Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no explanation for zeroing out the $32 million in grants that were approved by state lawmakers.

Leaders of arts organizations in Florida, many of whom have worked in the state for decades, cannot remember a governor ever eliminating all of their grant funding. Even in the lean years of the Great Recession, at least a nominal amount — say, 5 percent of the recommended total — was approved.

Established arts organizations usually know better than to overly rely on nonrecurring state dollars subject to the discretion of politicians, said Michael Tomor, executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art. But to cut funding at a time when arts organizations are still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic sends a concerning message “that taxpayer dollars should not be used in support of arts and culture,” he added.

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave no explanation for zeroing out the arts grants. His office said in a statement that he made veto decisions “that are in the best interests of the State of Florida.”

In all, Mr. DeSantis vetoed nearly $950 million in proposed spending and proclaimed that the remaining $116.5 billion came in under the previous year’s budget.

Non-paywall link

  • Marthirial@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    15 days ago

    Florida and her meatball will be textbook evidence of a failed state swallowed by the Ocean and drowned by social conservatism terrorism.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      14 days ago

      failed state swallowed by the Ocean

      Not for another 40-150 years. By then local politics will have shifted substantially in the state, and future external fascists can claim Florida was destroyed for being too brown, woke, and gay.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        14 days ago

        Florida woke and brown? Half the state literally needs to take a nap, and the only brown is in their Depends.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          14 days ago

          Florida has one of the highest Latin and African American populations in the country. They just aren’t allowed to vote.

          And over half of the under 18 population of Florida is non-white. In another twenty years it will be majority minority.

          By the time to state is fully fucked by climate change, you’re going to see reactionaries in the Midwest having a field day saying the state failed because it turned into “Detroit” wink wink nudge nudge

    • uis@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      13 days ago

      This sounds like social regressivism rather than terrorism.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        14 days ago

        #1 for education

        This is the same Florida where the governor has already gotten rid of some AP courses and has suggested getting rid of them completely, right?

        https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/02/14/desantis-florida-ap-courses-college-board-feud/11250682002/

        This is also the same Florida that now teaches children that black people learned useful skills when they were slaves, right?

        https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-florida-standards-teach-black-people-benefited-slavery-taught-usef-rcna95418

      • Etterra@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        14 days ago

        Well he’s already axing that 1% in education by cutting all the arts funding. Science will probably be next.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          14 days ago

          OP is being dishonest about it too. It’s #1 for higher education in Florida, #10 for K-12. And I’m not sure where they get #10 from because it looks like it’s marginally above average based on their own numbers.

          In fact, as far as I can tell, their whole metric for #1 is because Florida college students end up in less debt than in other states. And that is great, don’t get me wrong, but not exactly the best education metric.

          It’s a bit silly that Florida ranks above states like Massachusetts and California when it comes to higher education. I don’t know that any Florida university comes close to Harvard or CalTech. Cheaper, sure. A better quality education? I doubt it.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              14 days ago

              I hadn’t even looked into it after seeing how bogus the education numbers were, but that also doesn’t shock me.

              It also occurred to me that their main metric for K-12 education was high school graduation rate and since there’s no national education standards, that can mean different things for different states. The other metric was a math score based on something I’ve never heard of, but it was not a test my 14-year-old here in Indiana has taken yet and it’s not the SATs.

      • solomon42069@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        14 days ago

        A short boost from tax breaks to convince rich people to move there doesn’t make the place financially successful or livable. It just looks better for a bit.

        • Gloomy@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          14 days ago

          The category is a bit wider than that, but yes, low taxes seem to contribute.

          https://www.richstatespoorstates.org/states/FL/

          Edit:

          Did a little digging after some flaws have been pointed out by @Silentia below. This source is not neutral.

          https://ballotpedia.org/ALEC_Rich_States,_Poor_States_Report

          The American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonpartisan organization of state legislators, releases an annual report entitled Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, which analyzes economic competitiveness in each state. The report is authored by Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore (chief economist at the Heritage Foundation), and Jonathan Williams, the director of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council

          The Heritage Foundation is a conservative 501©(3) nonprofit think tank founded in 1973 and based in Washington, D.C.[1] In 2013, The Atlantic described the organization as “the de facto policy arm of the congressional conservative caucus.”[

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            14 days ago

            I’m assuming that’s the Laffer behind “the Laffer curve,” AKA the unscientific bullshit “graph” he drew on a cocktail napkin that would essentially become the basis for supply-side economics AKA “trickle down.”

            That Laffer?

            Because ruining the US economy and setting us on a 3+ decade ride towards record (and frankly inhumane) income inequality once just wasn’t enough I guess.

            Fucking ghouls.