January 20, 2004


Today, Governor Jeb Bush released his 2004 budget. There is an increase of $4 million in the Workforce Education Fund for school districts.

The community college workforce money has been combined into the CCPF, (which is total budget for Community Colleges.) The Community Colleges received a total of $104 million increase to their entire budget. At this time, we are not able to tell how much of that will go into their workforce fund.

To view the governor’s budget on line, go to www.myflorida.com
1. In the middle of the page in blue look for the section Hot Topics.
2. In the 2nd column, under Hot Topics, click on Florida’s E-Budget.
3. Under the first paragraph at the top of this page with the title, "Fiscal Stewardship Guides Gov. Bush…"
4. In small print look for:
Read Full Story View Proposed Budget View Budget Details
Click on View Proposed Budget.
5. The Workforce Development Fund begins on page 25

Remember, there are three proposed budgets – the Governor’s, the House and the Senate. By the end of the session, both the House and the Senate must agree to one budget.

Today, I attended the Joint Committee on Education K-12 meeting at the Capital. Representative Dennis Baxley was the first speaker. He spoke very positively about Workforce Education. It went down hill after that. OPPAGA gave a presentation, no mention of adult education. Then Curtis Austin from Workforce Florida, Inc. spoke and school districts offering workforce programs were not mentioned.

Tonight, President George Bush will give the State of the Union Message. During the Committee meeting today, it was mentioned that President Bush would announce a new plan for funding additional workforce programs through the Department of Labor. You may want to tune in


Valorie Boyd, Executive Director

ACE of Florida, Inc.