The Florida Roundup - Tourist Development Tax, session ends without budget, soon-to-be Florida college grads look ahead and weekly news briefing

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about a proposal to shift tourism tax dollars towards property tax relief with Rolando Aedo of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (09:00). Then, we checked in with WUSF’s Douglas Soule for highlights from the legislative session that ends this week (15:02). Plus, we heard from Florida college students about their post-graduation career plans (26:36). And later, an update on the Brevard County teacher who was fired for using a student’s preferred name without parental approval (37:20) and we learned about a novel community court program in South Florida (43:28).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here. Tens of millions of people in Florida pay over one billion dollars a year in taxes and they do not vote. This money goes to help keep beaches clean. It goes to local arts groups and maintains convention centers. The tax is paid by tourists. It's usually four to six percent on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals like airbnbs. Officially it's called the Tourist Development Tax. Sometimes it's called the Hotel Bed Tax. Almost every county in the state has one and it is serious money. More than two billion dollars is expected to be collected this year. That's about 9090 per Floridian.

It's a lot of money. But local governments cannot spend that money on just anything. A lot of it goes to marketing and advertising to generate more tourists. Now this week, the Florida House approved a bill that would change all that. The way to provide some affordability relief within our control as legislators on July 1 of 2025. This is Wyman Duggan on Wednesday. He's a Republican representative from Duval County. He sponsored legislation that includes the biggest change to hotel bed taxes in Florida since they started back in the late 1970s. The bill would redirect these tourist tax dollars to the general

fund of county governments, but local governments would not be able to spend how they like. They would have to pass most of it on in the form of lower property taxes. This is something that we can do. It's designed to be an innovative approach to allow the local governments to provide property tax relief that flows through to our citizens who own property and pay taxes on it. This is the latest effort this spring by Florida Republicans to go after property taxes, one tax state lawmakers have very little control over.

Following the lead of Governor Ron DeSantis, legislative Republicans have been offering different strategies to lower property taxes as a way they argue to address housing affordability. What we have right now is affordability certainty, specifically difficulty of affordability, lack of affordability, certainty. We have that situation today. The governor has been pushing to get rid of property taxes altogether. Now that would take a constitutional amendment and 60% support by Florida voters.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Daniel Perez took a not-so-veiled swipe at the governor for not proposing any specifics. Saying property taxes are bad isn't the basis for developing a plan. property taxes are bad isn't the basis for developing a plan. Perez announced a select committee and tasked it with coming up with options on how to reduce or even get rid of property taxes. This House has consistently rallied against property taxes as a flawed revenue source and homes that property taxes specifically as being inconsistent with our belief in private property and the economic mobility that comes with homeownership. Perez wants the group of lawmakers to create proposals that may wind up on the ballot in November of 2026 for voters to decide. Now as that group gets to work, the House moved forward with the bill. Supporters say would provide tax

relief for property owners as soon as next year by using tourist development tax dollars to reduce property taxes. So is that a good way to spend tourist taxes here in the Sunshine State? How would less tax money for tourism impact one of the biggest industries here in Florida? Floridians pay tourist taxes too anytime we stay in a hotel in our home state so how do you think that money should be spent? You can call us now we'll be talking about this for the next 10 minutes or so so call now if you're interested 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Rolando Aedo is with us now the chief operating officer of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. Rolando, welcome to the program.

Nice to see you. It's great to see you too, Tom. Thanks for having me. How much tourist development tax is collected here in Miami-Dade County? It's approximately $60 million that's collected. We use approximately half of that for tourism marketing, and that's the model that's been in place for quite some time. that's the model that's been in place for quite some time.

Where does the other $30 million go? We receive the RL location from the county. The county collects it on behalf of the hotels that pay. Again, I wanted to emphasize the vast majority of these tourism development taxes are paid by tourists. Yes, you and I, when we stay away for the weekend at whatever hotels we do we we do pay that as well So they collect it and

The balance of that goes primarily to fund a lot of the arts and culture and the quality of life benefits that we as residents Are able to experience so more than 700 cultural grants And we're proud to say that tourists contribute to Miami-Dade County's resident quality of life. And by the way, the tourism development tax is just one of the taxes that they pay, because of course they're paying all sorts of other taxes as well. Oh, sure. All the sales taxes, food and beverage taxes and whatnot. But it's that tourist development tax that's in focus for House Republicans right now, where they want to redirect 75

percent of the taxes collected to property tax relief. The $30 million that's spent on marketing and promotion for tourism, what's the return on that investment? That $30 million turns into what in Dade County? So for every $1, and we've spent a lot of time looking at this, for every $1 that we spend, we are generating $63 in economic impact. By the way, on an annual basis, we are able to attract approximately 27 million visitors, generating upwards of $30 billion in economic impact.

If you didn't have that $30 million, or if that $30 million turned into, say, five, what would that mean? So it starts with recognizing the power of tourism for Miami-Dade County, because ultimately, we are responsible for the marketing of it. Tourism is the bedrock of our economy and so many other industries. So while, you know, that diminution of tourism marketing funds, the impact would not be felt immediately.

There have been other places that have done what is being proposed and have seen a diminution of tourists because of lack of tourism marketing funds, which means less taxes. But do they have our sunshine, our sand? Do they have the fun and frivolity that Florida is known for? Not just in Dade County, but of course,

the 66 other counties. Well, as you point out, and this is the Sunshine Economy Show, so it's very apropos. And Miami is a global brand. So there are many great warm weather, great beach destinations, so we are competing on a daily basis.

And that's why the reinvestment of taxes that tourists are paying into continue to make the tourism market grow and be competitive is critically important. Why should those tourist taxes not be directed for general revenue use by the county in which they're spent, as opposed to be earmarked to generate more tourist taxes. Well, again, I would submit the latter because you're exactly right. By continuing to invest tourism development taxes, which again are paid by visitors, it generates a bevy of other taxes which then go into local and state coffers.

So by undermining tourism marketing and ultimately less tourism, we're actually going a little bit backwards in generating revenue for local coffers. And property taxes, we have a savings of approximately $2,200 per household that is directly attributed to tourism. So we start cutting back on that tourism marketing and by extension tourism, we're actually cutting into the savings that we're currently enjoying. Explain the finances of that, Rolando. I'm not sure I... So if the tourist doesn't come to Miami-Dade and spend the bed tax,

you're saying that would equate to local residents having to cough up more money? That's exactly right. So the economic impact and all the taxes that are generated by the tourists generate- So not just the tourist development tax, but all the other taxes. Exactly. Food and beverage, gas taxes, everything. I see. Absolutely.

But bear in mind that the tourism development tax is kind of like the seed corn for all the other taxes. So when you look at those collectively, each household is in fact saving $2,200. So any undermining of that effort is actually going to end up costing our household on a net basis. So the proposal that passed out of the House this week is to steer the tourist development taxes to most of those dollars to property tax relief. Wouldn't that result in greater consumer spending because that would mean more pockets, more

dollars in the pocket of homeowners? Based on the numbers that we've looked at, for Miami-Dade County households, that would be approximately a $60 savings. And again, on the other side of the ledger, you have $2,200 in savings based on the impact that tourists are generating for our community. So we would say that the math just isn't there. We are speaking about the effort to redirect tourist development taxes in the state of Florida. Hotel bed taxes is what

maybe you know them as. Rolando Aedo is with us, the chief operant officer of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. I think 64 counties in Florida collect these tourist taxes, and the state house has passed a piece of legislation that would redirect most of those dollars to property tax relief in your county. 305-995-1800. John has been listening in in Jacksonville on line 2. John, go ahead. You are on the radio. Hi, thanks for having my call. I'm a filmmaker in the state of Florida and one of the things that I've been thinking about with a vast amount of people is how to potentially bring film by making back to the state and

year after year the Legislation goes in throws up a bill to try to refund filming in the state and it fails Yeah, and that's because it's looked at as something anything from you know corporate welfare, which we do plenty of elsewhere and as anything from corporate welfare, which we do plenty of elsewhere. And so one of my ideas about this bed tax has been for a long time, instead of building another stadium somewhere, or continue to build your stadiums. But if some of that money could be diverted

into a growth fund that is thereby also set up as a seed money, it could be a billion dollars and never scratch the surface of what comes in from bed tax. And then private investors, other corporations, filmmaking entities could invest in that fund as well. And then what happens is people come back to Florida and make films and guess what? More bed tax. Yeah, yeah. John, you're a rare breed being a filmmaker here in Florida and good luck to you. I'm glad that you're listening and thanks for the call here. We've got an email from Orlando from Chase who says, I work in the tourism industry in Orlando, live amongst the attractions. I really feel that tourism dollars should be going back into tourism. We have a massive need for mass transportation in central Florida and given that a lot of

that is caused by tourism, those dollars should be earmarked towards helping mitigate the problems that tourism can create. Orlando, you hear from Chase in Orlando, you heard from John in Jacksonville. They'd like some of those tourism dollars earmarked for some special purposes as well. So speaking for Miami-Dade County, and I want to give a lot of credit to Miami-Dade County, they have established a high impact film fund. So they recognize the power of film and they're making that investments to attract filmmakers to Miami-Dade County.

But is there enough of these dollars to go around? I mean, you hear John wanting some seed money to attract production. You heard Chase wanting some of it to go to mass transit, for instance. Well, in the case of mass transit, and again, I know we're talking about tourism development tax, but visitors pay almost a third of all the sales taxes throughout the state in Miami Dade County. And as we know, in Miami Dade County, we have an extra 1% that is allocated 50% towards transportation and 50% to our public health system. So visitors and tourists-

But that's not necessarily just a tourist tax. That's not the hotel tax. But it's 35% of the sales tax. So I would say that visitors are paying their way. They are contributing and supporting mass transit in Miami-Dade County, as well as our public health system. David's listening in St. Petersburg with an interesting point.

David, go ahead. You're on the radio. Yeah, listen, thanks for having me. I think, first of all, he is spot on with what this is. This is a bad faith effort by lawmakers. It happens every few years to come after the tourist development tax. The tourist development tax is a self-imposed tax that the hospitality industry decided to put upon itself to fund and support its own operation.

It was never meant for a replacement for property tax for locals. And secondly, it's really killing the golden goose if you go after this because tourists come to this state and just dump money here and they go away, they come back, they dump money. So this is a regular occurrence of the Florida state lawmakers to come after this fund and once people understand what it is it usually puts this fire out. David, I appreciate the thoughts there from St. Pete. Rolando, as we mentioned, even Florida residents pay this tourist tax. Might there be a carve out for Florida residents when the, you know, when folks come visit the Keys or come visit Miami-Dade

County from Orlando or David comes from St. Pete into Miami Beach. I know there's been some discussion about that in the past. I will say that on a consistent basis, our local hotels offer special discounts for residents, so that is one way that we're giving back, that they're giving back and recognizing that the support of the local community is important. And I did wanna mention that we talk about taxes,

but taxes, let's talk about jobs as well. that, you know, we talk about taxes, but taxes, let's talk about jobs as well. You know, 200,000 jobs in Miami-Dade County are supported by tourism. It's 10% of the GDP. So yes, while we're looking at, so anything that we do that potentially undermines tourism has multiple implications, not just, you know, way, way beyond the tax. Rolando Aedo, the Chief Operating Officer of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. Rolando, thanks so much.

Truly appreciate being here. Thank you so much, Tom. Yeah, great to have you. We have Brenda in Walton County. Brenda, you get the last word on this. Thanks for holding on. You're on the radio. Oh, thank you so much.

I'm a Florida native, and I currently live in Walton County, as you mentioned. I feel that our community's infrastructure struggles to keep up with the influx of tourists during spring break and over the summer. And I think that the word is out. I think we can pull back on some of the marketing that we do because we have a lot of repeat visitors. And I think that as a floor resident and a homeowner, I would love to see a discount or, you know,

for the property tax to be taken away. That would be awesome. Yeah. Brenda, appreciate that word there from Walton County. Have a terrific day and always great to hear from you and your voice in our conversation here on the Roundup. Now it is time to talk about the state government as on this Friday here we are at the end of the regular legislative session.

Douglas Soll is with us who is our state government reporter for the Your Florida Project. Douglas, welcome back to the program. Thanks for having me. Let's start with this effort to change the tourist development tax. It's part of a larger tax cut package approved by the House. What's the state of this tax cut negotiation between the two chambers, the House and the Senate? You know, when you talk about the state of the overall tax cut negotiations, I'll say

that a lot of people were asking that question as well. The answer, unfortunately, is not known. I'm wondering if it's even known by legislative leadership at the current moment. Obviously, the budget itself won't be complete until after the scheduled end of session today. Yeah. Which means a special session. So, what is the status of budget talks? Are they ongoing? Yeah. So, it's also important to point out that there's some debate of whether there could be also just a session extension. That's a kind of a procedurally complex thing, but we do know that they have to come back in some form and that we also know that lawmakers won't be returning to Tallahassee next week.

As we speak, legislative leadership doesn't even have a calendar set though on how they're going to move forward. Okay. So let's put process aside here and talk about the policy. What are the sticking points? Why haven't 60 days been enough to get to a spending plan together? Well, first off, the House has a smaller budget proposal than the Senate, and it's even accused the opposing chamber of trying to overspend in its proposal. The House also wants a permanent

across-the-board sales tax reduction. The Senate is cautious about that. It's worried about being able to pay for needed services down the line and wants more targeted sales tax cuts. Yeah, and so what about areas of agreement? Well, in terms of the agreements specifically related to tax cuts, they're both on the same side on wanting to look at sales taxes and at the current session, not what did Governor Ron DeSantis wanted,

which was a one-time property tax debate going out to Floridians by the end of the year. Yeah. And so speaking of, where is the governor in this budget debate? He has been very present in years past, but what about this session? Well, you know, Governor Ron DeSantis has been notably publicly feuding with the House about a number of things, including the across-the-board sales tax cut. His case is that would also benefit people from out of the state like

tourists, which is why he is promoting the one-time property tax rebate. Neither chamber has actually really considered that. So how he will feel about the ultimate product of the negotiations between the House and the Senate is yet to be known because we don't know what the product of those negotiations will be yet. From a practical matter, there's still plenty of time left on the clock. The budget doesn't start until July 1st, and here we are just in the first few days of May. So there's plenty of road ahead, which will help legislators maybe focus in as we get ever so closer to July 1st and them having to actually have a spending blueprint. Let me ask you, Douglas, though. Leaders entered this law writing session where they were very explicit, calling for efficiency,

calling for a real focus on government spending. Have they kept true to that? You know, the House did look really hard at the spinning of the DeSantis administration. That's one of the things that has contributed to the big rift between that chamber and Governor Santos. And I'll say overall, that question is a little hard to answer at the current moment, since the budget itself enshrines government spending, however much it is, and that is not done yet. So more on that later. We will know a lot more, maybe not even this week, but maybe not even this month, but hopefully soon. Yes, indeed. All right, Douglas, stick with us. We got a lot more to talk about because lawmakers did have 60 days to get some business

done. And in fact, they did get some business done. They also punted on a few big issues. And so we'll talk about what was done and what was not done in your name by your legislators, as we will continue with Douglas Soll, our state government reporter who is with us from Tallahassee here on the Florida Roundup. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. Well, Florida lawmakers filed almost 2000 pieces of legislation for its 60-day regular session. 215 of those had been passed by midday Thursday. Friday is the end of the session. As we're live on this Friday, today is the last day of that regular session. Lawmakers will have to return to Tallahassee in the weeks ahead to finalize a budget. When they started this term 60 days ago, home insurance was

the number one issue mentioned by House Speaker Daniel Perez in his opening day speech. We are the House of Representatives. We are the voice of the people. We must speak for them on the issues that matter. Property insurance matters to the people of Florida. It is the number one issue for Lisa Ferguson in Orlando. Her home insurance on her single family home has almost doubled in just about four years. I believe in funding our public services and so don't touch my property taxes. They're not the issue. I want you to go to the source of the issue, which are these insurance companies that have holding companies that have incredible profits. State government Douglas Saul is still with us from Tallahassee.

So Douglas, any legislative action on home insurance? I'm going to be honest, nothing too notable. This is incredibly surprising because as you identified, the Senate president and the House speaker used very strong words about holding insurance companies accountable. Some contacts, they were mad that they were not made aware of the state report showing insurance companies allegedly transferred billions of dollars to affiliate companies at the same time they claimed financial losses. That's an important point because a couple years ago, you might recall that lawmakers passed legislation aimed at helping insurance companies, such as by reducing litigation.

But you know, especially beginning this session, beyond a couple of hearings looking into that situation, the insurance focus really dwindled very quickly. It did. Another big housing issue for lawmakers has been condominium reforms laws passed after the surfside collapse, causing some trouble in Florida's condominium market. The pace of condo sales has been falling along with median prices. Sandra Victorova reports now from our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. There are plenty of selling points to carry Irving's North Fort Myers condo.

A relaxing pool right next to the Caloosahatchee and Irving's North Fort Myers condo. A relaxing pool right next to the Clousahatchee and just minutes from downtown Fort Myers. We also have dolphins that come up and down this river along the boardwalk. But Irving knows finding a buyer won't be easy. It's been on the market since last year. He reluctantly dropped the price by 15 grand to $195,000. The market's just tough here and the one reason they're not selling is they haven't done a lot of repairs on the outside. His condo association hasn't completed repairs left by Hurricane Ian. If you walk around you'll see that for two and a half years.

So it's a terrible selling point to come in here and see this. And I'm not happy at all about it. Irving says he's selling because his friends have left. And he wants more time with grandkids up north. While hurricanes don't factor in his decision, he suspects Southwest Florida's recent storms will make it harder to find a buyer. Right now, Florida doesn't look like it's a very good option.

Silvana Fissell in Fort Myers says she's selling because higher insurance rates and higher condo fees are hard to keep up with. Eight years ago, she paid about $400 in condo fees here. That amount has more than doubled and she could face even higher fees at her other condo. I'm afraid that they will also go too close to the thousand. Fissell says her fees went up because her association wasn't collecting enough reserves

as required by Florida's new condo rules. She regrets not putting her condos on the market earlier when prices were higher and she wasn't competing with other condo units for sale in her own neighborhood. So I wish we could do that in that time, but yeah, now it's too late. According to Zillow, condo inventory in Naples is up 25% compared to five years ago. Cape Coral's inventory is up 51% and Punta Gorda increased by 119%. That's more than 1,000 condo units on the market in the Punta Gorda metro area. Kara Ng, a senior economist with Zillowow says more inventory is good news for home hunters.

Condo prices are falling in southwest Florida, but part of the fall in prices is the recalibration of supply and demand. During the pandemic, remote work had a desire for sunshine drove mass migration to Florida. Builders stepped in to take advantage of the surge in demand band and this helped increase the number of homes available for sale. This strong building activity contributed to making many metros within Florida rank as some of the strongest buyers markets within the US. Fissell wishes the cost of holding onto her investment properties wasn't so tough so she could follow through with plans to retire here. Right now I need to

probably look for someplace else. Irving says he'll be back to Southwest Florida but more likely as a renter. He's looking on the bright side because he doesn't need to sell quickly. He has time to find the right buyer. It is a good starter home for a family, a small family. I'm Sandra Victorova. State government reporter Douglas Soll is still with us from Tallahassee. So Douglas, that's the state of the condominium market. It is kind of messy out there, certainly in southwest Florida. This week, the House and Senate agreed to a package of reforms of those reforms.

So what are the big changes for condo owners? Yeah, there's a lot. It's a nearly 200 page bill. Those changes include increased accountability and transparency on condo owners? Yeah, there's a lot. It's a nearly 200-page bill. Those changes include increased accountability and transparency on condo associations and their leaderships. It also notably allows those associations to invest reserve money, so less money is taken out of owners' pockets. One other big thing I want to mention is it lets associations pause or minimize funding their reserves for two years after getting an inspection.

That's also a cost saving measure. It allows them to focus spending on needed repairs as opposed to maintaining the fund. So months ago, the governor was calling for a special session to reform the condominium reforms. Legislative leaders resisted that. They said they'll deal with it in special session. The House and Senate passed two very different bills, but they came together in conference this week and they approved a compromise. Have we heard from the governor's office? Not yet.

That being said, I mean, it's not usually typical that the governor immediately signs or vetoes a bill once it comes to him. That being said, as you identified, he wanted lawmakers to convene in a special session before the regular session to get this done. So I know there's an anticipation in the Capitol that it'll be signed. I don't want to say that's definitive because nothing in the state government is usually definitive. Indeed not. And certainly not in the last hours of the regular session. And of course, the budget session still to come come a lot of TBA business here from Tallahassee during this session and Douglas Soll has been watching it all as our state government reporter for the your Florida project Douglas always a

pleasure thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Well it is cap and gown season here in the Sunshine State. The college class of 2025 is entering a difficult job market with lower hiring in the federal workforce in an awfully crowded private sector. Now, are you a senior in college looking to start your career? Love to know what your plans are. You can send us a note right now, radio at thefloortoroundup.org. Maybe you're a parent, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin with a college student nearing graduation. Call us 305-995-1800. College graduates this spring are greeted with this assessment of the job market, quote, the labor market for recent college graduates deteriorated noticeably. That is

from a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York deteriorated noticeably. In the first quarter, unemployment rate for recent college grads was its highest level since 2021 when the economy was still trying to recover from the pandemic. And about two out of every five recent college graduates are considered underemployed. That means they're working at a job that usually does not require a college degree. Andy Trinh is one of the new Florida college graduates hitting the job market. I'm Andy Trinh and I go to New College of Florida. I am getting a degree in English and Computer Science.

The kinds of fields I'm sort of interested in, software development, IT work, either technical writing and maybe journalism, but that would be if the tech field is still kind of fluctuating as much. I've been applying to a lot of like junior software development internships, a lot of um, hold on, I'm looking at my list right now. And so maybe I've done 100 overall because I only started tracking it recently. I actually am grateful when I get the rejection emails because I at least know what's going on. You know, when you cast a wide net you're hoping you at least catch one thing and that's

talking to other people. It's kind of scary not seeing as you know around me catching those jobs. I don't think I've gotten the best gauge on how like worried they are but I think I've definitely been hearing we're all having really similar issues where it's oh like I've applied to like 70 jobs over the weekend and maybe I get one What like one interview back it can be kind of? demoralizing in certain ways The AI bubble is definitely I don't really know how that's going to fully affect The workforce as I'm going to enter the field how that's going to fully affect the workforce as I'm going to enter the field, but I think it's

just a lot of uncertainty, especially with all the layoffs and hirings that just it almost feels like a seesaw. I think there's a lot of uncertainty. So I'm just sort of unsure as to New grads ability like particularly from my cohort new grads ability like particularly from my cohort to be able to get good footholds unless you know you already have the connections that got you like good internships during your time at college. It's just very competitive right now. live right now. There's so many people going into the tech field because you know, obviously it's booming. I've kind of just been applying to anywhere, hopefully, with just like anything that I think will possibly

land me a job. But, you know, I'm hoping to gain employment out of Florida just because I think living in Florida and being able to afford the housing market here is kind of not something I want to try dealing with. Andy Trent, a new graduate from New College in Sarasota, looking for his first full-time professional job, just one of the thousands of new graduates here in the state of Florida

entering the job market. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rhonda from your Florida Public Radio station. MJ Pennell is a recent college graduate. She earned a biology degree from Florida Atlantic University two years ago and she went to work with the National Civilian Community Corps or CCC. It's also known as AmeriCorps. She volunteered to help repair homes. And that's exactly what she was doing in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans when her boss got a call to join an emergency Zoom meeting. Half an hour later, he came down, told us to drop our tools and leave the work

site. AmeriCorps and CCC C had been cut by the Trump administration. The next day, the team was sent home. So she wants to work in environmental public interest law, and she had made the decision to delay applying for law school in order to get some real-world work experience. And I've been thrown abruptly back into the job search. Part of me is tempted now to cut my losses and apply for next year as soon as I can. Another part of me wonders if I should invest the time and money into law school right now at all,

knowing what the environmental landscape looks like and knowing what the current struggles are in higher education. Some law schools have reported a huge surge in applications as some students are looking at a bit of an unstable job market and deciding to go to law school as opposed to go straight into the job market. Shocked and adrift is how MJ Pennell describes herself two years after graduating from FAU with her biology degree.

I know what needs to be done. I was out there doing it. And now I'm back to typing my resume into job sites and staring at an empty email inbox But I will keep trying Because I want to help people and I intend to put myself in a position to do so It certainly is a much different kind of job market today than even just a few months ago Let alone a few years ago here in the state of Florida as well as nationwide Madeline Probst has yet another year to worry about her own job search. She's a rising senior at Florida state in Tallahassee.

She's majoring in political science. And even though she has still another year left for her undergraduate degree, her job hopes have been forced to change already. I had planned on going into the federal workforce in order to dedicate my life to public service. However, with different federal cuts with funding, different cuts to the federal workforce, that doesn't really seem like a possibility. She's considering delaying her undergraduate graduation, maybe thinking about adding a major and continuing in school, hoping that the government job sector settles down. Now we did see the latest monthly national jobs report on this Friday, and private employers continue hiring at a decent clip.

Not a terrific clip, but certainly a decent clip. Over 170,000 jobs added in the United States. And the unemployment rate held steady nationwide. The unemployment rate in Florida is below the national number. Michael Fussella is also a rising senior, so he's got one more year left on his undergraduate degree. He's at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, majoring in finance. He sees today's job market as unstable and knows of people graduating this year who are having trouble finding work that pays well and finding work that they enjoy. What's concerning is because we get this piece of paper at the end of the day to find a job

post-graduation so we can support ourselves and hopefully build a family and live the American dream one day. Yeah. College graduates are entering an economy where affordability is a key concern, certainly not only here in the state of Florida, but nationwide, but we have some peculiarities here in Florida. Yes, we already been talking about the insurance affordability issue. We've been talking about property taxes already this hour and certainly their cause on a household budget and just the cost of housing in Florida. We are certainly seeing some movement in home prices and single

family home prices continue to rise, although at a slower clip than just a few years ago. But it does put that American dream just out of reach perhaps for some new college graduates looking to build up their nest egg. Oliver Peralta has a job waiting for him after he walks the stage at the University of Florida this spring. But that job is not here in the Sunshine State. After I graduate, I'm going into the technology field. I'll be working as a software engineer in San Jose, California. Before I went searching for a job,

I was kind of concerned because it was pretty tough to get a job in the first place. He got that job. He, in part part has an internship to thank for it. That internship he had as an undergraduate led to the full-time job that he is now accepting in San Jose, California. Yeah, so it's across the country in the Golden State of California, not here in the Sunshine State, but still he is not giving up on calling Florida home again. Someday.

I would have liked to stay in Florida because that's where my family is and it's a great state but the opportunity I got is in San Jose so maybe after a couple of years of working there I would hopefully move over to a different office, maybe be somewhere closer to family. Yeah, it can be tough finding that first job away from family. It's one thing to be maybe a few states away from family. It's one thing to be maybe a few states away from family. It's another thing to be almost an entire continent away. But that's what Peralta is doing there with his job offer and the job waiting for him in San Jose after he graduates from Gainesville and the University of Florida. So what kind of tips do you have for a college graduate in your life?

Maybe a neighbor, an aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, a cousin is getting that diploma, let us know the inbox is open radio at the florida roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson. We got more to come here on the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along this week. Melissa Calhoun teaches advanced placement English at Satellite High in Brevard County. About 3,000 students have sat in her classrooms through the years. She will not be teaching next year though. Her contract was not renewed. This English language teacher was fired for her language. She referred to a student by that student's preferred name without the okay from that student's parents.

That's a violation of Florida's parental rights and education law. This is Brevard County School Board member Megan Wright last week when the board opted not to renew Calhoun's teaching contract. These aren't our children. These are these parents children. At the end of the day, the parents are the ones that get to direct what happens here. And so parental rights exist for a reason. They exist because of things that have happened around our state that are horrific and cause major damage in families. Dozens of students, parents and others were

outside that school board meeting hoping the teacher would be able to stay in the classroom next year. Julie Cohen is a Brevard schools student. Having good teachers is really important and really impactful. Not having good teachers also makes a big difference. If I have a bad math teacher, maybe I don't like math anymore. Maybe I was going to be a mathematician. I had one bad math teacher changed my whole my whole life trajectory. So teachers really are important. In a statement, the Florida Department of Education said, quote, student name change decisions lay with parents, not educators or administrators." End quote. Danielle Pryor covers education for our partner Central Florida Public Media.

Danielle, this story started a month ago. What are the facts of what happened? Melissa Calhoun called one of her students by their preferred name. Someone told the district, the district investigated, and in the investigation she admitted to calling the student by their preferred name. told the district, the district investigated, and in the investigation she admitted to calling the student by their preferred name, and ultimately the district decided not to renew her contract next year. State law requires the parent to sign that form if a child wants to go by a name different than their legal name, and this was a case where a student was not desiring a nickname, but was

desiring a name that conformed with their identity. Yeah, that's right. So if a student wants to go by a name that's not on their birth certificate, this includes like a nickname, a preferred name, preferred pronouns. You need a parent or guardian to sign off. Otherwise, that teacher or school personnel could lose their jobs and their license under the 2023 Florida law.

This was a case where the child had changed their name to align with their gender identity and Ms. Calhoun was respecting that decision. But mom and dad had not been notified. Was not renewing Calhoun's contract the only option for the superintendent in the school board? No, the district could have renewed the contract and they actually still can decide to renew the contract. That was kind of can decide to renew the contract. That was kind of what they've been talking about the last few school board meetings. In fact, they were voting to see whether she

might be able to be retrained about the state law and then maybe reinstated. But ultimately, they decided against it. The school board did simply because they said they want to wait to see what the Florida Department of Education does. The Florida Department of Education is actually looking into Ms. Calhoun's certification and might decide to pull her credentials and certifications as a teacher in Florida completely.

Reports indicate that more than one teacher are being investigated for using this student's preferred name without parental permission. Is that right? That's right. So within the district, there were several teachers who were investigated and are being investigated. So far, Miss Calhoun is the only one who has lost her job and

actually is the first in the state to lose her job. Based on this 2023 Florida law, which is an expansion of parental rights and education or don't say gay. The conservative group Moms for Liberty was founded in Brevard County. This is the county where this teacher has lost her job. What has been the reaction, if any, from this conservative group? So school board member Megan Wright

is a member of Moms for Liberty. And she kind of spoke for them. So I'll just read what she said. Quote, the situation centers around an educator's failure to comply with both the law and district policies. Specifically, the educator did not fulfill a fundamental responsibility, which is to communicate significant changes in a student's life to their parents. By withholding crucial information, the educator denied the parents the opportunity to provide

timely support and guidance during a pivotal moment in their child's development. When I speak with a lot of LGBTQ advocates and folks, they say that this is a really dangerous precedent to set that obviously if you are a gay or trans kid, you may not be able to come out to your family for lots of different reasons and may not be able to get that permission slip signed. Danielle Pryor covers education for our partner Central Florida Public Media. Danielle, thanks so much. Thank you. A federal judge this week said she was surprised and shocked that Florida's Attorney General

told police he could not prevent them from arresting people under the state's new immigration law even though that same judge ordered a temporary stop to the law. Here's what's happening. Florida lawmakers passed a law this spring making it a crime to enter the state without legal status to be in the country. Immigration advocates sued and in early April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami put a temporary pause on enforcing the law. The Florida Highway Patrol arrested more than a dozen people and the judge extended her order not to enforce the law.

That's when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer told state and local police to follow the judge's order even though he disagreed with it. Five days later, Uthmeyer sent another note to police saying the judge was wrong. And he could not stop state and local police from making immigration arrests. Uthmeyer said his duty was to inform police the of the judge's order, but said there was no order that stops police from enforcing the immigration law. State lawyers argued the judge's order only applies to the state attorney general's office

because that's who is the defendant in the original lawsuit, not state and local police. And then at a hearing on Tuesday, the judge called it shocking that the state's top prosecutor would acknowledge state prosecutors could not enforce the law while also telling police that they could arrest people without legal status. The judge then specified that her temporary stop applied to all law enforcement agencies. The Attorney General has appealed the temporary suspension of the law. The judge has scheduled a hearing later this month to consider whether or not to find the state Attorney General James Uthmeyer in contempt of court.

I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Speaking of courts, there has been an experiment going on for six years in Fort Lauderdale. It's the first of its kind court in the state as part of the community's focus on homelessness. Reporter Carlton Gillespie from our partner station WLRN in South Florida recently paid a visit. It's Wednesday at 8 a.m. in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale. Around 50 to 60 people are lined up outside a lime green building when the whirring of generators of two buses parked on the street kick on. One is a mobile showering unit, the other is a mobile

doctor's office from Broward Health. In front of the building, a barber is offering free haircuts. Two police vehicles drive up and block off the road on either end. This is Broward County's most unique courtroom, Fort Lauderdale Community Court. Operated in partnership between the City of Fort Lauderdale and the 17th Judicial Circuit, it began six years ago for unhoused individuals charged with minor offenses as a jail diversion program. Non-violent offenders, given citations for things like aggressive panhandling or sleeping in public, end up here. Rather than involve the prison system, the community court seeks to connect people with services like housing assistance, addiction treatment, or just hot meals. But the line

outside isn't here to have their cases heard. In fact, the judge won't arrive for about three hours. Rather, the court saw an opportunity. So the service providers get to come to one place and not have to worry about people getting lost or not able to make their appointments. That's Shawna Rumley, a recovery navigator and a peer specialist with the South

Florida Wellness Network. She says that her work has been complicated by the enforcement of House Bill 1365, which bans overnight camping on government property. Fort Lauderdale has gone a step further and banned camping 24-7. Shauna is one of the many service providers whose tables line the walls inside the building. When the doors open at 9am, those waiting outside are handed a number. Most stop at the Feeding South Florida table to grab a hot meal before sitting at the phalanx of chairs and waiting to hear their number called. Today, that includes Deborah Lipsky.

In December of 2023, she fell down the stairs at her apartment. She was so severely injured that she now has a colostomy bag and her right leg was amputated below the knee. I was completely normal for 67 years of my life. Just like you got up this morning to go to work and everything and then you walk out the door and your life changes right then and there just like that. She lost her apartment while recovering, and she's lived in her car for the last year. This was her first visit to community court. I haven't had a shower in five months. It's been washing up in the gas station, bathroom. You know how disgusting that is?

I'm simple to help. I need a hand up, not a hand out. When it was her turn, Debra was seen by an intake specialist who can assess her needs and put her in contact with the agencies or organizations that can help her. Many times they're just a few tables over. Then at 11, court is in session. Judge Florence Taylor Barnard on around here as Judge Flo presiding. All right, we're going to go ahead and call the cases on the doctor. She seems to be here. The courtroom is certainly unconventional. Just judge flow reading cases off her laptop and a single chair in front of her for the

participant. They're not called defendants here. The judge's approach is also far from what one might expect. She constantly reassures the people in front of her saying, I got you. That's important because when people walk in here, they're terrified. They don't know what services are available. They might even have a criminal case and they're afraid. But in here, I want to let everybody know this is a court of no judgment. I'm here to figure out what can I do to help you. Judge Flo will hear as few as five to six cases

today, but more than a hundred people showed up to get connected to services. I'm Carlton Gillespie in Fort Lauderdale. And finally on the Roundup this week, there's still a chance Lord Stanley's Cup will stay here in Florida, but it will not be in Tampa. The two NHL teams calling the Sunshine State home faced each other in the first round of the playoffs. And we're ready for hockey between the Panthers

and the Lightning in game number five. This was game five Wednesday night in Tampa. It was a must-win for the Lightning. You can get an empty netter to seal this victory, climb that list even higher. The net is empty. And they did not pull it off. Score! The Panthers from Broward County are the defending hockey champions. The Florida Panthers advanced to round number two, eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning in five. And Florida has been the hot spot with the Panthers or the Tampa Bay Lightning

winning three out of the past five Stanley Cups. That's our program for today. It is produced by WLN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter with assistance from Denise Royle. WLRN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Mertz. The program's technical director is MJ Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J., and Jackson Hart. Katie Munoz answers the phones.

Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Levos at AaronLevos.com. Our inbox is always open. We love to hear from you. Radio at TheFloridaRoundup.org. Thanks for calling, listening, emailing, and above all supporting public media in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.