I interviewed State Rep. Michelle Salzman today on NewsTalk 1370. We discussed Gov. DeSantis’ proposal to get rid of the year-end assessments in our public schools.
“We all know that that testing is so outdated, and it’s not really a good environment to have our children in, to teach them to be tested,†said Salzman. “I don’t know of anybody that’s not excited, both sides of the line, Democrat and Republican. We’re all super excited to see what’s going to come out of it and just looking forward to it really.â€
She said that she is meeting with House leadership about their priorities. The lawmaker refiled yesterday her ECUA bill, an improved version of she proposed last yesterday but later withdrew
“I withdrew it last year, not because I was quitting but because it wasn’t the right time; it just became a big mess,†said Salzman.
“I also filed the Blue Angels’ Motorcycle License Plate Bill. The Blue Angels Foundation pushed so hard for me to file it last year. We really didn’t have the language right, so we put it off, and I promised them I would do it this year.â€
ECUA is a dependent special district of “Escambia County.” There are 13 special districts just in Escambia County. Each is it’s own little bureaucracy that drains money from more important public needs. One special district was formed in 1947. Others are from the 1960s and 1970s. Even when some have fulfilled their original legislative purpose, like the Pensacola Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) that imposes an extra property tax on certain downtown businesses, the staff invent new reasons for the special district to exist. They add to confusion. Some parts of downtown Pensacola are subject to three different governments armed with municipal powers. The Pensacola CRA doesn’t even work for the CRA Board any more. The CRA staff now works for Mayor Robinson who is not a member of the CRA. As I once explained to Alex Andrade when he was a candidate, what the Florida Legislature could do to help local governments is allow each local governing authority to abolish special districts once created by the Florida Legislature. If that were so, Pensacola could readily abolish the DIB and Escambia County could abolish ECUA.