FORT WALTON BEACH — The leaders of the Florida Legislature have big plans to improve the state.
Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford are touring Florida this summer to discuss what they accomplished during this year’s legislative session and their goals for next year. They spent Wednesday traveling throughNorthwest Florida.
Weatherford told the Fort Walton Beach Rotary Club he was concerned about the country, but that he couldn’t do much about it as the speaker of the Florida House.
“I can’t control what happens in Eastern Europe or make sure Greece pays its bills,” Weatherford said. “Don Gaetz and I have no control over whether or not these folks get their act together in Washington, D.C., but what we do control is the destiny of this state and where we’re going.
“So what I’ve decided to do and what the Senate president has decided to do, instead of sitting around waiting for them to solve our problems, we’re going to solve our own, and there’s a lot of problems to be solved,” he added.
Weatherford said parts of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged,” about a government that grows so large that job creators and innovators pack up and move elsewhere, is starting to become a reality.
“We’re not that far away from that in this country, in my opinion, but what we can do as states is create pockets of freedom all over the United States,” he said.
Weatherford said his goal is for Florida to become the No. 1 place in the country for economic freedom.
Before coming to the Rotary luncheon, Weatherford and Gaetz visited the corporate office of iSorona, a medical technology firm in Panama City. They were told the company wanted to hire people but was having trouble finding employees who had the right training and education.
Weatherford said the Legislature passed an education reform plan this year with the goal of making Florida’s school system the best in the country for meeting the needs of employers.
“Having a high school diploma is nice, but it won’t get you a job because it doesn’t guarantee you that you have a skill,” he said.
“There’s a disconnect between what businesses need and what our education system is offering, so what we worked on this year was to close that gap,” he added.
Weatherford said the Legislature passed a bill that creates an online partnership between the University of Florida and the University of West Florida that will allow students to take online classes and receive a four-year degree for about $12,000. He described the program as competency-based education; if students master the content they can move on rather than stay in a class for an entire semester.
“I think it’s going to revolutionize and change our education system and make it affordable and allow people to get an education in things they really care about,” Weatherford said.
Gaetz, who let Weatherford do most of the talking at the Rotary Club luncheon, said he respected his colleague and sees big things in his future. He said Weatherford is a friend of Northwest Florida who wants Florida to be better and is willing to make the hard decisions to do so.
“He’s somebody who is the face of the future of Florida,” Gaetz said. “You will see him as the governor of Florida, as a United States senator and maybe as something more. He’s somebody we can trust and believe in.”
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.
