Fiscal Rangers

Florida Online Virtual Schools Outscore AP Tests from Regular Schools & Cost $2159 Less

Tavares, FL - JN. 23, 2012- SunshineStateNews.com reports that Florida's virtual online school for K-12 students is getting higher scores on AP (Advanced Placement) tests than regular schools, AND it costs $2159 less than regular schools to do so. Read and understand... competition once again hits the union dominated teacher ranks, and shows how well routine tasks can be implemented. We do know that Florida recently mandated that online classes be given also by local school districts, which means the unions may dominate that new skills area and be a reason for increased costs. However, we do understand that the online courses may be designed to enable passing tests, but perhaps not on how to think. In other words, will we just be getting robots that are good at test taking? Are online learning software programs also available to teach critical thinking and other non-rote learning skills? I think so, but that is another story. http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/spending-2159-less-student-online-school-outscores-florida-campuses-ap-exams?utm_source=constantcontact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=012312 If you like this, and want to keep up with news on Lake County, FL local government issues, join our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/FiscalRangers vj Read more →

Phyllis Schlafly on the "Mischief of Agenda 21"

This EagleForum,org article is a good overview of the United Nations' Agenda 21 Plan to move to a One World Order and implement socialism in the US and other countries. If you search on "Agenda 21" on their site you will find other articles also. From: http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2011/dec11/psrdec11.html The Mischief of Agenda 21 The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa opening on November 28, called COP-17, is one of a series of UN meetings working toward a specific goal. Advertising for this meeting featured a long list of invited celebrities including Angelina Jolie, U2's Bono, Ted Turner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg. The UN goal is to move the United States into global government by environmental regulations and a vast network of taxes. These newly-imposed taxes will give the UN a tremendous stream of money in addition to U.S. dues and congressional appropriations. The plan for taxes was launched at the 1992 UN meeting in Rio de Janeiro, known as the Earth Summit, where Conference Secretary General Maurice Strong produced a 300-page document with 40 proposals called Agenda 21. The tax-seeking route then proceeded through UN meetings in Cancun in 2010, in Durban this November, and... Read more →

Another Florida Special "District" Incurs Excessive Costs Without Oversight

Jan. 16, 2012 - A Mosquito "Control District" in Lee County, FL with a $22-million budget has run up such high expenses that a Florida Representative has filed a bill to abolish the district and shift its responsibilities to the Lee County government. A retired executive director is the 11th highest paid retiree in the Florida State retiree system. He is collecting over $170,000 in retirement income, which is more than any Lake County staff earns working full time. Here is their website. The original article from SunshineStateNews.com is below. FiscalRangers.com has consistently reported how the state of Florida does not provide adequate business controls or spending guidelines for about 2000 special local government agencies in Florida, including water districts, hospital districts, county and constitutional officer agencies, CRA's ( and now here is a mosquito district that overspends all others in Florida. We have periodically reported fiscal fiascos in Lake County operations, mismanagement or questionable practices in local agencies like the North Lake County Hospital District, and also reported problems found in other Florida Districts, including voter fraud allowed by Election Supervisors, CRA's and hospital districts. However, this article doesn't provide much information indicating serious problems, other than one legislator... Read more →

Gov. Scott Issues Executive Order to "Examine" all 1600 Florida Special Districts

YAHOO!!!! We found today that Florida Gov. Scott has issued an Executive Order 12-10 "Review of Special Districts" which assigns his Office of Policy & Budget (OPB) to perform an “examination” of ALL 1600 Florida special districts. The Executive Order is HERE. FiscalRangers.com will publish another article later this week on just this Executive Order after I interview some people. HERE is the press release on this OPB assignment. The press release and the EO are similar to the earlier one establishing a Commission to Review Hospital Districts. Last year I sent that commission numerous emails and articles about oversight weaknesses in not only Hospital Districts but other Florida Districts. They just recently issued their final report of recommendations, including a number I agree with. As our readers know, FiscalRangers.com has published numerous articles on weaknesses and problems in the various types of special districts, including CRA’s, But, this is not a Commission to STUDY the issue, but a task order to the OPB to start a program to “Examine” ALL 1600 districts in Florida for performance, etc. The objectives are in the EO and shortened versions are in the press release. These are not the routine CPA type financial... Read more →

Controversial Lake County Water Level Settings for Lakes to Remain Stable for Now.

Jan. 15th, 2012 - Tavares, FL By Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com The water levels in Lake County Lakes Dora, Beauclaire, Harris, Eustis & Griffin should now cease dropping due to a new Florida State water district policy demanded by many Lake County residents, boaters and FiscalRangers.com readers at recent public hearings. The St. Johns River Water Management District Board ( "St. Johns District" ) is a Florida STATE agency which controls lake and river waters in about 15 Florida Counties including Lake County. They have the legal authority to control and set water flow between lakes. They held a Board meeting at their headquarters in Palatka, FL on January 10th and approved a revision of a previous controversial staff policy to shutoff water flows from the headwaters source of Lake Apopka to Lake Dora, Eustis, Harris & Griffin. That policy had been implemented in early December, and lake water levels in Lake County had dropped 3-6 inches in four weeks due to the policy. This was after a public hearing on January 5th in Howey-in-the-Hills was attended by 300-500 citizens supporting different alternatives to the shutoff policy. You can read a lot of earlier background details HERE in our previous blog... Read more →

Can Voter Fraud Take Place in Lake County? Examples from New Hampshire!

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 - Tavares, FL - Can voter fraud occur in Florida or here in Lake County? We don't have that answer YET, but the local "True The vote" coordinator for the North Lake County Tea Party sent us this article about how easy it is in New Hampshire. An undercover video team looked up a list of recently deceased but registered people and found they could get their voting ballots and NO ID was required in New Hampshire to verify their identity. Be sure to watch the video on the following link. http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6e056f38408ce5b5a62ccc857&id=df12af60d0&e=add9c1f9f7 Or, here is the video right on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/embed/9-uVhhIlPk0 xxxxxxxx New Hampshire Shows How Easy Vote Fraud Can Be. Is South Carolina Next? True the Vote strongly supports enacting voter ID laws in order to prevent vote fraud. If anyone ever questions the need for such measures, consider what just happened in New Hampshire. A new investigative video by Project Veritas has shown just how easy it is to cast an illegal ballot in The Granite State, a state that requires no identification to vote. Project Veritas, headed by filmographer James O'Keefe, sent its cameras to several primary polling places in New Hampshire armed... Read more →

Rick Riker on the DROP of Lake County School District High Schools Rank to a "C"

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 From Guest Writer Rick Riker, who attends most of the Board meetings and workshops of the Lake County School District On January 4th 2012 the Florida Department of Education unveiled their 2010-2011 High School grades. The grades are based 50% on FCAT and 50% on other components, ie. Graduation Rates and College Readiness. The letter grades the schools receive are much like the grades we all received in school, a C = Adequate or Average and an A or B = Better than average, of course we all know what D & F represent. (Editor's Note: Here are the new and prior High School Ratings taken from the official press release from the Lake County School District (link is at bottom of this article):) "The 2010-2011 grades for each high school are (and grades for the previous four school years): · East Ridge High School “B” (2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “D”) · Eustis High School “B” (2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “C”; 2006-07: “D”) · Leesburg High School “C” (2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “D”; 2006-07: “D”) · Mount Dora High School “D” (2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “C”) · South... Read more →

Final Report for Florida State Commission to Review Hospital Districts

Tallahassee, FL - Jan. 3, 2012 - In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott established a commission to review taxpayer funded Hospital Districts. After many meetings and interim reports, the final report was issued today, as described in the notice below from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The notice mentions that a version with links to pages will be distributed later this week, and when I receive it, I will post it on this page. Later this week I will post my comments, since some of the recommendations can affect the North Lake County Hospital District. vj ============================================================ The final report of the Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts is now available on the Commission website. The first link below goes to the main webpage for the Commission, and the second link goes directly to the report. Click on the main page at the link “Final Report”: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/fctfh.shtml . Jump straight to the report at this link: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/pdf/122911Meeting/FinalReportRF2.pdf This week we are preparing an edition of the report that has embedded web links in it. It should be available by the end of the week. Jeff Gregg, Executive Director Florida Commission on Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts Florida Agency... Read more →

Brief Overview of North Lake County Hospital District Reform Efforts

Jan 1, 2012 - Tavares, FL - Here is a brief "year end" summary from the Orlando Sentinel about Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill regarding the North Lake County Hospital District. vj http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-district-20120101,0,2244430.story Read more →