The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF) has had positions on education equity and financing in Florida since 1947. The LWVFL has supported a free and public education for all children and in 1971 its position included state funding as "the source of major financial support for education including capital outlay." Over the years the LWVF and LWV of Volusia County (LWVVC) have supported the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) as the mechanism for funding public education and added that all state mandated programs be fully financed... The League remains committed to these positions and providing adequate funding for education is always included among our priorities during each legislative session. The LWVVC is dismayed that our legislature reduced the funding to our schools as a result of the state’s current budget deficit. Our children are facing a decrease in the quality of education that we have the right to expect, as well as possible deletion of excellent academic programs and athletics.

LWVVC encourages all residents of Volusia County to join the School Board and teachers in sending a unified message to Tallahassee, demanding the restoration of funds to public education and emphasizing the urgency of this need. Our government must develop alternative methods of generating funds in order to provide all its citizens with a free and public educational system.

If Florida is to remain competitive, if the students are to remain part of the intellectual wealth of our state, it is indeed time to stand behind Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Florida which states that it is, “a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children…”

We must remember that the future of Florida is in the hands of today’s children.

Maritza N. Patterson

Vice President

League of Women Voters of Volusia County