FSDB bill is pushed back

From: St. Augustine Record - St. Augustine,FL,USA - Apr 14, 2004

By MICHAEL REED
Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- A bill moving through the Florida Senate that would regulate the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind was pushed back Tuesday because lawmakers ran out of time.

The Committee on Government Oversight and Productivity rescheduled the bill for a future meeting. The committee meets again Monday but the agenda could not be confirmed Tuesday.

Senate Bill 2918 is sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and is similar to one sponsored by state Rep. Doug Wiles in the House of Representatives. Wiles, a Democrat and House minority leader, represents part of St. Augustine and St. Johns County. His bill is co-sponsored by state Rep. Don Davis, R-Jacksonville. Davis also represents parts of St. Johns County, including St. Augustine's North City where the school is located.

Wiles filed his bill in response to the results of a 2002 state audit of the school in which 13 violations of state law in business practices were cited by the Auditor General's office.

Both bills calls for greater cooperation between the school and the city of St. Augustine.

However, as of Tuesday, Atwater has proposed amendments to the Senate bill which he said are compromises worked out with school officials.

Among the proposed changes from Atwater's original bill are the elimination of the requirement that the school and the city make formal agreements on expansion. But it supports the two parties working together.

Atwater called the proposed change a natural process of give and take.

"We think these are good compromises," Atwater said.

So did Elmer Dillingham, president of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. He was in Tallahassee on Tuesday for the committee hearing. School officials have been working with the Senate to change the bill, and the proposed changes would be acceptable, he said.

"We can live with that," Dillingham said.

But Wiles said the proposed amendments wouldn't change anything.

"You still have a standoff between the parties," Wiles said.

Controversy erupted last year when the school purchased land in the adjacent Nelmar Terrace neighborhood for expansion.

Wiles said the city and the school's board of trustees are in a situation where it's difficult or impossible for them to agree on expansion. Inter-local agreements provide for a process that requires the two parties to work together, he said.

Without the inter-local agreement, the city and school could wind up in court, he said.

"It's like governments suing each other, and the only loser in that process is the taxpayer," Wiles said.

Nevertheless, Wiles said he is optimistic. The House and Senate versions will eventually have to be reconciled for a bill to pass.

Wiles' bill, meanwhile, is expected to be heard Friday by the House appropriations committee.

The Legislature is scheduled to end April 30.

© The St. Augustine Record