Few issues attract more special-interest attention during Florida's annual legislative sessions than gambling legislation and the state budget.
The long-term prospects of House Speaker Richard Corcoran's signature initiative to attract proven charter school operators to the state could hinge on both.
His chamber is advancing a budget bill that would keep funding for Schools of Hope available for up to five years after the Legislature appropriates it. That would help ensure money for the program, which received $140 million in its first year, can fulfill its intended purpose.
Right now, the state has committed tens of millions of those dollars to 25 district-run public schools that are working to turn around their low performance.
But the charter school portion of Schools of Hope has just been codified in Department of Education rules that took effect this month. It could take charter school operators months, perhaps years, to survey the Florida landscape and open new schools.
The House's budget proposal would steer another $140 million to the program next year. Meanwhile, the Senate has advanced a competing budget proposal that would provide $88 million for the program and allow a larger number of district-run turnaround schools to qualify.
But no matter how lawmakers resolve their short-term spending plans, charter school operators would likely want some confidence that the startup loans and operating grants will be around for years to come.
That's where gambling legislation might come into play.
The Seminole compact
The House this week advanced legislation that would renew a compact that gives the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and its six casinos, exclusive franchise over certain gaming operations in the state.
The tribe would give the state a minimum of $3 billion over the first seven years, with more money coming in the years that followed.
Under the House's legislation, about a third of the state's cut would go to Schools of Hope. Another third would fund teacher bonuses. The rest would go to a fund that helps state universities attract top faculty — a possible overture to Senate President Joe Negron, who has championed the university system.
This has the potential to solve several problems at once. It would free up funding for other priorities. And it would create long-term funding solution for Schools of Hope.
That matters because lawmakers can’t normally tie their successors' hands by committing money from future state budgets in advance. Schools relying on Hope grants would have to return to Tallahassee each year to make sure the money keeps flowing.
If lawmakers locked in a dedicated funding source, that would create some additional certainty. Funding sources like that are hard to come by, but gambling revenue could be one of them.
Long odds
There’s a big caveat. Gambling bills get discussed nearly every year in Tallahassee. But they rarely get far.
That’s because the Seminole Tribe can align with social conservatives, as well as Disney and other groups wed to Florida's family-friendly image, to kill any measure they perceive as expanding gambling. But other interests, like race tracks and would-be casino operators, can fight legislation that doesn’t increase their take.
Corcoran seemed to acknowledge that reality to the media this week. He said he opposes expanding gambling and that his chamber’s proposal would do the opposite.
"I would love to be able to have it be a legacy, that for the people who come after me, they don't have to sit here and fight and defend Florida, and the great brand that we are, the family-friendly state that we are ... year in and year out," he said. But can a bill achieving that actually pass? He added: "I don't know."
Negron, for his part, noted to reporters that his chamber actually managed to pass a gambling bill last year. And he said there may be a different dynamic this year.
That's because opponents of gambling expansion have placed a measure on the November ballot that would require voters to approve future expansions by referendum.
Key lawmakers, including Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, Negron's designated successor and a point man in gaming negotiations, have said that if voters approved that constitutional amendment, the Legislature would lose negotiating leverage with the Seminoles.
Negron said that prospect "brings some sense of timeliness to our discussions" this year. Whether that's enough to break the logjam before the session's scheduled end on March 9 "remains to be seen," he said.
Charter school concerns
If gambling bills face long odds, the odds for a gambling bill that funds specific education programs may be longer still.
Gambling pits interest groups against each other across party lines. Democrats, often on the sidelines in a GOP-controlled capitol, can cast decisive votes.
So it was noteworthy that House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, objected to the Schools of Hope funding when she voted against the gaming bill in the Tourism and Gaming Control Subcommittee. She pointed out charter schools serve just one in ten of Florida's public school students.
"The inequity here is outrageous to me," she said. "That's why we see this bill moving forward, so that we can push a billion dollars toward the Schools of Hope — a billion dollars that goes ... away from our public schools."
The irony is that, contrary to popular belief, charter schools have yet to receive a dime through Schools of Hope. The funding approved so far has gone to district-run schools.
And if the Senate prevails with some of its budget proposals, an even larger share of the program's funding will support wraparound services and other programs in district-run turnaround schools. School districts might covet a dedicated funding source just as much as charters.
If there's one sure bet, it's that this year's legislative action will affirm the Tallahassee axiom that everything is connected. The future of a high-profile education initiative could depend, at least in part, on issues that seem unrelated.
