker of the House.
11 (Commissioner Crawford entered the room.)
12 MS. JARRIEL: And if you will accept that
13 status report into the record, that concludes
14 our agenda.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Do we have to move and
16 second it, or is it just --
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: No, sir. I --
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- accept it --
19 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- we can just
20 accept the report.
21 I -- you know, that's a -- kind of a long,
22 rather dry subject. But I -- I think it's
23 important to acknowledge the -- how important
24 this is.
25 And we're talking about 15 to 20 billion
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December 12, 2000
1 dollars that we're dealing with. So it's not
2 loose change. And so all of these issues are
3 critical issues that demand the -- the highest
4 attention by the Trustees.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: I mean, it -- it is -- you
6 think about 700,000 people over a six-month
7 period being offered the chance to take their
8 pension -- their retirement system, the
9 traditional retirement system, where you serve
10 for X numbers of years and you're vested, and
11 then you get a fixed amount upon retirement,
12 which is the traditional way of doing that, to
13 give them the chance to move to a -- I would
14 call -- I'm not a technician, so I don't want
15 to call it the 401(k) type plan where people
16 have a portable retirement account where they
17 make decisions themselves in varying degrees of
18 sophistication, depending on how we present it.
19 This is an awesome undertaking, and it's --
20 as -- as you said, it's the largest of its kind
21 in the world.
22 So Florida is really on the cutting edge
23 of -- of -- of this, and, therefore, there are
24 a lot of people interested in it, and,
25 therefore, we get challenged along the way, as
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STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 29
December 12, 2000
1 is the case in -- in anything in public policy.
2 But we're -- we're -- we're very pleased
3 with how the SBA has handled this so far -- the
4 State Board of Administration -- excuse me.
5 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Slip up.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
7 (The State Board of Administration Agenda
8 was concluded.)
9 * * *
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ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 30
December 12, 2000
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Department of Revenue.
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on the
3 minutes.
4 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: There's a motion on the
6 minutes, and a second.
7 Without objection, it's approved.
8 This is Dr. Jim Zingale. We call him
9 Dr. Z. He's the tax man.
10 He's going to explain how he's making the
11 Department of Revenue a friendly place for
12 Floridians.
13 DR. ZINGALE: The -- the agency everyone
14 will learn to love.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Whether they like it or
16 not.
17 DR. ZINGALE: Whether they like it or not.
18 The Department of Revenue has three primary
19 business functions. We do -- we are the -- the
20 tax people in Florida.
21 We administer 34 different taxes. We call
22 it property tax administration. Major sources
23 of revenue are sales tax, corporate income tax,
24 motor fuel tax, intangible tax.
25 The intangible tax, this January, those
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 31
December 12, 2000
1 intangible tax filers in the state will be
2 getting their return for the next year. It
3 will incorporate the repeal -- the final repeal
4 of the second mill. Major tax relief for
5 that -- that group of individuals.
6 Anticipating in the future --
7 Is that me going off, or somebody else?
8 -- anticipating in the future, that entire
9 tax may be repealed over the next two sessions.
10 We go through substantial law changes every
11 year to the taxes that we administer.
12 Unemployment compensation was a tax that was
13 transferred this last year from the
14 Department of Labor to the Department of
15 Revenue.
16 We have had a -- a very successful
17 transformation of a very major tax. It
18 occurred on October, three months ahead of
19 schedule.
20 I think most of us would -- would realize
21 that this was a major change in an
22 administrative -- of a tax in a very short
23 period of time. It's happened relatively
24 seamlessly.
25 We made the phone conversions, the money
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 32
December 12, 2000
1 has been now processed for two consecutive
2 months. I think it's been a relatively
3 seamless transition for the corporations and
4 businesses that we deal with.
5 We were able to achieve that with a
6 substantial reduction in staff from somewhere
7 in excess of 400, down to about 300, two to
8 three million dollars worth of savings in the
9 initial phase of that transformation.
10 I think that is an example of the kind of
11 things we're trying to do in the Department of
12 Revenue with new technology.
13 I think the Legislature, understanding that
14 we have a commitment to simplification, to
15 making taxes easier to pay, and to trying to do
16 it in a more cost-effective manner, this last
17 session passed a -- a major change in what is
18 the telecommunication tax.
19 I don't know how many people have really
20 studied their telephone bills lately. But if
21 they do, they find it's a very complex
22 document, with a myriad of local taxes, with
23 different tax bases applied to it --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Well, I don't think they
25 see it. That's why they don't know.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 33
December 12, 2000
1 But if they --
2 DR. ZINGALE: They would, yeah.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- if they knew how much
4 they paid in taxes, they'd be coming to talk to
5 the Mayor and the Council.
6 DR. ZINGALE: That is true. It is a
7 local --
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: And then us.
9 DR. ZINGALE: -- it -- it had been a local
10 levy tax, and administered locally. And this
11 last session, that administration has been
12 passed over to the Department of Revenue, along
13 with some major simplifications, things that
14 are going to make the payment of that tax much
15 more obvious in terms of tax burden, much
16 simpler to understand.
17 It is a conversion from a local
18 administered tax to a State administered tax.
19 Major tax conversions have to take place, and
20 databases forms an activity.
21 Again, that -- that administration or that
22 conversion is -- is on schedule.
23 We have been undertaking what is now
24 Phase II of a major change in an
25 enterprise-wide computer system. We have
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 34
December 12, 2000
1 gotten good partners with Deloitte Consulting
2 and SAP, a German company that's a world
3 renowned integrator of financial systems.
4 And they have been working with us to give
5 the Department of Revenue probably the finest
6 computer system of any tax agency in the
7 country.
8 Phase II in the next coming year, we'll see
9 corporate income tax integrated into that
10 system in March. Come next October, we will
11 bring the telecommunications tax up in that
12 system.
13 And in 12 months, beginning of January next
14 year, we will have sales tax up, and at that
15 point in time, we will have the -- the largest
16 administration of a tax system in a -- using
17 the modern tools that are afforded with today's
18 technology.
19 That will allow us to do some very
20 remarkable things in the tax area. One-stop
21 registration across almost all of our taxes;
22 single point of contact for things like
23 collecting, taxpayer information, educating
24 taxpayers on what their burden is.
25 I think the Department of Revenue is
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 35
December 12, 2000
1 nationally known for innovators in terms of
2 applied technology in this area.
3 Matter of fact, in the last few weeks, we
4 had a Scandinavian country come down and visit,
5 Australia's come in and seen the system.
6 We have the capability of processing
7 24 billion dollars a year. And last year, we
8 actually processed one billion dollars in a
9 day, money in the bank, data in the computer,
10 image stored, a remarkable achievement for some
11 people that are working exceedingly hard.
12 Most people don't know it, but we are one
13 of the few State agencies -- revenue agency in
14 the country, that has child support program.
15 Approximately six years ago, the
16 Legislature, looking around for a place to put
17 the child support program, blessed the
18 Department of Revenue with giving us the
19 program.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: You volunteered for it,
21 didn't you, Jim?
22 DR. ZINGALE: We volunteered for it. I'm
23 not so sure Larry did. But I was sitting there
24 on the other side saying, I'd be glad to take
25 it. I think it's a wonderful program.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 36
December 12, 2000
1 We have approximately 1.1 million children
2 that we have to serve. The program itself --
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Can you repeat that?
4 Because I don't know -- I think -- I'm always
5 surprised at that number.
6 How many people --
7 DR. ZINGALE: Well, 1.1 million children
8 need help in establishing who their fathers
9 are, in establishing paternity, and getting
10 support orders collected --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: How many children are there
12 in the state?
13 DR. ZINGALE: I'm not sure about that --
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: I think it's about
15 25 percent of all the kids in the state.
16 DR. ZINGALE: About 25 percent. So --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- some people --
18 DR. ZINGALE: -- approximately 7 million.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- or should be, have
20 all -- not all of them are receiving it, but
21 should be receiving some form of child support,
22 just to put it in perspective.
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: We've got
24 2.3 million in school. So that'd be
25 six years --
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 37
December 12, 2000
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: So you get all the little
2 guys --
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Then you've got to
4 add the young guys.
5 DR. ZINGALE: It's --
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: So it's actually -- maybe a
7 third.
8 DR. ZINGALE: It's a major -- a major
9 portion of the children population in Florida.
10 The first -- first job is a fairly critical
11 one, finding children their fathers, both
12 emotionally and legally, going in front of a
13 court, through genetic testing, finding out who
14 the -- the biological fathers are, and
15 establishing a legal right, not only for the
16 18 years of that childhood, but a legal right
17 for the whole lifetime of that child.
18 We establish support orders, a financial
19 obligation, a medical obligation, sometimes an
20 obligation to support college.
21 And in today's day and age, we are the
22 enforcement effort to do that, and have a wide
23 array of tools afforded us today that we didn't
24 have a few years ago.
25 We can suspend driver's license,
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 38
December 12, 2000
1 occupational license. We can go in and
2 identify a single employer that's hired
3 somebody. A single hiree is reported to the
4 Department of Revenue so we can make sure we
5 know if the noncustodial parents are employed.
6 We can sweep financial institutions across
7 the entire country today in today's technology:
8 Bank accounts; savings and loans; we can freeze
9 assets, and have frozen assets, in all
10 50 states. We have a newly established network
11 through the Federal registry to be able to
12 track where noncustodial parents move
13 throughout the state.
14 A program today on the child support
15 side -- well, back up -- on the tax side,
16 I think it's widely recognized. We have one of
17 the best Department of Revenues in the country.
18 On the child support side, the State
19 portion of the program is average. I think
20 when the Feds finish their rankings, I think
21 you'll find, we're going to fall somewhere in
22 the mid-25th of the 50 states.
23 That's a substantial increase since we've
24 taken the program. We used to be in the bottom
25 five not too long ago.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 39
December 12, 2000
1 We have an aggressive program in front of
2 the Legislature this year in terms of a new
3 computer system, new law changes that will help
4 us in terms of our enforcement activity, all of
5 which have been approved by this Governor and
6 Cabinet, and we appreciate that support.
7 We're looking for a very explosive
8 four years ahead to get to the best in the
9 country in that program.
10 In terms of the third program that we have.
11 We are the overseers of tax collectors, clerks,
12 property appraisers. These are all, like the
13 Cabinet members, independently elected
14 officials.
15 We provide a very substantial oversight of
16 that kind of responsibility. In the property
17 tax area, property appraisers by Constitution
18 are given the responsibility to assess all
19 valued property in the state.
20 Our job is to help them along that way in
21 terms of technical assistance, helping them get
22 their job done correctly. And we provide an
23 oversight function at the end that, right now,
24 is going through also a fairly large
25 transformation.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 40
December 12, 2000
1 We have drawn the samples using new
2 technology this year. We've had our field
3 appraisers out there doing due diligence
4 seven days a week, in most cases, to try to get
5 ready for this next roll approval cycle in
6 midsummer.
7 A very significant function, not only for
8 cities' and county's tax base, but it is the
9 largest taxing source dedicated to public
10 schools.
11 Those are the kind of things we do. It's
12 an obligation of mine every time I'm up in
13 front of the Governor and Cabinet to talk about
14 strategic planning, something that we dearly
15 love in the Department of Revenue.
16 It's my understanding though that the
17 Governor is putting up on his myflorida.com, or
18 the State's website, an entry level into every
19 state's strategic plan sometime over the next
20 four to five months.
21 It's going to be able to have citizens go
22 into that -- that website and click into the
23 major parameters that are governing how State
24 agencies are run.
25 The Department of Revenue has its current
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 41
December 12, 2000
1 strategic plan on-line, down on our Intranet to
2 every employee. We're going to be taking
3 between now and June to clean that up so we can
4 link into myflorida.com, and citizens cannot
5 only look at us at a 50,000 foot level, but go
6 right down to where the employees are, and see
7 what we're trying to achieve over the next
8 five years.
9 That's an overview of the Florida
10 Department of Revenue. We're excited to be
11 here.
12 Now we'd like to move over to our agenda.
13 At that stage, the obligatory glasses go on
14 so I can see what I'm supposed to say.
15 Item Number 1, I guess we had the minutes
16 approved?
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, we did.
18 Item 2.
19 DR. ZINGALE: Item Number 2 are some very
20 technical rule changes that deal with an
21 internal reorganization.
22 We ask approval of those two rules.
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 2.
24 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 42
December 12, 2000
1 Without objection, it's approved.
2 DR. ZINGALE: The last three items deal
3 with three additional legislative concepts. We
4 had the majority of our legislative concepts at
5 the last Cabinet meeting.
6 The first one deals with unemployment
7 compensation tax. The Department of Revenue
8 had some enforcement tools, electronic funds
9 transfer, garnishment of wages, some additional
10 confidentiality requirements, and some
11 extension of deadlines to have that new tax
12 that we've received conform to how the rest of
13 our taxes are administered.
14 We're putting forth that legislative
15 concept, and request approval.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 3.
17 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, it's approved.
20 DR. ZINGALE: We have two legislative
21 concepts in the ad valorem area. One deal with
22 the Auditor General's request in terms of the
23 capping of the assessment ratios that are
24 certified to the Department of Education.
25 The Auditor General asked that we put that
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 43
December 12, 2000
1 in statute, and we concurred with that
2 recommendation.
3 And we have been working very diligently
4 with Commissioner Gallagher's staff in terms of
5 a way of producing that capping in a way that
6 will be more publicly acceptable, both to the
7 property appraisers and the citizens, in terms
8 of how that capping is achieved.
9 It'll not affect the distribution.
10 Request approval of that issue.
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I thought that was
12 included.
13 We did all of Item 3.
14 DR. ZINGALE: Oh, we did all of Item 3.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Are you -- Commissioner,
16 you're pleased with this? This is the same
17 issue you brought up last time?
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Yeah.
19 What -- what was happening, Governor, is
20 that the mathematics used in -- in setting the
21 assessments was causing some property --
22 property ad valorem tax rolls to look like they
23 were in excess of 100 percent, which really
24 wasn't true, but the math showed that it was.
25 And so what we agreed to -- to do is to set
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 44
December 12, 2000
1 it at 100, and then use an index below that, so
2 that that -- all of the differences between
3 them are the same, which is really what the
4 issue is, as opposed to having anything show
5 that it's over 100 percent.
6 DR. ZINGALE: Good suggestion. And it's in
7 the proposal.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
9 DR. ZINGALE: Thank you very much.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you, Jim.
11 (The Department of Revenue Agenda was
12 concluded.)
13 * * *
14
15
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21
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25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 45
December 12, 2000
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: State Board of Education.
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on the
3 minutes.
4 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
6 Without objection, it's approved.
7 Do you want to give us a little bit of --
8 Commissioner, do you want to --
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I will.
10 As the Commissioner of Education, I have
11 many responsibilities. But I primarily serve
12 on three Boards, one is the State Board of
13 Education, which we as the Cabinet sit as. And
14 as the Governor's the Chairman of the
15 State Board, and I sit as the Secretary of the
16 State Board of Education.
17 I also serve as a member of the
18 Board of Regents, which is -- oversees the
19 university system; and the Board of Community
20 Colleges, which oversees the community college
21 system.
22 The State Board of Education's primary job
23 is to oversee all of public education. And we
24 adopt the rules that deal with the improvement
25 of the State system for public education, as
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 46
December 12, 2000
1 long as those rules are based on provisions of
2 law.
3 Public education is basically a function
4 and responsibility of the State. And it's our
5 responsib-- and it's our responsibility as that
6 State Board of Education to ensure the
7 efficient operation of all schools, and the
8 adequate educational opportunities for all of
9 our children in the state of Florida.
10 As Commissioner of Education, I have the
11 duty to advise and counsel with the State Board
12 of Education on all matters pertaining to
13 education, and to recommend to the State Board
14 of Education, actions and policies to be acted
15 upon.
16 Within the Department of Education, we have
17 a variety of responsibilities. We have over
18 3500 schools statewide, with a total student
19 enrollment of two million three hundred and
20 seventy-six thousand.
21 We handle such diverse issues as teacher
22 certification, curriculum and assessment,
23 administration of the Bright Futures
24 Scholarship Program, and we provide the funding
25 for the K through 12 schools.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 47
December 12, 2000
1 If any of you would like information on
2 Bright Futures Scholarship Program, or any of
3 the other educational issues, we will have a
4 table at the Agency Fair outside this
5 afternoon.
6 Thank you.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: And all that's going to
8 change.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That's true.
10 In January of 2003, the job of elected
11 Commissioner of Education will no longer exist,
12 and there will be an appointed, seven-member
13 Board of Education appointed by the Governor.
14 That Board of Education will oversee all of
15 education, probably pre-K all the way through
16 grade 20, doctorate degrees.
17 And they will appoint a Commissioner of
18 Education, which will be the Chief Executive
19 Officer of Education in Florida.
20 And underneath that, will most likely be a
21 chancellor for the university system, and a
22 chancellor for the community college system,
23 and a chancellor for the K through 12 system.
24 And something will probably move in later on
25 the pre-K.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 48
December 12, 2000
1 But the idea is to see to it that we have a
2 seamless educational system in Florida,
3 overseen by an appointed Board of Education.
4 That will take place officially, statutorily --
5 constitutionally January of the year 2003.
6 In the meantime, we're still operating.
7 And so, Wayne, would -- if you would.
8 MR. PIERSON: Item 2 on the agenda is a
9 report on the Continued Program Approval
10 Standards and Principles of Professional
11 Conduct for the Education Profession in
12 Florida.
13 Presenting will be Steven Bouzianis and
14 Dr. William Proctor.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good morning.
16 MR. BOUZIANIS: Good morning.
17 Good morning, Governor Bush, and Cabinet
18 members. My name is Stephen Bouzianis, and I'm
19 the Chair of the Florida Education Standards
20 Commission.
21 I'm also Human Resources Administrator in
22 Seminole County Public Schools. I have with
23 me, Dr. William Proctor, who's the First
24 Vice Chair of the Commission, and also
25 President of Flagler College in St. Augustine.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 49
December 12, 2000
1 Having been a teacher, I know the old adage
2 goes that you want to grab for those teaching
3 moments. And since we have a number of
4 students and teachers in our audience, if I
5 could very briefly explain the powers and
6 duties of the Commission.
7 The Florida Education Standards Commission
8 was created in 1980 by the Florida Legislature
9 in Section 231.545 of Florida Statutes.
10 I would like to make special recognition,
11 that gives us -- makes our 20-year anniversary,
12 and we recently received a resolution from the
13 Cabinet celebrating our 20th year, and we
14 really do appreciate the support.
15 Again, for our audience members, the State
16 of Florida has always recognized when they do
17 state-by-state comparisons, that we do have a
18 Standards Commission, and an organized process
19 for establishing teacher standards. So we need
20 to be very proud of that.
21 Second, there are 24 members, consisting of
22 practicing educators and citizens who are
23 nominated by the Commissioner of Education,
24 appointed by the State Board of Education, and
25 confirmed by the Senate.
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December 12, 2000
1 Of those 24 members, 12 are teachers, and
2 there are also representatives from the public
3 colleges -- public universities and private
4 universities; community colleges; personnel, of
5 which I'm the personnel member; principalships;
6 and lay citizens.
7 The Commission makes policy recommendations
8 to the State Board of Education, to the Florida
9 Legislature in the following areas:
10 Pre-service teacher preparation programs,
11 continued approval of preservice teacher
12 preparation programs, teacher certification,
13 teacher evaluation, in-service, and standards
14 of professional conduct for the education
15 profession.
16 Keeping that in mind, we have two
17 recommendations to present this morning. First
18 is the continued program approval of teacher
19 preparation programs; and second, modifications
20 to the principles of professional conduct for
21 the education profession in Florida.
22 This morning we're going to talk
23 specifically about the recommendations for a
24 continued program approval of teacher
25 preparation programs. These are the
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 51
December 12, 2000
1 performance standards that are used by the
2 Florida Department of Education to continue to
3 approve pre-service teacher preparation
4 programs in Florida's public and private
5 institutions of higher education.
6 There are three directives that the Florida
7 Education Standards Commission is responding
8 to: First, the legislative directive pursuant
9 to House Bill 63; second, the Federal directive
10 pursuant to Federal Title II; and, thirdly, the
11 Commissioner's directive pursuant to State
12 Board of Education Rule 6A-5.066.
13 I'm going to turn it over to my esteemed
14 colleague, Dr. Proctor, who's going to go over
15 these recommendations with you.
16 It's an honor to be -- be -- to come before
17 you today.
18 Thank you.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
20 DR. PROCTOR: Thanks, Steve.
21 Governor Bush, members of the Cabinet,
22 essentially there are four major
23 recommendations we'd like to bring to -- to you
24 today, all having to do with continued program
25 approval standards.
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December 12, 2000
1 The first is that teacher candidates must
2 receive instruction in classroom management,
3 and in working with underachieving students.
4 That recommendation has its origin in
5 House Bill 63.
6 The second addresses the recency of
7 experience that teacher preparation faculty
8 members who teach professional education
9 courses in grades pre-K through 12.
10 And that recommendation has its origin in
11 State Board of Education Rule 6A-5.066.
12 The Commission recommends that teacher
13 preparation faculty who teach professional
14 preparation courses as defined in State Board
15 Education Rule 6A-4.006 shall demonstrate
16 evidence of regency of experience by
17 involvement in classroom instruction in grades
18 pre-K through 12, by no fewer than 12 days --
19 I'm sorry -- for no fewer than three days per
20 year.
21 Our third recommendation addresses the
22 satisfaction of employing school districts with
23 certain competencies of teacher program
24 graduates. Among those competencies are
25 writing, speaking, reading instruction,
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December 12, 2000
1 computation, knowledge of instructional
2 technology, and knowledge of Sunshine State
3 Standards.
4 That recommendation has its origin in
5 House Bill 63.
6 The fourth pertains to the Federal Title II
7 Higher Education Act, which deals with
8 accountability recording system for the
9 colleges of education, and for the State.
10 Those are our four recommendations, and I
11 welcome any questions.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Three hours a year --
13 DR. PROCTOR: Three days --
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Excuse me. Three days a
15 year?
16 DR. PROCTOR: Yes, sir. Three days.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Think that's a little
18 light?
19 DR. PROCTOR: Three days a year.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Mr. President, don't you
21 think that's a little light?
22 DR. PROCTOR: Well, there was most
23 discussion on this one, but we realize that
24 each time we mandate a day, we also take a day
25 out of the college classroom.
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 54
December 12, 2000
1 Over a five-year period, that would be
2 15 days, equivalent to two weeks of classroom
3 time.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Do we have any teachers in
5 the room?
6 Anybody want to speak on this subject?
7 This -- just -- if you can sign -- if you
8 don't, you don't have to.
9 I just -- I'm curious to know what
10 practicing teachers think about the College of
11 Education's training of -- of new teachers, and
12 are they prepared with -- prepared to be
13 teachers by going -- taking courses, or would
14 practical classroom help maybe make it easier
15 for them to adjust?
16 Anybody want to speak on that?
17 MS. CASTILLE: Come on up.
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Come on up.
19 I knew we've got some teachers, because
20 we've got some students.
21 If you could sign up first, and just state
22 your name. And we'll take advantage of some
23 practical expertise.
24 Doctor, I hope you don't mind.
25 I'm messing up things, but --
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
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December 12, 2000
1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I can tell you --
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- what the heck.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- that this is
4 a -- this is an issue, Governor, that has had a
5 lot of discussion in --
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'm surprised you didn't
7 bring it.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Oh, I did. This
9 is -- this is sort of where we --
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is this a compromise --
11 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- you see the
12 smiles over here?
13 We had a lot of discussion about this.
14 I -- I'm very concerned of the -- the short
15 amount of time that this -- that they're
16 recommending to us.
17 Obviously we still -- the rules are still
18 coming through, and -- and will. But we would
19 like the Standards Commission to be involved
20 in -- in that process.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Oh, absolutely. I just --
22 I -- I think it's an opportune time to talk to
23 some practitioners.
24 MR. CONROY: I'm Matt Conroy.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Matt, how are you doing?
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1 MR. CONROY: I'm doing wonderful. Doing
2 wonderful.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: E-mail pal.
4 MR. CONROY: We -- I've been in
5 Brevard County schools for 20 years. I've been
6 a teacher for many of those years.
7 Currently right now I work with schools in
8 Palm Bay, Florida. There's 14 schools,
9 elementary and middle school, and high school.
10 And I work with teachers on in-servicing and
11 preparation.
12 And -- which is a very exciting position to
13 be in.
14 And the -- and sadly to say, a lot of our
15 new teachers that we have coming from
16 universities aren't -- don't have the skills --
17 many of the skills necessary for working in the
18 classrooms with teachers with technology,
19 making things as relevant to students as
20 I think that they could be.
21 I'm very concerned with teachers that we
22 get -- enter the profession that leave the
23 profession because they weren't prepared for
24 the classroom; and their classroom experiences,
25 when they enter the classroom, are much
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1 different than reality.
2 And I think -- I think more time spent in
3 the schools, a lot of our traditional teachers
4 that move into the classrooms are prepared to
5 teach students for maybe a decade or two ago,
6 but not for the 21st century.
7 And I think a lot of our students need to
8 be prepared for -- their careers in life are
9 going to be changing five to seven times during
10 their lives. They're not prepared for that.
11 When students leave us at the high school
12 level, they need to be prepared to enter the
13 workforce, and continue their education at a
14 postsecondary institution.
15 We have a large number of students.
16 I think the state of Florida, we have a dropout
17 rate -- or a nongraduation rate of
18 62.3 percent, I believe, in the state of
19 Florida.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Wow.
21 MR. CONROY: Brevard County is about
22 80 percent, which is -- I think Brevard County
23 schools does an excellent job.
24 But I think all of these things are
25 indicative of teacher preparation, and we need
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1 to do a better job with that in keeping --
2 keeping reality of what's going on at the
3 university system, and with realities of the
4 students and what's happening in the classroom,
5 and in preparing our teachers to teach kids for
6 the world of the 21st century.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah, General.
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Let me ask
9 you a question, sir.
10 MR. CONROY: Yes.
11 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Thank you,
12 Governor.
13 The -- the dropout rate is something that
14 concerns all of us up here.
15 Do you believe that a person actually drops
16 out of school at the age of sixteen, or they
17 really effectively drop out of school in
18 kindergarten and the 1st grade?
19 MR. CONROY: I think it's a process. I
20 don't think it happens all at one time. We
21 lose a lot of students in our middle schools --
22 a lot of --
23 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: From the
24 standpoint of the -- they're starting off in
25 school so far behind somebody else, some people
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1 are not prepared to actually enter kindergarten
2 or 1st grade, and they're really starting
3 25 yards behind in a 100 yard dash, many of
4 them not understanding -- they cannot spell
5 their last name, they don't know red from blue,
6 they -- a square from a circle, and --
7 Are we basically being able to -- when we
8 talk about teachers not being prepared --
9 MR. CONROY: Right.
10 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- maybe
11 you've got teachers not being prepared in those
12 early grades to be able to deal with the
13 student who is so far behind.
14 And then, therefore, that child,
15 in essence, never does catch up, and when the
16 administrator says when they're sixteen, let me
17 read you your rights, one of your rights is you
18 can -- you can now leave school.
19 Hey, man, you've got to be kidding me, I'm
20 gone.
21 Is that -- is this a problem, or --
22 MR. CONROY: Well, I think when we have a
23 classroom, teachers -- teachers have an extreme
24 challenge in front of them working with --
25 I mean, as a classroom teacher, you can't
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1 effect what's happening at home with the
2 parent, with the child. The numbers that --
3 the 1.1 million of parents --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Still receiving
5 child support.
6 MR. CONROY: Right.
7 You know, those -- that -- that was a
8 number I wasn't prepared for a minute ago.
9 That shocked me.
10 Those things come into play, and a
11 classroom teacher can't effect those types of
12 things.
13 However, I think to help the classroom
14 teacher with smaller class sizes, when you have
15 a teacher with 30 and 40 students in a
16 classroom, that's obviously less individual
17 time to give those students to identify
18 individual needs to help those students.
19 When the student reaches age sixteen,
20 you know, I have a thing when I worked with
21 students at the middle school levels, you ask a
22 group of seventh and eighth graders how many of
23 them are going to college, they all raise their
24 hands, they're all wanting to go to college.
25 But in high school, we need to have a
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1 process in place and -- and, Governor, I've
2 written -- we've chatted back and forth about
3 some electronic course planning.
4 And there's some tools of technology that
5 are currently available today that I think we
6 need to look at, and some procedures to change
7 in our guidance -- in our high schools, and
8 give our guidance counselors more help, and --
9 and more foc-- more people to work with
10 students.
11 Some of our ratios in some of our schools
12 are one guidance counselor per five -- or
13 525 students. You know, those are some places
14 we need to work with.
15 I said awhile ago, we have -- you know, in
16 the 1950s and '60s, some of those procedures
17 were fine, because students could go to school,
18 graduate high school, or maybe not graduate
19 high school, and still work in industry and get
20 some -- get some decent jobs.
21 But today I think we have a lot more
22 opportunities for students. And when that
23 student you were talking about reaches age
24 sixteen, it's more complex, well, I just turned
25 sixteen.
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1 If there's some opportunities for that
2 student to stay in school, they're going to
3 stay in school.
4 And I think if we spend some time in
5 bringing parents back into our schools, and
6 some procedures for students to have a
7 high school course of study with a
8 post-high school graduation plan, maybe that
9 student you were talking about, when he reaches
10 sixteen, maybe there's some vocational
11 opportunities for that student that maybe the
12 mom and dad aren't aware of.
13 Gold Seal Scholarships, which is part of
14 the Bright Futures, maybe they're not even
15 aware of those, or they're taking their own
16 courses in ninth and tenth grade to be prepared
17 for Bright Future Scholarships. And mom and
18 dad don't -- you know, there's things that we
19 can do to effectuate that.
20 So I think it's not as simplistic as by the
21 time they turn sixteen, I'm going to leave. I
22 think if we show them some reasons to stay in
23 school -- and that's what I talked about a --
24 addressed a moment ago about teachers being
25 aware of -- and making their curriculums
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1 relevant to the student.
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Let's see if there's any
3 other -- any other --
4 MR. CONROY: Yeah. I could go on all day.
5 I'm sorry.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: I noticed, man.
7 Any other teachers who'd like to speak?
8 Come on up, and sign up, and then -- oh, a
9 popular teacher.
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Now, just --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just stay focused on the --
12 on the question --
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let me just
14 mention that one of the things that this Board
15 has already done is to redo the teacher
16 preparation rules so that new teachers in
17 training in college are required to spend at
18 least two weeks in a school setting during
19 their process. That's a minimum.
20 And so that issue is sort of behind us.
21 The issue we're talking about here is, the
22 university -- university and college
23 professors, how much time should they spend
24 back in the K through 12 system. That's the
25 issue that we'd like to hear about.
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1 MS. MILLER: Okay. My name is Ellen --
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: These are --
3 MS. MILLER: -- Miller --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- the teachers teaching
5 the teachers.
6 MS. MILLER: -- and this is my 25th year in
7 the state of Florida as a certified teacher.
8 And I have to tell you that I think you
9 need a little more time. There are plenty of
10 people who spend three years teaching school,
11 and suddenly they're administrators. And they
12 move on up the scale, suddenly they're in the
13 junior college, and they get their Ph.D., and
14 they're in college. And they're teaching other
15 people how to be teachers, and they don't have
16 the faintest idea what it is to be a teacher.
17 You cannot spend three years in a
18 classroom, and be an expert. I've been there
19 25 years, and I am no expert. You've got to
20 have more time, and you've got to have courses
21 that help build up to that.
22 You've got to understand today's children
23 are not the same as they were 20 years ago.
24 You've got to have an understanding of what's
25 going on in the family, because it comes to the
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1 classroom.
2 And if you're going to teach someone how to
3 handle 35 children -- and I don't care what age
4 they are, they're still children. If you're
5 going to teach 35 children, you've got to have
6 a background yourself in how things run and why
7 they go that way.
8 You've got to have an understanding of
9 people, why they think that way. You've got to
10 have an understanding that children are going
11 to do childish things, and they're going to
12 expect punishment. And you've got to know how
13 to give out that punishment.
14 And it's got to be a fair punishment. And
15 it's got to be a teaching punishment. You
16 cannot spend two weeks in a classroom, and then
17 turn around and teach someone else to spend
18 years there.
19 I think you've got to have more -- more
20 time, more time personally, not just taking
21 courses, but there every day. And don't come
22 in and say, oh, I'll spend a day in here, and
23 it'll be a good lesson. It's the every day in
24 and out.
25 It's like a marriage. It's great at the
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1 beginning, but it's the every day doing the
2 things that are boring, the wash that has to be
3 done, the dishes that have to be done. Well,
4 that's what it is in the classroom.
5 I've got to take attendance, and I've got
6 to listen why so-and-so wasn't here for the
7 test. And if you don't understand how children
8 work, you're not going to make it, and you
9 can't teach others how to make it.
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Let me just
11 straighten out that it's 10 to 14 weeks that we
12 have for teachers in training in the college,
13 not two. And the issue here is what -- is
14 three days per year --
15 MS. MILLER: No.
16 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- for teachers --
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: For professors.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- professors that
19 are teaching teachers.
20 MS. MILLER: No.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: And you said --
22 MS. MILLER: You've got to --
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- not enough.
24 MS. MILLER: -- have more. You've got to
25 have more.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: How much time
2 should there be?
3 MS. MILLER: That I couldn't necessarily
4 answer, because I don't necessarily know the
5 things that they're taking in those three days.
6 I think it would depend on the kind of courses
7 that are being offered.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, those
9 three days are three days that a professor is
10 to go spend in a K through 12 classroom.
11 MS. MILLER: You're not going to learn
12 anything in three days. I can tell you that
13 right now. Because the teacher will say, kids,
14 be on your best behavior. And kids'll do that.
15 They're good for you doing that.
16 But what do you learn? If you're not there
17 every day doing all the things --
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well now, we can't
19 have them there every day, because --
20 MS. MILLER: No. But you've --
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- teaching
22 teachers.
23 MS. MILLER: -- got to be -- you've got to
24 be there long enough so that you have an idea
25 of what's going on. And three days isn't
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1 going -- would someone sitting in your job
2 three days know what to do as
3 Educationer Commission (sic)?
4 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: They'd probably do
5 better than I do in some --
6 MS. MILLER: No. You need more than
7 three days. And -- and you've got to have some
8 practicality involved in there. And it's not
9 just three good days. You've got to have off
10 days as well, because that's how you learn how
11 to handle things.
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: But how do you --
13 how do you effect that?
14 MS. MILLER: I think you need to -- to
15 offer more days and more training on site.
16 And -- and I think you need to get a variety of
17 classrooms and a variety of ages and a variety
18 of neighborhoods.
19 And I think you need to be there on a
20 regular basis so that you know what's going on
21 from this day to this day, and not just pop in
22 and spend the day and have a good time --
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Now, this is for
24 the teachers that are --
25 MS. MILLER: Yes, I --
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- teaching
2 teachers.
3 MS. MILLER: -- understand that.
4 But you -- you can't teach if you haven't
5 been there.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, you're --
7 I'm agreeing with you. My problem is that we
8 also have the -- the colleges, and Dr. Proctor
9 is President of a college, and he's worried
10 about having his teachers in there teaching
11 teachers. I'm worried --
12 MS. MILLER: Well --
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- about --
14 MS. MILLER: -- let me ask you --
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: I'll tell you what, in
16 Dr. Proctor's case, those teachers teach a lot.
17 They teach longer hours. They're on task a lot
18 longer than -- than the --
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Yeah. But
20 that's --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- I don't want to be too
22 controversial here. That's kind of my nature.
23 But we all look maybe at the productivity
24 of professors in our university system. And
25 maybe they can -- don't have to take away from
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1 classroom education and expand the amount of
2 time that they -- that we pay them --
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: You know --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- and we pay them a pretty
5 good wage -- they don't -- if you check the
6 number of hours they work, it's a little less
7 than what State workers work, Commissioner,
8 and --
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Maybe you should
10 have a difference in how much they're teaching,
11 compared to how much they spend in -- spend in
12 a classroom.
13 MS. MILLER: I think so. You want quality,
14 you've got to go get them.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Maybe they should work the
16 same number of hours as classroom teachers in
17 Brevard County.
18 MS. MILLER: I'm there 8 hours.
19 Eight hours every day.
20 Thank you.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Thank you.
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
23 MR. BRADLEY: My name is Don Bradley. I'm
24 a -- a high school teacher in Vero Beach, is
25 Indian River County. And --
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Which high school?
2 MR. BRADLEY: Vero Beach High School.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: A little bit more.
4 MR. BRADLEY: Vero Beach High School.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Great high school.
6 MR. BRADLEY: And I really can't say it
7 much better than the lady that preceded me.
8 She -- she hit it right on the head.
9 One thing I'd like to say, I know it's not
10 talking about the brand new teachers, but if
11 you want to get teachers that we're going to
12 keep, I think we need to increase the starting
13 salary for those teachers.
14 I know it's difficult to find money in
15 there, but I think that's very important, if we
16 can start that.
17 And the more time a beginning teacher could
18 stay in the classroom, the better. Because
19 it's -- it's -- it's a lot different from
20 what -- what it is versus what they learn in
21 the college.
22 And the -- the fact that the professors
23 would go there and spend the -- the time they
24 would, that would be a big benefit, I think --
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Great.
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1 MR. BRADLEY: -- because then they would
2 understand what's going on.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: How much time?
4 MR. BRADLEY: I -- I would think a week.
5 I think a week. That would be fine.
6 And a full week. Start from the beginning
7 to the end, and then they see what the whole
8 school week is.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: See, we went
10 through some --
11 MR. BRADLEY: Let me see. You said, what,
12 two weeks?
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well, we --
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: No.
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- we -- no. The
16 teachers, we -- I started off with a pretty big
17 number.
18 But in -- in negotiating back and forth
19 with the Standards Commission, we ended up
20 with -- with -- I really wanted three
21 consecutive days.
22 And -- and their argument was, well,
23 you know, they have a teaching schedule on
24 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday and
25 Thursday, and, therefore, if you do three
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1 consecutive days, they're going to find it
2 necessary to be out of class.
3 So that's sort of some of the discussion
4 that --
5 MR. BRADLEY: Well, it's --
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- took place.
7 MR. BRADLEY: -- it's like if you want to
8 get an idea of what's going on, if you spent
9 one week with the school, and -- and that -- by
10 that time, you would learn what's going on.
11 And the more they can pass on to new
12 teachers, the better. And the longer a new
13 teacher can stay in a school system so they'll
14 really find out if they want to teach --
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Thank you.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah.
17 General?
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Sir, how
19 long have you been teaching?
20 MR. BRADLEY: Well, I --
21 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: You don't
22 really look like the --
23 MR. BRADLEY: Oh. I -- well, I'm retired
24 military.
25 I put 20 years in the United States
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1 Air Force, and then I started teaching in 1985.
2 So it's 15 years.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Soldiers to
4 scholars.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Soldiers to
6 scholars.
7 If you have 15 years, do you think maybe if
8 we agree with the Commissioner that it should
9 be three straight days, that maybe the -- the
10 teachers would -- the future teachers would --
11 would benefit by having you switching place as
12 a professor, and maybe have teachers that are
13 actually teaching, teach -- teach the new
14 teachers?
15 MR. BRADLEY: That's -- that's a
16 possibility, yes.
17 Now you're going to get me started on
18 something else.
19 I -- I -- I think -- I think -- see, the
20 society today, everybody's working. The
21 teachers are working extra jobs, they can't put
22 in the extra time that they have for the
23 students.
24 The children are working so they can have
25 cars. Everybody's working. It's not like it
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1 used to be when we were -- when I was much
2 younger.
3 My dad worked, and that was it, and
4 everybody stayed home. But it was a different
5 school system then. But things change, so we
6 have to adapt to that.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you very much.
8 MR. BRADLEY: Thank you.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Who's next?
10 MR. RICHMOND: Excuse me, Governor, Cabinet
11 members.
12 I just wanted to ask if --
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: What's your name?
14 MR. RICHMOND: I'm Richard Richmond.
15 I just wanted to ask if public comment
16 would be accepted this morning on other issues
17 that are facing the great State of Florida
18 today, and in the oncoming days of this week?
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: No.
20 MR. RICHMOND: We will have no opportunity
21 to speak on --
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: You can talk --
23 MR. RICHMOND: -- those issues --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- to me after -- when
25 we're finished. But we're going to finish our
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1 agenda here today.
2 MR. RICHMOND: Is that the normal process
3 in the state --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah.
5 MR. RICHMOND: -- of Florida Cabinet
6 meetings, that no public input? You just
7 accepted public input --
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: On.
9 MR. RICHMOND: -- on this issue. We
10 certainly have other great issues before us.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: We have great issues all
12 over the place, no question about it. But we
13 have an agenda to complete, and that's what
14 we're going to do.
15 MR. RICHMOND: At the end of that agenda,
16 will we have the opportunity to speak to the
17 Cabinet, sir?
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're going to complete the
19 meeting, and then we're going over to the park,
20 and I'd be happy to have you tell me what's on
21 your mind --
22 MR. RICHMOND: Well, I just thought it
23 would be nice to get it officially on the
24 record, sir. A number of issues I'm sure a
25 number of people in the state of Florida --
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's not --
2 MR. RICHMOND: -- have important issues.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- how it's ever been done.
4 It hasn't been done that way. I'm a rookie
5 Governor, so maybe I could --
6 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Never been
7 that way.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Never been done that way.
9 MR. RICHMOND: Okay. Thank you, Governor.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Can you sign in?
11 MR. RICHMOND: Yes.
12 DR. PROCTOR: Mr. Governor --
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, Mr. --
14 DR. PROCTOR: -- we'd like to --
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- President.
16 DR. PROCTOR: -- bring us back to the -- to
17 the issue at hand.
18 I'm not going to stand before you and say
19 that three days is infinitely better than two,
20 or that much worse than four.
21 I think we could all talk about five, six,
22 seven, eight, whatever you want.
23 I would remind you though that the
24 professors who teach teachers are not isolated
25 somewhere in a classroom. In my case, one of
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1 them is -- heads up the Special Olympics
2 program for the county. She works with
3 students constantly.
4 Another one volunteers over at the Florida
5 School for the Deaf and Blind, and works
6 constantly with students.
7 All of them supervise interns in
8 classrooms. So I just want to dispel the
9 notion that they're not in classrooms.
10 If the Cabinet in its wisdom says
11 five days, we'll accommodate five days. I just
12 ask you to bear in mind that every day that we
13 put them in a school, we take them out of a
14 college classroom. And that presents a
15 problem.
16 And it's also not as if these people
17 haven't taught before. Virtually every one of
18 them has come up through the ranks of teacher.
19 I would also suggest that a number of our
20 teachers are part-time teachers, and that's by
21 deliberate design.
22 We bring people in part-time to teach in
23 certain fields, because they are in daily
24 contact. That's particularly true in the field
25 of exceptional child education where the laws
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1 and the theories in practice are changing
2 almost daily.
3 And so it's very helpful to bring people
4 out of that classroom.
5 I just ask you to bear those thoughts in
6 mind.
7 There is two other factors that weigh on
8 this that I think that a -- a word of
9 consideration. We are speaking about those
10 teacher preparation programs that are State
11 approved, as distinguished from those that are
12 not State approved.
13 Our State approved programs supply probably
14 less than 50 percent of our beginning -- new
15 teachers. And each one of those teachers is
16 supervised through an extensive internship by a
17 practicing teacher, and must pass that
18 internship before they're employed.
19 Now, one of the questions we raised was, in
20 the course of developing the rule, how
21 satisfied are the school districts with their
22 new teachers. And so we put in there a
23 rehiring requirement.
24 And 90 percent of the graduates of an
25 approved program must be offered rehiring at
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1 the end of the third year of their teaching.
2 So it's not as if some of these matters
3 haven't been looked at.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: What -- how do other states
5 handle this?
6 DR. PROCTOR: How do other states handle --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: Do you know how other
8 states handle the requirements of in-class --
9 DR. PROCTOR: To my knowledge -- and I'm
10 sure that there may be others -- but to my
11 knowledge, I know of no other state that is
12 requiring the college professor to go back into
13 the classroom.
14 There may be others. I have no knowledge
15 of any.
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: So we'd be the first in the
17 country, is that --
18 DR. PROCTOR: I'm not going to claim that
19 personally. I just say, I have no knowledge.
20 To my knowledge, we'd be the first.
21 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Our
22 Standards Commission --
23 DR. PROCTOR: But in --
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- is different
25 than --
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1 DR. PROCTOR: -- in the --
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- most states.
3 DR. PROCTOR: Excuse me, Commissioner.
4 In the evaluation of our teachers, bear in
5 mind that when it came time to prepare a
6 State's report card, as prescribed by Title II
7 of the Higher Education Act, Florida is
8 light years ahead of many states in the
9 measurement of its teacher quality from its
10 approved program.
11 And the research we don't have is what is
12 the quality of the teachers to come out of our
13 approved programs, as contrasted to those which
14 we must get from other sources simply to fill
15 out our ranks.
16 We don't know that the approved program
17 teacher is deficient in any of the areas about
18 which we're so concerned. There may be.
19 DR. PROCTOR: One other question.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes. Go ahead.
21 MR. BOUZIANIS: If I could just make a
22 quick comment.
23 Excuse me, sir.
24 From Commissioner Gallagher's comments,
25 this was an issue that we wrestled with
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1 consid-- at considerable length. We went back
2 and forth as far as how many numbers -- how
3 many days that we should go with.
4 I'm going to take my Commission hat off,
5 and put my personnel and human resources
6 administrator hat on.
7 Number one, I want to commend
8 Commissioner Gallagher. We're thrilled about
9 having extra resources in our classrooms.
10 And I've been accused of being naive
11 before, but I hope I'm not naive in making this
12 statement.
13 The key words to me were not less than
14 three. We're excited again about having a pool
15 of people that will be in our schools. And if
16 we identified, say, a professor from our
17 backyard from UCF that was working with a brand
18 new teacher, I would be very hopeful if they
19 reached their three-day mark, and the principal
20 or the district staff felt like this person
21 needs more assistance, and we would like you to
22 provide more, that they would not say, nope,
23 I've done my three, I'm -- I'm not going to
24 come back.
25 Because if that -- that does, indeed,
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1 happen -- I really don't think it would -- but
2 I would be one that would be screaming saying,
3 wait a minute, this isn't working the way that
4 we anticipated.
5 So I am hopeful that no matter whatever we
6 said, there's no less than, whether it's five,
7 seven, eight, that that will not be where it
8 stops. It will simply continue.
9 So I'm excited about the prospects of
10 having extra people in our classroom. So --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: I was going to ask about --
12 about the enforcement of this. We pass a lot
13 of rules in -- you know, got a lot of numbers
14 and -- has anybody ever checked to see if --
15 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- actually -- anybody --
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- there --
18 there --
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- actually does --
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- there is a
21 recommendation --
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- what they're supposed
23 to?
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- that -- they do
25 have a recommendation that the -- well, you can
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1 tell them the --
2 DR. PROCTOR: We place verification
3 requirement upon the dean of the records of the
4 teacher education program.
5 Every five years, the State approved
6 program must be reapproved by a team from the
7 Department of Education. When that team comes
8 on campus, they will check those verification
9 records.
10 It will be their responsibility to audit
11 those records.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Very good.
13 Any other questions or comments?
14 TREASURER NELSON: Governor, what we have
15 here is an expression of dissatisfaction with
16 the way the system is working.
17 You all are seeking to improve that. We've
18 had some contrary points of view.
19 I'd like to ask Commissioner Gallagher:
20 What would be the viability of making the
21 three days consecutive; or in the alternative,
22 extending to five consecutive days, which would
23 be a week?
24 What would that do financially in taking
25 the teachers out of the classrooms in the
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1 colleges of education?
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Well,
3 Commissioner, you're -- you're sounding like
4 where I was a few -- a few weeks ago as this
5 issue was coming from the Standards Commission
6 as a recommendation to us.
7 And I finally went along with the
8 three days, not because it was my preference,
9 but because we're -- we have a -- this is
10 really the first time it's been done, and it's
11 something that I think is extremely important,
12 and I really wanted the Standards Commission to
13 be on board with us.
14 And they have a lot of teachers, a lot of
15 professors, and everybody else involved in it.
16 And it was a give and take back and forth to
17 get where we are.
18 We are the State Board of Education, and we
19 can drive the train. But I was trying to drive
20 it in a way which we'd have buy into it.
21 I had a pretty good feeling how the rest of
22 this Board would feel. And that's why I pushed
23 pretty hard, as -- as they will tell you.
24 The cost and the questions you're asking
25 me, I think Dr. Proctor would be best to -- to
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1 answer those questions.
2 DR. PROCTOR: It's -- it's the question,
3 Mr. Nelson, if -- if I've got 14 weeks in the
4 classroom, and I've got teachers teaching on a
5 pretty tight schedule, just think in the past
6 few years, we've added 15 hours to the ESOL,
7 we've added instructional technology, we've
8 added the accomplished practices, we've added
9 the Sunshine State Standards, we've added the
10 content standards, we've added reasonable
11 force, we've added in a new -- a law
12 requirement and an ethics code requirement.
13 All that must be addressed in the
14 pre-service teacher in two years, plus an
15 internship which takes that student out of the
16 classroom.
17 So we really have three semesters, given
18 that most of our teachers come from the
19 community college system -- a large majority
20 do. We've got three semesters to cover every
21 bit of that.
22 So when you say take them out of the
23 classroom for a week, take one of my professors
24 out, it presents a problem. If the Board says
25 do it, we'll do it. Just as I told you last
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1 year, we do the new teacher preparation program
2 in the summertime if you said do it.
3 Do I recommend it? No.
4 World come to an end if it's five days
5 instead of three? No. We'll get it done.
6 But I recommend three.
7 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Governor?
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes, Commissioner.
9 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Thank you.
10 First I think at -- at the outset, I was a
11 little bit alarmed, thinking we were talking
12 about the requirements for a teacher before
13 they would -- became a teacher. And I think
14 maybe some people in the audience had that same
15 impression.
16 So I'm pleased that we're -- we're not
17 talking about teachers in the classroom, we're
18 talking about the teachers of the teachers.
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Right.
20 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: So that's -- that's
21 certainly a big difference than professors.
22 And the fact that the -- the rule reads not
23 less than three gives even -- gives me more
24 comfort.
25 And I -- I think that the bottom line is
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1 the -- is the question of the -- the
2 qualifications and the proficiencies of the
3 professors that are doing the teaching. And
4 that's really up to the deans and the
5 presidents of our -- of our colleges and
6 universities.
7 And so with -- you know, with all that --
8 in -- in mind, probably, you know, this -- this
9 rule is still a good -- a step in the right
10 direction.
11 It may -- may be on the cutting edge of
12 what's been done in the country. So I feel
13 fairly comfortable with the recommendation, and
14 I -- I would move the -- the recommendation.
15 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Just let me
16 understand. This is a report that we --
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Accepting the --
18 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- are accepting.
19 This is not --
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- report.
21 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- a rule. A
22 rule --
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- turn into rule.
24 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: -- has yet to come
25 to us.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Right. But this
2 is a recommendation from the
3 Standards Commission. It will turn into a
4 rule, and be brought back to us as a rule for
5 teacher prep.
6 So we're really --
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're accepting the --
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: -- we're early
9 accepting, and we're probably trying to tell
10 them that we don't really like what we're
11 accepting.
12 But they'll -- they'll -- they're taking
13 notes. It wasn't just me. They're hearing
14 from others, too, and that's a good thing.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: I would add that -- I mean,
16 they are -- just listening to the teachers
17 that -- that spoke, there's a -- a great
18 opportunity here.
19 The universities have accepted the
20 challenge to reach down into the
21 underperforming high schools of our state. All
22 of them now have done it, and they're --
23 they're engaged in very creative ways to
24 identify the achieving students that may be in
25 underperforming schools that, as Matt
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1 mentioned, may not be -- may not have been told
2 that they're qualified for a scholarship to be
3 able to go to -- to a university or community
4 college, even for that matter.
5 So all the universities are engaged in
6 this. And one of the solutions might be to see
7 professors take their entire class to a
8 particular school, and share the experiences
9 of -- of teaching in -- in a -- in a hands-on
10 kind of way, and help the school along the way.
11 This is -- there are ways to do this in a
12 creative fashion where -- where the students in
13 the high schools also benefit.
14 And I hope that the people don't view these
15 things, well, here's another rule from
16 the Board of Education, rather than look at it
17 as a great opportunity to assure the children
18 who really have not been given a chance in our
19 state -- and a whole lot of them haven't -- now
20 are being given that chance.
21 And the college board venture that we have
22 with -- with the State of Florida right now is
23 a one of a kind thing, and it is exciting to
24 see what's going on in their first year.
25 And I just -- there are a lot of ways that
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1 we can creatively deal with this, without
2 having it be kind of a command and control rule
3 thing that's put in some file for a five-year
4 certification five years later.
5 Does that make sense?
6 MR. BOUZIANIS: Yes, sir. Very much so.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: So what do we -- we don't
8 have to do anything.
9 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Accept the report.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: We're accepting it.
11 All in favor of accepting their report, say
12 aye.
13 THE CABINET: Aye.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
15 DR. PROCTOR: Thank you.
16 MR. BOUZIANIS: Thank you.
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: We appreciate y'all working
18 hard on behalf of the State. I know you have
19 other things to do.
20 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: There are -- just
21 for -- there are two major commissions that
22 exist within the Department of Education. One
23 is the Standards Commission, which includes the
24 24 members they talked about, which basically
25 sets the standards for the teaching profession.
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1 The other is the Practices Commission where
2 we may hear a little bit about that, because at
3 the end, there's some people being appointed to
4 it.
5 They basically get into discipline of
6 teachers. And so there are those two
7 commissions that exist within the Department of
8 Education.
9 Wayne.
10 MR. PIERSON: Any changes that would occur
11 based on that report would go through the
12 rulemaking process. So there'll be a lot of
13 time for public input.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
15 MR. PIERSON: Item 3 on the agenda is
16 identification of high priority school
17 locations for use and implementation of the
18 teacher forgivable loan program.
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
20 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
21 (Treasurer Nelson exited the room.)
22 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
23 Without objection, it's approved.
24 MR. PIERSON: Item 4 is the identification
25 of critical teacher shortage areas.
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1 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 4.
2 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
3 GOVERNOR BUSH: Do you want to give us a
4 brief run-down on where they are for people
5 that are standing, that we do have --
6 MR. PIERSON: Yes, sir, I will.
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- increasing challenges as
8 it relates to teacher shortages?
9 MR. PIERSON: They're middle and secondary
10 level mathematics, middle and secondary level
11 science, exceptional education programs serving
12 students with disabilities. That's all the
13 exceptional education programs for students
14 with disabilities.
15 English for speakers of other languages,
16 technology education, and this -- those were
17 all from prior year also.
18 Added this year was foreign languages.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: We estimate that -- just
20 for people in the audience -- we estimate that
21 there are going to be 10,000 -- a need for
22 10,000 teachers a year.
23 And that would be because of retirements,
24 growth in our student population, and people
25 leaving in mid-- mid-career, or early in their
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1 career.
2 In fact, I think there's a significant
3 percentage of teachers that leave in their
4 third or fourth year.
5 And so 10,000 over the next -- 10,000 a
6 year for the next ten years.
7 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: That's a year.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: So if we're talking about
9 100,000 teachers, it's a huge challenge for our
10 state. And my guess is that this list will
11 become -- will expand to all -- basically to --
12 to all forms of teaching in our public schools.
13 And this next legislative session, I hope
14 the Legislature will accept some
15 recommendations that -- that we'll be making,
16 and others will, about how to deal with us on a
17 long-term basis.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: And that --
19 that -- that 10,000 is what's needed for next
20 year.
21 And we do see that it will be increasing
22 quite dramatically to twelve to
23 fifteen thousand, because many of our
24 teachers -- a large percentage of our teachers
25 are in their fifty-five -- fifty-five years
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1 old, and eligible for retirement, and could
2 retire and make that -- there's a big bubble
3 there actually that we're facing over the next
4 five years.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: So one of the big issues is
6 how do we retain teachers; how do we recruit
7 teachers from other professions, like the
8 military, General; and how do we attract new
9 teachers, people to be excited about teaching
10 at an early age.
11 And, you know, higher pay is going to be --
12 someone mentioned that. Obviously that's --
13 that's got to be the -- the first thing. But
14 there's many other strategies that need to be
15 developed as well.
16 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Governor,
17 how many teachers do we graduate in our
18 universities and colleges?
19 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: How many what,
20 teachers --
21 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Teacher
22 graduates.
23 GOVERNOR BUSH: About half of what we need.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: About 600 and --
25 something like that, to 5,000.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: I thought it was about half
2 of what we needed.
3 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: So that's close to
4 it.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: We import a lot of teachers
6 still in a very competitive field. We import
7 teachers from other parts of the country.
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: We actually go --
9 we sent up recruiting missions up into Boston
10 and other places. We have a huge teach-in in
11 St. Petersburg where we invite graduates to
12 come to get a job, and all the counties come
13 and recruit.
14 MR. PIERSON: Did -- did we have a motion
15 to approve on that?
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: I think we already did,
17 didn't we?
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: I'll move, just
19 to --
20 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: It's been moved and
22 seconded.
23 Without objection, it's approved.
24 Item 5.
25 MR. PIERSON: Item 5 is the 2001-2002
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1 adult fee schedule required by statute.
2 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
3 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
5 Without objection, it's approved.
6 MR. PIERSON: Items 6 through 18 are all
7 State Board and nonpublic career ed rules.
8 Would you care to do those as a block, or
9 would you rather do them invidi--
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 6
11 through 18.
12 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: And second.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MR. PIERSON: Item 19 is a repeal of
16 Rule 6H-1.046, Florida Community College
17 Distance Learning Consortium.
18 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
19 MR. PIERSON: The rule is being repealed
20 because it's -- it's 120. It's a --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: Because it's what?
22 What's a 120?
23 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Because the
24 Joint -- Joint Administrative Procedures
25 Commission says that it fails to comply with
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1 legislative record.
2 MR. PIERSON: Rules of procedure, which
3 aren't --
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
5 MR. PIERSON: -- described --
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just wanted to -- still
7 fighting hard for English.
8 Is there a motion?
9 I'm sorry?
10 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Second.
12 Moved and seconded.
13 Without objection, it's approved.
14 MR. PIERSON: Item 20, appointments to the
15 Education Standards Commission,
16 Thomas E. Lynch, and Dr. Wesley Little.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
18 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
20 Without objection, it's approved.
21 MR. PIERSON: Item 21, appointment to the
22 Education Practices Commission,
23 Kimberly Pinsky.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
25 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
2 Without objection, it's approved.
3 MR. PIERSON: Thank you.
4 GOVERNOR BUSH: Thank you.
5 (The State Board of Education Agenda was
6 concluded.)
7 * * *
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25
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TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 100
December 12, 2000
1 GOVERNOR BUSH: Board of Trustees.
2 MR. STRUHS: Good morning, gentlemen, and
3 Madam Secretary.
4 By way of introduction, my name is
5 David Struhs, and I'm the Secretary of the
6 Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
7 And I have probably one of the very best
8 jobs in -- in Florida State government. I work
9 with some very fine public servants.
10 Our job is to keep the air and the water
11 clean and safe. And we do that as well as any
12 state, and probably better than most.
13 Our jobs are -- are basically divided into
14 two categories, our regulatory programs, in
15 which case we operate as an executive agency
16 reporting directly to the Governor.
17 And then we have our conservation programs.
18 And they involve the acquisition and surplusing
19 of conservation and other lands.
20 In that case, we operate as staff to the
21 Board of Trustees, and that is what brings us
22 here this morning.
23 I would like to speak just very quickly
24 though about one of our regulatory
25 responsibilities, given the fact that
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December 12, 2000
1 Senator Nelson and Governor Bush both talked
2 about NASA this morning.
3 We have a District office in Orlando, and
4 they have been working very closely with NASA
5 these last several months.
6 And I am pleased to report that just within
7 a few weeks, we will have the NASA facility at
8 Cape Canaveral doing 100 percent electronic
9 reporting of all their environmental data to
10 the State of Florida. This is a major
11 breakthrough.
12 This -- this is -- this fits the bill in
13 terms of more protection, with less process, at
14 a lower cost. One of the things it will do is
15 it will allow us to do a better job of
16 protecting the environment of the activities
17 that go on on the Cape, and it lowers the cost
18 to NASA.
19 And one of the reasons we do that, quite
20 frankly, is because it's part of our long-term
21 strategy to make sure that the space industry
22 stays put in Florida.
23 It gives Florida a competitive edge to have
24 a rational regulatory system. So we're very
25 proud of that.
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TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 102
December 12, 2000
1 This morning I have a very able assistant
2 in the form of Alexius Williams, who is a
3 scholar at the Seminole Community College, and
4 has been involved the last four years in the
5 Take Stock With Children Program, which is part
6 of Governor Bush's mentoring initiative.
7 And she has done a remarkable job in
8 high school, and is now maintaining very good
9 grades at the community college.
10 One of the reasons that we have selected
11 Alexius is because a number of months ago, she
12 wrote an essay, and submitted it, nominating
13 her mentor, Carlyn Kowalsky, who is here with
14 us today, as being a very special person in her
15 life.
16 (Commissioner Gallagher exited the room.)
17 MR. STRUHS: And Alexius's essay won first
18 place. And what that meant was
19 Carlyn Kowalsky --
20 You can stand, please.
21 -- is -- has been recognized as the
22 outstanding mentor in all of the United States
23 of America.
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: Wow.
25 (Applause.)
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December 12, 2000
1 MR. STRUHS: Carlyn and -- and Alexius have
2 had a relationship -- they've had a
3 relationship that has lasted three years of
4 high school, and now in -- in the fourth year
5 in her first year at the community college.
6 As a result of her essay, Alexius won a
7 $1,000 scholarship, and they traveled to
8 Washington for some well deserved recognition.
9 I would also like to point out that Carlyn
10 is also the Assistant General Counsel for
11 Florida Water Services, which is a private
12 company which provides good, clean, public
13 water supply, and is probably the largest
14 private water supplier in the state of Florida.
15 And we regulate them, and they do a fine job
16 here in the state of Florida.
17 (Commissioner Gallagher entered the room.)
18 MR. STRUHS: So with that, I'm going to
19 turn over the agenda portion of this to
20 Alexius --
21 GOVERNOR BUSH: She's going to read the --
22 Now I've got to hear the essay.
23 Do you have it?
24 MS. WILLIAMS: No.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: You're going to e-mail it
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December 12, 2000
1 to me, right?
2 MS. WILLIAMS: Okay.
3 MR. STRUHS: But we're going to work
4 together in getting through this agenda,
5 Governor.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Okay.
7 MS. WILLIAMS: Good morning, Governor Bush,
8 and Cabinet.
9 All right. Item 1 concerns the minutes.
10 Recommend approval for the minutes from
11 October 24th, 2000, of the Cabinet meeting.
12 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
13 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
15 Without objection, it's approved.
16 You're already doing better than Struhs.
17 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Yeah. There's
18 definitely another one coming.
19 MR. STRUHS: Yeah, I know.
20 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 2, City of Miami deed
21 restriction compliance termination.
22 Recommend approval.
23 A determination that a children's museum
24 complies with the restrictions -- restrictions
25 and reverter contained in a 1949 deed to the
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1 City of Miami.
2 I would like to introduce
3 Ms. Laura Billberg -- Billberry, the Director
4 of Asset Management of the City of Miami.
5 GOVERNOR BUSH: Welcome.
6 MS. BILLBERRY: Thank you.
7 And actually, our City Manager was able to
8 make it, so I'm going to turn it over to
9 Carlos Gimenez.
10 GOVERNOR BUSH: Hey, Carlos.
11 MR. GIMENEZ: Hey. How you doing?
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Where are we going to have
13 the Cabinet for a Day in Miami?
14 MR. GIMENEZ: I was about to invite you
15 down. I think we have room, and it'd certainly
16 be an honor for us to -- to have you all come
17 down to the City of Miami, and -- and honor us
18 for the Capital of a Day.
19 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any news on your bond
20 rating?
21 MR. GIMENEZ: Yes. Actually I have very
22 good news. Moody's upgraded us yesterday to
23 investment grade. So --
24 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's why I asked.
25 MR. GIMENEZ: -- the first time in five
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1 years, we'll be able --
2 GOVERNOR BUSH: Congratulations.
3 MR. GIMENEZ: -- to have access to the --
4 the debt market.
5 So thank you very much.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Some of us are very happy
7 about that.
8 MR. GIMENEZ: Yeah. So am I.
9 Good morning, Mr. Governor, and members of
10 the Cabinet.
11 Along with myself, I have -- my name is
12 Carlos Gimenez, and I'm the City Manager for
13 the City of Miami.
14 Along with myself, I have
15 Mr. Alan Potamkin, who's the Chairman of the
16 Board of Trustees for the Miami Children's
17 Museum; and Debbie Spiegelman, also from the
18 Miami Children's Museum; Ms. Laura Billberry,
19 which you've met; Arleen Weintraub, Alvia Bonia
20 (phonetic); and Meredith Nation (phonetic).
21 They're also from the City of Miami.
22 We're distributing a booklet which contains
23 the site plan for the building, a survey as
24 presently underway. But the total lease area
25 will approximately be about 1.5 to 2 acres.
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1 The site plan has been approved by the
2 City Commission, and by the Miami Sports and
3 Exhibition Authority. We are very excited
4 about this project.
5 We feel it's -- in conjunction with the
6 Parrot Jungle and the aviation center, we feel
7 that we can transform Watson Island from a
8 place where basically you drive through, to
9 a -- a world class destination.
10 And we really would appreciate your support
11 on this.
12 SECRETARY HARRIS: Governor.
13 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion to approve.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: Alan, you came all the way
15 up here. I saw some notes. Do you want to
16 speak?
17 SECRETARY HARRIS: I just want to --
18 GOVERNOR BUSH: Those were notes?
19 SECRETARY HARRIS: Governor.
20 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
21 SECRETARY HARRIS: I want to brag on the
22 Miami Children's Museum.
23 It was founded, I guess, in 1983. And
24 this -- both the State and nation have really
25 looked to the -- Miami's youth museum as the
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1 first ever, and -- and has been a model both
2 throughout the State and nationally. So we're
3 really pleased that you're here with us today.
4 MR. POTAMKIN: Thank you.
5 Yeah. We're very excited about the
6 opportunity. Myself, Adolpho Henrikes
7 (phonetic), and we also brought Norman Bramin
8 (phonetic) on board. Norman and Adolpho are --
9 and I are pretty good at beating up people.
10 So we've got the vast majority of our
11 monies raised, and we're excited about the
12 opportunity for the children of Dade County.
13 Thank you.
14 (Commissioner Crawford exited the room.)
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Very good.
16 TREASURER NELSON: Where is this going to
17 be on Watson Island?
18 MR. GIMENEZ: It's going to be on the
19 southern portion of -- of Watson Island.
20 Basically in the middle of south -- south
21 portion.
22 On the north portion, you have
23 Parrot Jungle --
24 TREASURER NELSON: Right.
25 MR. GIMENEZ: -- is on there.
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1 TREASURER NELSON: And what's the schedule,
2 by the way, for the Parrot Jungle?
3 MR. GIMENEZ: The Parrot Jungle took
4 possession of the property. And they should
5 open it within two or three years.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Any other questions,
7 comments?
8 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on Item 2.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Is there a second?
10 SECRETARY HARRIS: Second.
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
12 Without objection, it's approved.
13 MR. GIMENEZ: Thank you, Governor, very
14 much.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: Good luck.
16 MS. BILLBERRY: Thank you.
17 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 3, Lykes Brothers,
18 Incorporated, quitclaim deed.
19 Recommend approval of a request to
20 quitclaim 1.34 acres, more or less, of lands in
21 Glades County for Lykes Brothers, Incorporated,
22 to correct a legal description error.
23 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Motion.
24 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Second.
25 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
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1 Without objection, it's approved.
2 Maybe, General Butterworth, you could
3 explain this Lykes Brother arrangement, since
4 it's --
5 (Secretary Harris exited the room.)
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- fairly one of a kind,
7 and --
8 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: This is
9 one -- one of a kind in the nation.
10 Lykes Brothers have -- have owned this land for
11 many, many decades. It's also called -- it's
12 commonly known as Fisheating Creek.
13 And it's -- this is -- it's about
14 9,000 acres. And it also includes about
15 another 30,000 for the State will -- will have
16 an easement over it.
17 (Commissioner Crawford entered the room.)
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: It'll
19 protect this river for -- forever.
20 And when just a few months ago, we knew
21 that we might make some errors a little bit in
22 the actual calculations of the acreage, and
23 surprised -- we're talking about forty-- over
24 41,500 acres, we were -- just missed it by
25 1.34 acres.
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1 I mean, so this was a tremendous purchase
2 that the State of Florida made, and
3 Fisheating Creek is such an important, integral
4 part of the life of the people in Glades County
5 and all other surrounding counties.
6 In fact, almost everybody years ago who got
7 their Boy Scout badge in canoeing in southeast
8 Florida, and some in southwest Florida, got it
9 at Fisheating Creek.
10 So it's a very historic place, and it's a
11 very good thing for the State of Florida to
12 own.
13 GOVERNOR BUSH: I just -- just as a -- a
14 paid political announcement for the State of
15 Florida, and the -- and the Cabinet, we -- we
16 have the most aggressive and progressive land
17 purchasing program in the country of the
18 50 states.
19 And it's important in a state like -- we're
20 sitting in a high growth area like
21 Brevard County where wild Florida surrounds
22 you, and we've actually made some pretty
23 significant purchases in -- in the western part
24 of Brevard County, which are the headwaters for
25 the Saint Johns River.
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1 And there's a lot of -- a lot of activity
2 going on to protect the encroachment of growth
3 into areas of the state that need to be
4 protected.
5 And -- and this -- while this is a little
6 off the beaten path, this is certainly perhaps
7 the greatest best example of protection of our
8 heritage and our history.
9 It's a 40,000 acre purchase. And it went
10 from lawsuits to settlement. And
11 General Butterworth deserves high praise for
12 his involvement in this over, how long --
13 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Ten years.
14 GOVERNOR BUSH: -- ten years, fifteen --
15 Ten years.
16 I thought that might be appropriate to
17 mention that.
18 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH:
19 Commissioner Crawford and I started back
20 about -- when he was in the Florida Senate, we
21 started --
22 (Secretary Harris entered the room.)
23 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: -- the last
24 acre-and-a-third.
25 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 4 --
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1 GOVERNOR BUSH: We approved that already,
2 didn't we?
3 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Yes,
4 Governor.
5 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Yes.
6 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just missed it.
7 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 4, Millender option
8 agreement, Apalachicola Bay CARL Project.
9 We recommend a deferral.
10 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion to defer.
11 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Motion to defer, and a
13 second.
14 Without objection, it's approved.
15 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 5, Gaidry Option
16 Agreement, managing agency designation
17 management policy statement amendment,
18 Pierce Mound Complex, CARL project.
19 We recommend an approval. There are three
20 items to this project.
21 The first item, an option agreement to
22 acquire 1.38 acres within the Pierce Mound
23 Complex CARL project from Annegret E. Gaidry
24 and Douglas W. Gaidry.
25 Second, designation of the Department of
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1 Environmental Protection's Office of Coastal
2 and Aquatic Managed Areas as managing agency of
3 the original project area and the Department of
4 Environmental Projects Division of Recreation
5 and Parks as the managing agency of the 10-acre
6 addition.
7 The third, evaluation and amendments of the
8 management policy statement for the
9 Pierce Mound Complex CARL Project.
10 There is an interesting story behind this
11 purchase I'd like to --
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Much better than David.
13 You tell interesting stories.
14 MR. STRUHS: She has a good one here.
15 MS. WILLIAMS: I have an excerpt I'd like
16 to read.
17 The owner has reported to the appraiser a
18 friendly ghost residing in the subject house.
19 The appraiser reported a lack of evidence
20 discovered in the Apalachicola market
21 associated with the potential impact, either
22 positive or negative, of paranormal activities.
23 As a result, the appraiser's analysis did
24 not reflect any benefit or burden to the
25 property associated with any real or perceived
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1 paranormal occurrences, in or around this
2 project.
3 I consider her treatment of this issue
4 reasonable.
5 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion on 5.
6 MR. STRUHS: She's good.
7 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
8 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
9 Without objection, it's approved.
10 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Maybe
11 David --
12 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yes.
13 SECRETARY HARRIS: Another part -- another
14 part that's exciting about this home is the
15 fact that Apalachicola, the City, was actually
16 listed on the National Register of Historic
17 Places in 1980.
18 And our Division Director, Jan Matthews,
19 and Dean -- and Dean Roy Hunt from the
20 University of Florida, who now works with the
21 Division, is working on getting the entire --
22 the -- the City -- the town -- the town plan of
23 Apalachicola incorporated as a national
24 historic landmark, which will be really
25 significant.
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1 And -- and there's great enthusiasm for
2 this happening because the entire Comp Plan
3 would be incorporated. So we're working --
4 working towards that as well.
5 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: Governor,
6 Secretary Struhs has made it a practice of
7 spending a lot of time in our State Parks, and
8 in -- and -- and actually staying there.
9 I think it'd be a good idea if we required him
10 to stay there 15 nights --
11 GOVERNOR BUSH: Just check it out.
12 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: -- and we'll
13 find out whether this ghost really does exist
14 or not.
15 GOVERNOR BUSH: All in favor?
16 MR. STRUHS: Of that motion?
17 GOVERNOR BUSH: Yeah. As amended.
18 All right.
19 MS. WILLIAMS: Item 6, Austrian Development
20 of Florida, Incorporated, Option Agreement,
21 Washington Oaks State Gardens.
22 We're recommending approval of an option
23 agreement to acquire 1.153 acres within the
24 Washington Oaks State Gardens, Division of
25 Recreation and Parks Addition and Inholdings
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1 Project from the Austrian Development of
2 Florida, Incorporated.
3 This project will complete the
4 Oceanfront State Park, which receives
5 60,000 visitors annually.
6 COMMISSIONER GALLAGHER: Motion.
7 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
8 SECRETARY HARRIS: Second.
9 GOVERNOR BUSH: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, it's approved.
11 MR. STRUHS: Thank you very much, Governor,
12 and members of the Cabinet.
13 I know that before you leave the room, that
14 America's best mentor, and -- and her scholar
15 would appreciate a photograph, if --
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Absolutely.
17 Can we do that?
18 Let's do it right now.
19 Yeah. We -- go ahead.
20 They're coming up.
21 ATTORNEY GENERAL BUTTERWORTH: One thing
22 I'd like to mention is that this is the last
23 meeting of Commissioner Bill Nelson in this
24 setting.
25 I just want to say that it's so fitting,
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1 Governor, for you to have -- to have picked
2 this location to be -- for this particular
3 Cabinet meeting.
4 And as -- as Treasurer Nelson stated, he
5 has -- he grew up in Melbourne, gone to
6 Melbourne High School, I graduated the same
7 year he did. So I won't say exactly what year
8 that was, but it was a long time ago.
9 And he started his public life, not in 1972
10 when he was elected to the Florida Legislature.
11 He started his public life right here in
12 Melbourne.
13 I believe you were President of your
14 student body, you were -- you were national
15 President of the -- of the Key Club, and many
16 other activities, and taking the leadership
17 role in the Florida Legislature where he served
18 three terms on the issues of environment and
19 growth management, before it really became one
20 of the most important things to do.
21 Went on to Congress and served in six terms
22 there, serving us very well, making sure we
23 didn't get offshore oil drilling, and a lot of
24 other bad things.
25 And obviously he was leader in NASA, had
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1 the opportunity to -- to be an astronaut,
2 which -- which is -- when my son came to
3 Tallahassee, he says, I don't want to see your
4 office, I want to see the office of the
5 astronaut. So --
6 But -- and then Bill being on the Cabinet,
7 and taking over the role for the last six years
8 as Insurance Commissioner, has been a -- a
9 national leader in -- in bringing the -- the
10 large insurance companies to do the right thing
11 where they were, in essence, returning files
12 where they, in essence, were taking people's
13 assets.
14 So -- and Commissioner Nelson was there for
15 a lead as national battle and getting literally
16 billions of dollars and -- and untold millions
17 of dollars back to the -- to the people of this
18 state and to the country.
19 He took a leadership role in -- overseas in
20 getting insurance companies to pay the
21 holocaust victims.
22 And also he's taken a leadership role
23 nationally from the standpoint of insurance
24 companies that were discriminating based upon a
25 raise.
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1 So it's been a pleasure serving for all of
2 us with Commissioner Nelson these six years in
3 the Florida Cabinet, and his three decades of
4 public life.
5 And we know that he is going to be a
6 tremendous United States Senator, definitely
7 looking after the interests, not only of this
8 country, but more specifically the interests of
9 the State of Florida.
10 And, Bill, our -- you and Grace have our --
11 our total admiration, our love, and we wish you
12 both the absolute best, and we know you will be
13 the absolute best.
14 TREASURER NELSON: Thank you.
15 (Applause.)
16 GOVERNOR BUSH: Do you want to say
17 something?
18 TREASURER NELSON: What a privilege it has
19 been to work with a collegial body that shows
20 you how you can bridge philosophical
21 differences, political differences, and
22 partisan differences.
23 And that's basically the six years that
24 I've been a part of this Cabinet. It operates
25 in exactly that fashion. In a collegial
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1 fashion, a role model perhaps that would do
2 well for the nation to take note of.
3 So we -- in large part, the training that
4 you have given me in this experience, I will
5 take with me to Washington now with what
6 appears to be a 50/50 Senate, where they're
7 going to need a lot of bridge building and a
8 lot of bipartisanship, and a lot of
9 collegiality.
10 This, of course, is -- it's -- it's a time
11 of enormous memories to come back to my
12 hometown as the last Cabinet meeting; and to be
13 in a room where I've been in so often as a --
14 as a kid, as a citizen, as a legislator, as a
15 Congressman, and now as Insurance Commissioner.
16 And what a privilege that is, as well.
17 And I would think that my final comments to
18 my colleagues on the Cabinet, which I have so
19 thoroughly enjoyed your personal friendship and
20 relationship, and look forward to it continuing
21 over the years as we continue all to serve,
22 would be to remember the words that
23 Abraham Lincoln said to his people in Illinois
24 as he boarded the train to leave to go to
25 Washington.
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1 And he said, may the spirit here among us
2 that goes with me, and remains with you, keep
3 us all unified forever.
4 And that would be my comment to you all.
5 Thank you, and God bless you.
6 (Applause.)
7 GOVERNOR BUSH: That's the end of our
8 meeting.
9 And we're really grateful to be here in
10 Melbourne. And at noon, we are gathered --
11 where?
12 -- Wells Park. I hope y'all can come,
13 and -- and go to the Agency Fair where you'll
14 see all of the various departments in
15 State government.
16 (The Board of Trustees of the Internal
17 Improvement Trust Fund Agenda was concluded.)
18 * * *
19 (The Cabinet meeting was concluded at
20 11:03 a.m.)
21
22
23
24
25
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123
December 12, 2000
1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
2
3
4
5 STATE OF FLORIDA:
6 COUNTY OF LEON:
7 I, LAURIE L. GILBERT, do hereby certify that
8 the foregoing proceedings were taken before me at the
9 time and place therein designated; that my shorthand
10 notes were thereafter translated; and the foregoing
11 pages numbered 1 through 122 are a true and correct
12 record of the aforesaid proceedings.
13 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative,
14 employee, attorney or counsel of any of the parties,
15 nor relative or employee of such attorney or counsel,
16 or financially interested in the foregoing action.
17 DATED THIS 27TH day of DECEMBER, 2000.
18
19
20
21
22
23 LAURIE L. GILBERT, RPR, CCR, CRR, RMR
100 Salem Court
24 Tallahassee, Florida 32301
850/878-2221
25
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