As the deadline for Congress to avoid automatic austerity cuts March 1 looms, the White House has released a report detailing what the sequester would mean for Florida.
The outlook is brutal.
Among a laundry list of immediate cuts hitting military, ports, violence against women programs, public health, unemployment help, and more, the Obama administration's report says that $54.5 million will be slashed from Florida's education budget in 2013 alone.
Miami-Dade schools, for example, will have to make do with $20 million less this year, reports the Miami Herald, including $10.3 million from the funds that provide academic support for economically disadvantaged students. (More on local South Florida cuts here.)
Ouch. And that doesn't even count another $31.1 million lost for educating Sunshine State children with special needs, or that statewide Head Start programs, which provide early education to roughly 41,000 Florida kids, would be forced to stop serving more some 2,700 children. Another 1,600 children of working parents could lose child care, which may in turn leave moms and dads unable to keep their jobs.
Check out the deep cuts facing Florida across the spectrum -- and read more about the sequestration here.
