2018-06-01

6
Orlando Advocate | May 25 - 31, 2018
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Study: Voter Restoration Would Add
$365 Million to FL Economy
Unable to Strike, Florida Teachers
Planning Election Day Push
ByTrimmel Gomes
By Mike Vasilinda
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
- A new study says restoring
the voting rights of former
felons would provide a big
boost to Florida’s economy.
The study by the Washington
Economics Group
examines the financial impact
of the Voter Restoration
Amendment, or Amendment
4, which will appear on the
November ballot. It finds that
by restoring voting rights
to people who’ve served
their time as outlined in
the amendment, the annual
economic impact would be
$365 million.
J. Antonio Villamil, a
senior advisor at the Washington
Economics Group,
says he used the State of
Florida’s own corrections
data for his findings.
“On a very conservative,
modest basis, to be able to at
least gain some employment,
we found that 1,300 new jobs
will be supported annually in
the state,” says Villamil.
Gov. Rick Scott and state
Cabinet officials are challenging
changes to Florida’s
current voting-rights restoration
process, which requires
waiting five to seven years
before a request can be made.
Scott has said people who’ve
been in prison should have
to demonstrate they can stay
out of trouble before they can
vote again.
The report commissioned
by the Alliance for
Safety and Justice claims
people who have their voting
eligibility restored will have
an easier time getting jobs,
which increases their earning
power and disposable
income, in turn giving back
to Florida’s economy.
Villamil says the benefits
are twofold.
“There are really two
types of impacts,” says Villamil.
“One is the decreasing
recidivism, which is pretty
solid evidence; and secondly,
some decreases in the employment
penalty, because
of the fact that their civil
rights in voting have been
restored.”
Villamil adds other studies
by the Office of Offender
Review and the Florida Parole
Commission also show
economic benefits when
people regain their voting
rights, because they’re far
less likely to re-offend and
re-enter the justice system.
A poll conducted by
North Star Opinion Research
and EMC Research
found nearly three-quarters
of Florida voters support
Amendment 4.
Teachers from at least four states, from
Arizona to West Virginia, went on strike this
spring. Fifty years ago, in 1968, Florida
teachers were the first to walk out.But it’s
not likely to ever happen again.
In 1966, Claude Kirk became the state’s
first Republican Governor since reconstruction.
He was elected on a promise to make
Florida schools the best in the nation.
“Governor Kirk proposed to cut one
hundred fifty million dollars from the state
budget for public education” read an announcer
in a 1968 report.
The proposed cuts came as growth was
skyrocketing, crowing schools.
“There were classes in the hall room”
recalls one former teacher.
Florida Education Assn. President JoAnn
McCall says in the spring of 1968 at least
30,000 teachers walked out.
“Teachers in mass, thirty thousand
signed their resignation letters and said, ‘I
quit. I’m not working here anymore. I’m
out,’” said FEA president McCall.
The strike lasted three weeks.
“The teaching profession will never
be the same again” said the strike’s leader,
claiming victory.
In 1974, lawmakers gave teachers collective
bargaining rights, a state pension, an a
prohibition against any future strikes.
“But the biggest kicker for everybody
is that their retirement would be revoked”
says McCall.
Schools this coming year will see an
average increase of just forty seven cents
per student come fall.
This past week, an effort by a small
number of lawmakers to get the entire
legislature back in town to deal with school
funding failed.
So instead of striking, like other states,
teachers here are suing and taking their case
to voters.
“Forty-seven cents is not enough to
maintain or do anything in your schools”
says McCall.
And candidates who promise and don’t
deliver, like Kirk in 1968, might remember
he was a one term Governor.
The teachers are also in court, challenging
school funding levels, legislation
giving charters more tax dollars, and when
a new education bill takes effect in July, they
promise another suit to stop giveaways to for
profit schools.