Gov. Rick Scott stopped at a Tampa elementary school Monday morning, touting what he called a record budget for education. Scott may not get what he wants from lawmakers, but he vowed to push forward, anyway.
The visit to Mitchell Elementary school was made to promote his budget plan, which would increase per-student funding by $200. He wants to allow local school districts to collect taxes from increased property values. Some lawmakers have balked, saying it would be a tax increase. They shot down a similar proposal last year, but Scott says there's enough money to go around this year.
"I'm just going to focus every day, to make sure that I'll fight just like I did last year," Scott said. "I'm going to fight to make sure the money's in there. We have the money in the budget to do that. We are going to walk in with $3 billion more of projected revenue over expenses. So we have the money to do the $200 per student increase."
This will be Scott's eighth - and last - state budget as governor. The Republican is facing term limits and is expected to run for U.S. Senate against longtime incumbent Bill Nelson, a Democrat.
