DeSantis cuts spending designed to please | Editorial

Some folks complain we go a little too hard on Gov. Ron DeSantis. But when he gets something right, we should say so. And three of his budget vetoes were on-point enough to deserve their own mention — particularly notable because with two of the cancellations, DeSantis sharply curbed his own power and with the third, he blocked a legislative move to punish local school districts for defying the governor’s own orders.

Here are the projects that, in old Florida parlance, “needed killin’:”

A new appellate court

When DeSantis axed a plan to spend $50 million on a new district court of appeal, he also cut himself off from an opportunity to appoint seven new judges to powerful and potentially long-lasting positions. But there was no good reason for this expenditure.

Florida’s five district courts of appeal —- which review cases from trial-level county and circuit courts, along with some appeals of state regulatory decisions — are not overburdened, and not likely to become so. In fact, the appellate courts’ caseload has been steadily dropping in recent years, even as Florida’s population was booming. From 2011 to 2020, the caseload across all five districts dropped by more than 8,000.

Appellate judges figured that one out on their own — when asked if Florida’s districts should be shifted around to create a sixth appellate court, only two (of 64 responses) said it was needed. Looking across all the judges and attorneys that answered the survey, close to 80% agreed Florida didn’t need a new court.

From the political side, we’re sure the chance to name conservative new judges appealed to the governor. But from a fiscal perspective, Floridians should not have been asked to pay for a new courthouse and the $10 million in operating funds the new court would need every year.

A $1 billion inflation ‘slush fund’

We suspect lawmakers created this pot of money with the intent of pleasing the governor, who has asserted an unprecedented level of control over how state money is spent and loves to hammer President Joe Biden as the culprit in current high inflation. The House even wanted to give it a cute name — the “Budgeting for Inflation that Drives Elevated Needs Fund” — you can figure out the acronym on that one.

The stated purpose of the fund was to help state agencies cover projects that had budgetary approval but were going to run short due to fast-rising costs. It would have allowed the governor to direct which projects get excess funds, though bump-ups of more than $1 million would have required approval from the Legislative Budget Commission, a joint House-Senate committee that reviews budget changes.

But the LBC has always had the authority to make these adjustments. And, as the governor pointed out, knowing there’s a handy pile of money to deal with rising costs might discourage state agencies from attempts to hold down costs. “Really, you shouldn’t have,” was the right response.

Denied treats for ‘naughty’ school districts

For key lawmakers, this veto must have felt a little like selecting a gift oh-so-carefully, consulting the planned recipient and getting their tentative approval  — and then having it returned with a big stomped footprint in the middle. Apparently, DeSantis figured out that it’s not fair to punish Florida schools, and individual students, for decisions made by district-level officials (though the governor still doesn’t seem moved by the fact that those decisions were made with the intention of keeping students and teachers alive).

It was a welcome about-face. As COVID progressed, Florida’s governor grew increasingly irritated at efforts to control COVID, starting with forced shutdowns — which DeSantis believed were bad for the state’s economy — but progressing to rules requiring mask usage or vaccination in most areas, including public schools. When a dozen school districts (including Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties) carried forward with mask mandates anyway, he issued a huffy press release a few weeks before school started in August that spouted scientifically dubious claims about mask usage and authorized the state Board of Education to withhold salaries from Broward and Alachua school board members. That initiative was quickly slapped down by a federal judge and after some sulking, the governor complied.

But the governor’s friends in the Legislature wanted to revive the notion and, after some back-and-forth, settled on a plan that would block the erring districts from receiving money under the state’s school recognition program. The penalties were hefty, especially since all the offending counties had since dropped their mask mandates: Schools in Broward County that met the criteria for recognition would have been collectively denied $32.4 million.

DeSantis seemed to like the plan; he even tweeted his support. He didn’t mention that in his veto message, but he did say — correctly — that it wasn’t fair to punish schools, teachers and students who worked hard during tough times.

Those weren’t the only vetos that merit praise. DeSantis killed $20 million to buy two new planes and hire pilots. In his veto message, DeSantis noted that opening up a state air pool to nearly 100 top executives could create problems, and he’s right — especially with elections coming up. He also shut down a massive new 4,500-bed prison that would have cost $640 million and a $195 million correctional hospital. There’s a legitimate argument that many Florida prisons are outdated and need to be replaced. But this state is long overdue for the kind of sweeping overhaul that has cut prison costs while improving programs for nonviolent offenders and reducing recidivism.

It took some chutzpah for DeSantis to cut programs that were clearly tailored to his specifications. But the cuts made sense, and “thanks but no thanks” was the right response.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

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