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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 * * * ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 3 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 4 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 * * * ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 6 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 7 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 8 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 9 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 10 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 11 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 12 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 13 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 14 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 15 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? ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 16 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 17 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 18 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 19 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 20 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 21 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 22 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 23 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 24 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 25 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 26 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 27 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 28 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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 * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 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 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 50 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 52 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, ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 53 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 55 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? ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 56 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 57 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 58 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 59 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 60 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 61 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 62 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 63 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 64 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 65 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 66 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 67 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 68 December 12, 2000 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 -- ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 69 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 70 December 12, 2000 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 -- ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 71 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 72 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 73 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 74 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 75 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 76 December 12, 2000 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 -- ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 77 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 78 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 79 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 80 December 12, 2000 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 -- ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 81 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 82 December 12, 2000 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, ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 83 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 84 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 85 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 86 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 87 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 88 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 89 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 90 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 91 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 92 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 93 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 94 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 95 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 96 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 97 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 98 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 99 December 12, 2000 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 * * * 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 101 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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.) ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 103 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 104 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 105 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 106 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 107 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 108 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 109 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 110 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 111 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 112 December 12, 2000 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 -- ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 113 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 114 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 115 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 116 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 117 December 12, 2000 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, ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 118 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 119 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 120 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 121 December 12, 2000 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. ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND 122 December 12, 2000 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 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 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. |