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Special Report
Northeast Fla.: How Bad Is It?
Ports
Positive Vibes
“When you’re talking about today’s economic downturn as it affects port business, you’re talking imports. With consumer spending down, imports go down. JaxPort is not as vulnerable as some of the south Florida ports since today our business is fairly balanced between imports and exports.
 Smart cars unloading at JaxPort [Photo: JaxPort] |
 Rick Ferrin [Photo: Kelly LaDuke] |
— Rick Ferrin,
executive director,
Jacksonville Port Authority
 Dan Boyd |
‘Breaking Point’
“In the more than 40 years I’ve been involved in public education, I’ve never seen an economic crisis like this one. For years, school funding has been absolutely dismal in Florida — and there are plenty of state and national reports to back that up. Somehow, we’ve always managed to make do.
Now I believe we’ve reached the breaking point, and I’m afraid the long-term consequences for our schools, our students and our state will be devastating. Our district has lost $14 million in state funding since this time last year, and we know more cuts are coming.We’ve cut elementary art and music programs in half, cut funding to career/tech and academic magnet programs, reduced elective offerings, drastically reduced transportation, closed a school and taken other painful steps to balance our budget.”
— Dan Boyd, superintendent, Alachua County schools
| School Enrollment Change | ||
| County | % Change (from 2007-08) |
Student Change |
| Alachua | -6.28% | -1,789 |
| Baker | +1.93 | +97 |
| Bradford | -6.51 | -243 |
| Clay | -3.17 | -1,184 |
| Columbia | -1.20 | -123 |
| Duval | -3.25 | -4,148 |
| Gilchrist | -4.44 | -130 |
| Hamilton | -1.07 | -21 |
| Levy | -4.17 | -267 |
| Marion | -0.58 | -248 |
| Nassau | -1.43 | -158 |
| Putnam | -2.70 | -323 |
| St. Johns | +4.47 | +1,247 |
| Suwannee | +1.78 | +104 |
| Union | +1.76 | +41 |
| Source: Florida Department of Education | ||
