Critical race theory a fake issue. Here are five real problems Florida needs to fix | Editorial

Florida’s 2022 legislative session has been defined by emotionally charged cultural issues that Gov. DeSantis is pushing ahead of his reelection bid and rumored presidential aspirations: banning critical race theory, removing “unauthorized aliens” from the state and election fraud.

But these made-up crises have little — if any — impact on Floridians’ lives. To DeSantis’ credit, he has proposed fixes to real issues, but they often are overshadowed by his inflammatory rhetoric on topics like the teaching of racism in public schools.

The 60-day legislative session began Tuesday, and the Herald Editorial Board has identified five issues lawmakers must address. We doubt they have the political will to work on all of them, but we’re on the same page as DeSantis and Republican leaders on at least some.

Affordable housing

Florida saw the highest rent increases in the nation, a 29% hike since the beginning of last year, a December Lending Tree report found. Miami has become the fifth most expensive city in the nation with a median rent of $2,280, according to Zumper’s 2021 Annual Rent Report. In Hialeah, residents of an apartment building are facing a monthly rent increase of up to $650.

Buying a home is just as hard if you don’t have cash to compete with out-of-state buyers. Miami-Dade County set a historic median sale price for single-family homes — $515,000 in May.

Given these whopping numbers, one would expect lawmakers to make affordable housing a priority in 2022, but there’s no proposed comprehensive plan to address the issue — at least not yet.

The Herald Editorial Board and housing advocates for years have pleaded with lawmakers to fully fund Florida’s affordable-housing trust fund, which helps residents with down payments and funds construction of rental units, among other projects. Instead, lawmakers last year robbed Peter to pay Paul by splitting that money with projects to address sea-level rise and improve stormwater systems, important challenges that themselves deserve full funding without beggaring affordable housing.

DeSantis is proposing to spend the largest amount in more than a decade on existing affordable-housing projects. That’s a good start, but, as the Herald has reported, experts say those projects favor prospective homeowners over renters. A Republican bill to allow local governments more control on how to spend that money and shift more dollars to rental assistance needs to be heard.

School testing reform

DeSantis is spot on with his vision to scale back high-stakes testing in Florida schools. Teachers and parents have been saying for years standardized testing is ineffective in measuring student success, and it forces teachers to teach for an exam.

The question is whether students will be better off once lawmakers find a replacement for the Florida Standards Assessment.

DeSantis vowed to reduce testing by 75%, but a bill introduced by Hialeah Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. actually increases testing, the Herald reported Wednesday.

The legislation still is a work in progress, as Diaz told the Herald, and contains good ideas, such as creating a computer-based “progress monitoring” tool that would come out in the fall, winter and spring to give students and parents real-time information about their progress.

Lawmakers have time to get this right before session ends in March — and they better.

Surfside

After the collapse of the Champlain Towers South killed 98 people in June, we expected condo and building inspection reform to be the topic of the 2022 session. But so far we’ve seen no sense of urgency from the Legislature. Contrast that with three groups — a Miami-Dade grand jury and task forces of the Florida Bar and the state’s engineering associations — that convened soon after the disaster to come up with recommendations for elected officials.

There are some incremental bills, such as three filed by Miami-Dade GOP Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez dealing with the creation of a statewide online condo database, condo fraud and educating condo board members.

Lawmakers have been reluctant to toughen regulations out of fear they could make condo living, often billed as affordable living, too expensive. At the same time, condo associations’ ability under Florida law to waive maintenance reserves allows them to defer repairs to the point they become too expensive (Champlain residents faced a $15 million maintenance assessment). Experts have advised lawmakers to look into making it harder for them to waive reserves and creating a mechanism to help residents finance repairs with low interest loans. That’s a good place to start.

Those three groups have already done the leg work for the Florida Legislature. All we need is political will to put their recommendations into law.

Gun safety

Accidental gunshot deaths by children jumped 31% from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a year earlier, according to research by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Asking a conservative Legislature to pass gun-control measures would be an exercise in futility, but gun safety should be common sense even for the staunchest Second Amendment supporters.

For four years, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, has filed a bill to toughen requirements for the safe storage of guns. She’s also introduced legislation to close a loophole in Florida law by requiring background checks on ammunition purchases and to ban “ghost guns,” unfinished frames that cannot be traced and can be made into functioning firearms with kits purchased online.

It’s hard to argue these measures would infringe on anyone’s rights to own a gun, but her bills haven’t received any hearings. What a shame.

Teacher raises

Finally an issue Democrats and Republicans support: DeSantis is asking for $600 million to maintain his goal of raising starting teacher salaries to $47,500 a year. He also wants to give $1,000 bonuses to teachers and principals as well as to first responders and law enforcement officers.

The plan has its flaws, but we’ll call it a step in the right direction. Raising the minimum teacher salary doesn’t help veteran teachers; bonuses aren’t recurring and don’t count toward employees’ retirement. Lawmakers must focus next on experienced teachers, who need an incentive to stay in classrooms, as well as school personnel — such as guidance counselors and bus drivers — who are excluded from the state’s bonus program.