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“No Relief for Florida’s Children”

January 22, 2008 (Tallahassee) – Today, the citizen leaders of Children’s Campaign, Inc., a watchdog and advocacy organization, announced opposition to Amendment 1, to be decided at the polls in a statewide referendum on Tuesday, January 29.

While we appreciate that the backers of Amendment 1 recognize that too many Floridians are struggling, the potential impact of Amendment 1 on our children and families outweighs any benefit. Waiting for the recommendations of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission on a more comprehensive approach to solving the state’s tax and budget problems would be a wiser course.

The state budget is in a tailspin, with prospects of cutting up to $4-billion in 2008 alone. The current budget crisis already threatens children’s access to health care and services for abused children. High quality early learning is not available in the existing budget and further budget cuts will have Florida warehousing, not educating our youngest citizens. There are already long waiting lists for after-school care and a deepening public safety crisis within juvenile justice due to a widening budget gap many years in the making. Amendment 1 will create new holes in the last remaining safety net for children by removing the means for cities, counties, school boards and independent children’s taxing districts to fund these urgent needs in their communities. The modest tax relief projected at an average savings of $240 per home annually, is offset by the tens of millions of dollars or more in reduced funding of children’s services over the next five years.

Where are organizations that provide services and programs to children and families to turn for help?

Recent efforts by the amendment’s backers to “spare education” are more to pass the measure than to address the real impact on children and families. “The Florida Children’s Campaign is concerned also about the quality of life for our children in the 16-hours a day the child is not in a classroom,” said Roy Miller, President, spokesperson for the citizen leaders. “When that quality erodes, or crises go unaddressed, the child’s performance in the classroom suffers. What happens out of school affects what goes on in school.”

The citizen leaders of Children’s Campaign, Inc. agree with the strong editorial positions of the vast majority of Florida’s leading newspapers which recommend a NO vote on Amendment 1.

Florida TaxWatch, a private, non-profit, non-partisan research institute that is widely recognized as being the watchdog of citizens’ hard-earned tax dollars has produced a report that details the downfalls of Amendment 1. The report includes details that highlight the reasons why the proposed amendment is not long-term reform for the state of Florida. To read the full report click here .

To read editorials from the vast majority of Florida’s leading newspapers that recommend a vote against Amendment 1, click the the following:

Tallahassee Democrat , Miami Herald , Jacksonville Times-Union , Tampa Tribune ,

St. Petersburg Times, Panama City News Herald ,

Gainesville Sun , Lakeland Ledger , Sarasota Herald Tribune , Daytona Beach News Journal