Legislators hear pleas for money, laws

SANFORD -- State lawmakers will carry with them a dizzying number of constituent concerns when they meet in next year's legislative session, and Seminole County's delegation will be no different.

Local state representatives and senators heard appeals from more than two dozen groups and residents Monday on issues ranging from school choice to helmet laws.

Regional, county and city officials laid out their concerns and priorities for the eight legislators and outlined a hefty list of funding requests. Many of those involved direct appeals to help finance road improvements or requests to allow local officials to charge additional fees and taxes.

Seminole County, Lynx and Metroplan Orlando representatives each asked legislators to support efforts to create a local option rental-car surcharge to pay for transportation-related improvements and to allow all charter counties to implement a transit-system surtax. Currently, only seven counties in the state, and only Lake County in Central Florida, are allowed to impose such a tax.

Education-related issues also took center stage. Early-learning advocates asked legislators for additional funds primarily to find more qualified teachers. Karen Willis, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole, also asked that the pre-kindergarten education program be made available at no charge to families who qualify for the school district's free- and reduced-price lunch program.

Seminole County School Board officials urged legislators to continue to push for laws that would it make easier to ensure safe walking conditions for schoolchildren and sought to improve equity in the state's funding formula for school districts, where Seminole currently ranks 50th among the state's 67 counties.

At the other extreme was an appeal from Elizabeth Brletic, a mother of three who asked lawmakers to protect school-choice legislation. Brletic said her three children have blossomed in private school after struggling in public schools. The state's corporate tax credit scholarship program is the only thing that has made private school possible for them, she said.

Meanwhile, Erin Cloninger, an 18-year-old Oviedo High School student, made the most emotional appeal to lawmakers. Cloninger, whose father was killed in a 2003 motorcycle accident, asked legislators to impose mandatory helmet laws.

"I'm asking you to reinstate the law that could have saved my father's life," she said.

Phil Cloninger, a former Oviedo City Council member, was not wearing a helmet.

Erin Cloninger urged legislators to not be intimidated by pressure from ABATE, a national group that lobbies to repeal helmet laws.

"Don't be afraid of ABATE," she said. "I know they come to Tallahassee and line up their loud motorcycles. I could line up the children and the families and the widows of people killed in motorcycle accidents."