Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis spar over mayor's proposed corporate tax hike to fund schools

Gillum wants to boost funding by a billion dollars and end the school voucher program - DeSantis wants more choice and pledges to stand with students and parents.

James Call
Tallahassee Democrat
Democrat Andrew Gillum faces Republican Ron DeSantis for Florida's governor.

As Republican Ron DeSantis rolled out his long-awaited education platform Tuesday morning, his Democratic opponent for governor held a hastily called news conference to dismiss criticism of his plan to boost spending on public schools as a red herring.

The two agree more money should be spent on students but take different paths to deliver it to them. DeSantis pledged to spend 80 percent of the public school budget in the classroom, cut the bureaucracy and conduct an audit to find further savings. Mayor Andrew Gillum plans to increase the corporate income tax 2.25 percent to raise a billion new dollars for schools.

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A group of retired special needs teachers stood by Gillum’s side as he pushed back at criticism from business leaders that his plan would have a chilling effect on Florida’s economy. Associated Industries of Florida, a business advocacy group, and the Florida Chamber both said it would be bad for business.

Later, the Florida Republican Party chimed in, asserting Gillum's plan would hurt workers’ paychecks.

But in a voice rising in volume and emotion, Gillum said a corporate tax increase is needed because the Legislature has underfunded public education for 20 years. He said it’s time for everyone “to pay their fair share” to prepare the next generation of workers.

Andrew Gillum, Democratic candidate for governor, speaks at the Florida Press Association on Sept. 18, 2018.

“The Republicans have tried to convince us that being a cheap date puts us in a better position to grow our economy – check the facts. Florida’s economy is mostly a low wage state. We are good for cheap jobs that do nothing to help everyday working people to earn enough to live on,” said Gillum.

He added there was no jobs shortage in Florida. But there was a shortage of trained Florida workers to fill the high wage jobs created by hi-tech companies and biomedical firms.

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Gillum expects a boost of the corporate income tax from 5.5 percent to 7.75 percent would produce $1 billion – and said it would not be paid by 97 percent of corporations or individuals.  

He would use the money to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000, bring the rest of the faculty up to the national average for teacher pay, increase the early childhood learning budget and provide vocational and technical training for students opting not to pursue a higher academic degree after high school.

“If there is a place where we can find commonality it ought to be that we don’t want to be 40th out of 50th in quality of education,” said Gillum, adding that the corporate tax rate is higher in Georgia and Alabama, “but our 99 cent menus are the same.”

A loophole in the Gillum plan is that corporations could divert their tax bill to the state voucher and scholarship program for charter and private schools. Gillum said it's time to end the “Jeb-Bush era” program.

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Republicans quickly lashed into the comment as a sellout to unions, special interests and bureaucrats while highlighting the differences with the DeSantis proposal.

“Andrew Gillum wants to take away school choice opportunities from over 140,000 students while raising taxes on the backs of Floridians,” said Meredith Beatrice, spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida.

Charter schools and other non-traditional methods is a DeSantis priority. His plan includes support for more school options such as magnet schools, independently-managed charters and the use of technology to develop more options.

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Instead of across-the-board pay raise for teachers, he would develop a merit-based pay plan tied to classroom performance.

DeSantis said he would work with business and education leaders to ensure public schools meet the “needs of our students and economy.”

“It’s pretty sad, but not surprising, that Andrew Gillum wants to raise taxes by a billion dollars and take away scholarships,” said Stephen Lawson, DeSantis’ spokesman. “Ron DeSantis is going to stand with parents, teachers and students.”

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com.