http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/8017390.htmChildren's issues plague governor
<snip>At the same time, critics continue to focus attention on the 2002 revelation that the state's massive child welfare agency, the Department of Children & Families, lost track of a 5-year-old girl, Rilya Wilson, who remains missing. Bush moved swiftly to clean house, but the agency is mired in new controversies over the infusion of religious doctrine by the governor's latest appointee to head the department.And Bush's Department of Education is under fire for financial abuses in a voucher program that thrived under the governor's education package that was passed soon after he took office.<snip>
The assault mirrors efforts by national Democrats to criticize President Bush for cutting taxes on the rich while neglecting the needs of the poor and working class.<snip>
Gov. Bush added more ammunition for those critics in Florida last month when he proposed a state budget that would again cut taxes on wealthy investors but would not significantly trim a waiting list of tens of thousands of poor children in need of healthcare…. The governor has also pushed to reduce waiting lists of the developmentally disabled for services, making the issue a hallmark of his election campaigns, although a new waiting list is considerably larger than the one Bush inherited.<snip>
Rilya Wilson, the girl the child welfare agency lost, is black. So was Paisley, the dead teenager. The voucher program and Bush's testing-based education agenda have been attacked by civil rights leaders as punishing black children.<snip>
Critics assail the governor for appointing agency chiefs who would toe the party line rather than fight for funding increases and other changes.<snip> .
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
