TALAHASSEE, Fla. – What’s happened to Florida Gov. Rick Scott?

When Scott took office earlier this year, he wasted no time establishing himself as a bold education reformer by placing limits on teacher tenure, basing teacher pay on student achievement, and increasing the number of charter schools.

Scott deserves credit for getting those reforms across the finish line, but he seems to have lost his nerve for bold action in the current fight over school funding.

Instead of explaining to taxpayers how Florida’s public school budgets are being overrun by special interest labor unions, Scott is sounding like a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, telling lawmakers he will “not sign a budget … that does not significantly increase state funding for education.”

Scott says he wants to “invest” – a favorite union buzzword – a billion more dollars into public education, and would pay for it by cutting $2 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals.

State Democrats wasted little time in framing Scott’s proposal as “school books versus seniors.” That’s a pretty harsh but nonetheless accurate analysis.

Scott is buying into (and selling) the faulty premise that Florida’s public schools are being underfunded by taxpayers. Instead, the governor’s focus should be on how school employee unions divert millions of dollars away from classrooms and into expensive, goodie-filled labor contracts that benefit adult employees at the expense of students.

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How serious can the Democrats be about deficit reduction?

From the Associated press:

Amtrak and rail projects in 15 states are being awarded the $2 billion that Florida lost after the governor canceled plans for high-speed train service.

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