Fiscal Rangers

Common Core Alert: Highly experienced K-12 Math Tutor exposes mental "child abuse" caused by Common Core math curriculum and teaching practices.

A highly experienced K-12 math tutor, Cynthia Walker, with an engineering degree, just wrote an article "Un-Common, Not Core" for the American Thinker blasting Common Core (aka Florida Standards) for the damage it is doing to younger kids due to the structure of the math classes and curriculum. Every teacher, parent, grandparent should read this article because it is very specific how kids are beginning to hate math due to the excess content required of younger kids whose brains have not developed enough to cope with the curriculum. Walker writes: "I predict that if we continue implementing Common Core, average students will drop out of math as early as they are allowed. Even math-bright students will hate math. Tutoring companies will proliferate to serve wealthy families. The educational gap between rich and poor will widen. If we want to destroy math and science education in this country, keep Common Core. After reading something like this, you wonder how Lake County Administrators, teachers and the Board members would sanction this child abuse. http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/uncommon_not_core.html#ixzz3EfqqtGwf "The reform mathematicians who put together Common Core are ignoring cognitive development. My Common Core pre-algebra students are hurried through the arithmetic review and taught the coordinate system.... Read more →

Lake Countians - Your Property Tax will go up 13% Unless you tell Jimmy Conner, Sean Parks, Welton Cadwell & Tim Sullivan NO!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 23, the Lake County Board is taking their final vote to RAISE property taxes by 13%. We provide an overview, a copy of County Commissioner Leslie Campione's plan to avoid the tax hike, and info how you can provide feedback to the four Board members who supported the tax hike in last week's vote. This is the final vote, tomorrow at 5pm. Read more →

Results of Sept. 12-13, 2014 Florida Tea Party Network Conference in Clermont on Common Core & Other Subjects- videos, files

The Florida Tea Party Network (TTPN) held a two day conference in Clermont, FL in Lake County on Sept. 12-13, 2014. Subject covered included Common Core, National Security, and other conservative issues. About 125 people attended. This page will be updated with links to speaker videos, Powerpoints, an overview outline of speaker issues, etc. by Sunday, Sept. 21. Read more →

Your Lake County Property Taxes may go up 11-18% if you do not take action Tomorrow

Monday, Sept. 8, 2014 | Tavares, FL | by Vance Jochim If you live in Lake County, FL and own a house, commercial or investment property, your property taxes shown on your property "Trim" notice could go up 11-26% due to 1) appraisal values going up 4.2% or more and 2) the Lake County Board approving a budget and tax hike of 11-18% tomorrow afternoon at 5pm (Tuesday). I refer to the County tax increase as the "Jimmie Tax" due to encouragement for it by the Lake County Board Chair, Jimmie Conner. Or you could call it the Conner, Cadwell, Sullivan & Parks tax after the four commissioners who voted for it. (Tim Sullivan since recanted a bit and helped Leslie Campione reduce the pending tax to about 11%.) Below is an overview, our recommendations, and some links to reference documents. If you don't think the tax rate increases listed on the TRIM notice are acceptable, you need to write, call and visit tax authority public hearings to get your point across. There will be other groups who WANT the spending increased, including employees, interest groups and officials and they definitely are calling, writing and attending public hearings. Renters should... Read more →

Another Tax Spender Demand in the Daily Commercial

Once again, the Daily Commercial posted another front page article citing spending WANTS from local County fire officials while not talking to anyone with an alternative, or talking to taxpayers about the merits of adding more people to the staff. Read more →

Lake County resident Jennifer Sullivan Elected to Florida State House of Representatives

Tavares, FL Sept. 3, 2014 After local Lake County candidate Jennifer Sullivan, age 23, was elected to the Florida State House District 31, she was covered by many media. Latest articles are at the bottom of this list. Here is a link to one of my videos of one of the last FL District 31 debates on June 18, 2014 so you can see how she campaigned. I will add other links as I find them, but here is ABC TV's August 27 report. August 30 Orlando Sentinel - report by reporter Steve Hudak. And, HERE is a Sept. 1 report from Brighthouse Channel 13 in the Orlando area on how Jennifer won the campaign with less than half the contributions of Randy Glisson's $200,000. Sept. 3, 2014: Here is a CampusReform.org article and great picture about Jennifer's campaign. Sept. 4th, 2014: Here is the expected rant on Sept. 4th from Orlando Sentinel's Lauren Ritchie about the local Republican Party to whine after her favored RINO candidate did not win. Sept 5th - Fox Business News's Melissan Francis interviewed Jennifer HERE. Sept 6th - Orlando Sentinel has short "Champs vs Chumps" article and names Jennifer a "Champ" vj Read more →

Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione Explains why County Taxes Need not Increase

Lake County, FL Commissioner Leslie Campione just sent out her monthly newsletter which we inserted below. It focuses on the upcoming Sept. 9th 5pm meeting of the County Board where they may vote in the FIRST of TWO required public hearings to INCREASE the millage rate by 11% or more (it was 18% but that was reduced last week at a four hour meeting.). Read more →