Fiscal Rangers

Over 3800 UAC's (illegal alien kids) are now in Florida in just 7 months & Will Cost $40+million to Educate

In the seven month period since Jan. 1, 2014, Florida has received 3809 illegal alien children that were relocated by a Federal agency, the Administration for Children and Families. The details are here, including tables for other states, and the top 10 recipient counties in Florida. Read more →

Common Core Update: Lee County, FL School Board votes 3 to 2 to opt out of FL State Standards (aka Common Core) testing

Yesterday evening the Lee County, FL School Board voted 3 to 2 to drop out of the Florida Education Standards (aka Common Core renamed) “assessments” (or exams) and develop their own. Read more →

FiscalRangers School Alert: Los Angeles Unified School System suspends contract for iPads due to "conflicts" and poor performance

Aug. 26, 2014 The Los Angeles Times reports questionable conflicts in iPad and Pearson publishing purchases at Los Angeles Unified School District (my mother taught there). http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-deasy-ipads-20140826-story.html "The suspension comes days after disclosures that the superintendent and his top deputy had especially close ties to executives of Apple, maker of the iPad, and Pearson, the company that is providing the curriculum on the devices. And an internal report that examined the technology effort showed major problems with the process and the implementation." "Last week, a draft report of a district technology committee, obtained by The Times, was strongly critical of the bidding process." Apparently there are questions about conflict of interest, including both Apple, and Pearson publishing, a well know monopoly provider of education products including software on the iPads. "In one email, from May 24, 2012, Aquino seems to strategize with higher-ups from Pearson on how to ensure that it got the job. "I believe we would have to make sure that your bid is the lowest one," wrote Aquino, who was an executive with a Pearson affiliate before joining L.A. Unified." (Talk about conflicts... rotating execs is a big red flag) I would hope there are no such... Read more →

APUSH Update - Recent articles on College Board's AP US History revisions by liberals

Tavares, FL August 27, 2014 by Vance Jochim at FiscalRangers.com I will not rehash the articles below, so here is a list of the most recent ones on liberalized AP US History revisions by the liberal College Board. "AP" or advanced placement high school courses and exams are defined by the non-profit, private College Board. By redefining the exams to reflect a liberal interpretation to downplay American Exceptionalism, they can bypass state Education Dept. curriculums by issuing a "framework" of topics covered by exams that are not balanced. To get high scores on AP exams to earn college credits, high schools teachers and students would have to follow and learn only the liberal APUSH revisions. NOTE: I also wrote an Aug. 19th article HERE in the national WatchDogWire.com news service about APUSH and how the Republican National Committee (RNC) approved a resolution to defund the College Board and delay roll out of the exams for a year, plus other conditions. HERE is the RNC webpage citing the resolution against the APUSH revisions. See also my expanding factsheet on APUSH HERE. The items below will be added to it. Recent APUSH References to August 26, 2014 from Vance Jochim The issue... Read more →

VOTE - Tomorrow - Here are our FiscalRangers.com Election Recommendations

Tavares, FL (Lake County, FL) Monday, August 25, 2014 Update Aug. 26, 9am: We have corrected 3 bloopers as noted below. If you haven't voted yet, below is our reminder and fiscally conservative recommendations for Lake County, FL (no cities). Forward this to anyone who you think could use the information. But first read this NOTE: DID you get your property tax TRIM notice this week and see how high the proposed tax is? The Lake County Board is having a workshop tomorrow (Tuesday) on the pending budget and proposed 18% tax hike. If you want to give them your opinion, call, write or go to the meeting and give public input. You will have to do that at the BEGINNING of the 10am meeting (not 9am) when public input is allowed. The workshop could be 1-3 hours later. This is a workshop, and not the TWO required public hearings which are the final votes on Sept. 9 and Sept 23rd at 5pm in the County Admin building. Plan to be at BOTH meetings. Here is where you can find a copy of the proposed budget Update: 4pm: We got this superb 5 page analysis of all the alternatives to... Read more →

Lake 100 Business Group Meets about County Board proposed 22+% Tax Hike

Tavares, FL August 20, 2014 I was not at today's meeting, but all five County Commissioners were invited to a forum to discuss their planned “Jimmie Tax” (because Chairman Jimmie Conner sponsored it) tax increase of up to 18%. Add to that an increase in taxable valuations of 4.3% - thus the total tax increase on businesses, investment properties and non-homesteaded residences would be about 22% on AVERAGE. South County will see higher increases of 26% or more due to higher valuations and some other areas may see less than 22 % valuations. Only TWO of the County Commissioners showed up at the event, Leslie Campione who voted against the increase, and Tim Sullivan who voted FOR the tentative increase. County Board Chair Jimmie Conner, and Board members Welton Cadwell and Sean Parks failed to show up. The Lake 100 is a business group of mostly CEO’s of larger businesses in Lake County and were all against the tax increase. Campione has a plan where taxes would not be raised and for the County “to live within their means”, but the other Board members have only had two budget workshops and have ignored her ideas. Read this Orlando Sentinel article... Read more →

Florida House Dist. 31 Race Candidates and Our Recommendations

Our overview and recommendations of 2014 election candidates for Florida House District 31 which includes Apopka, Eustis, Mt. Dora and Tavares in Lake County and Orange County, Florida. Candidates include Belita Grassel, Jennifer Sullivan, Joseph Stephens, Randy Glisson and Terri Seefeldt. Article also includes links to videos of candidate forums and other news media articles. Read more →

Common Core Update: Now there is a YouTube page with nothing but Videos exposing Dangers of Common Core

https://www.facebook.com/StopCommonCoreVideos You can also go to MashPedia.com and enter "Common Core" to get a huge album of anti-Common core videos Unfortunately, neither are in order of importance or issues. Read more →

Tod Howard, Bill Mathias & Nancy Muenzmay win Leesburg, FL Elections HobNob Straw Poll

A Lake County, FL area elections HobNob was held Aug. 14, 2014 in Leesburg, FL and here are the results and links to pictures. Read more →

2013 TV Report that Obamacare may reduce need for North Lake County Hospital District tax

Tavares, FL Posted August 6, 2014 This is a 2013 Channel 9 TV report on the possibility that the North Lake County Hospital District millage tax may not be needed as Obamacare picks up care for many uninsured patients. I am posting this here for the record. As far as I know, the NLCHD Board has not launched any investigation in 2014 into the further need for the District's 1 mill tax due to Obamacare coverages. http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/affordable-care-act-could-ax-lake-county-hospital-/nbLJR/ However, the issue may be moot because a referendum for voters to approve or dis-approve to continue the 1 mill tax will be on a 2015 or 2016 referendum ballot. Vance Jochim Read more →