Biden visits Miami Beach school to promote jobs plan - MiamiHerald.com
Vice President Joe Biden arrived in South Florida Friday to promote the Obama administration's jobs plan in between fundraisers for the Democratic party.
Biden arrived at G.K.E. Sabal Palm Elementary School in North Miami Beach shortly before 12:30 p.m. after attending an event for the Democratic National Committee in Boca Raton earlier Friday morning.
At the school visit — before another DNC event in Miami — Biden pushed for the American Jobs Act. The plan proposes $25 billion to repair and upgrade 35,000 public school buildings. White House officials estimate Florida could get $1.28 billion for K-12 schools, creating up to 16,000 jobs.
In Florida, White House officials estimate the plan to fund K-12 schools with $1.2 billion could generate up to 16,600 jobs. The Miami-Dade school district would receive $267 million in funds, creating as many as 3,500 jobs. Broward schools would get $125.3 million in funds, but there was no estimate on the number of jobs that could be created.
The money is part of a $447 billion jobs plan package, which includes tax cuts and tax credits for individuals and small businesses, along with the new spending on schools, teachers, roads and bridges It is aimed at putting millions of Americans back to work and boosting a very weak economy. It also would impose higher taxes on the wealthy by limiting their itemized deductions.
Congress is expected to begin considering the jobs package next month. But the plan faces fierce opposition, especially in the House, where Republicans hold a majority.
In a statement issued Friday, Republicans slammed Biden's visit and Obama's jobs plan.
"After failing to create a single job last month, Vice President Biden's campaign visit to Florida shows that the White House is concerned about one job and one job only, President Obama's," said Ryan Tronovitch, a spokesman with the Republican National Committee.
"Floridians were pitched with a similar stimulus in 2009 and all they got was job loss and a sputtering economy. Voters across Florida and our nation know that the first stimulus was a failure and the second is only more of the same," Tronovitch said.
Biden toured the North Miami Beach school with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Freddie Woodson and the school's principal Doylene Tarver.
G.K.E. Sabal Palm Elementary, built in 1952, has been an A-grade school for nine years. Of its 700 students, 80 percent qualify for a free or reduced lunch. But Biden and the principal said the school needs upgrades to its buildings.
The school has seven portable buildings, housing nine classrooms. They've been used for almost two decades, and the drab white "trailers" as Biden called them show their age.
Biden visited one of those portable classrooms — a class of fourth graders, taught by Sandra Raines, 33. She was named the teacher of the year last year at G.K.E Sabal Palm.
For nearly half an hour, Biden talked with the fourth graders, who were working on a science project. They asked him questions, like how he became Vice President.
Their teacher showed Biden her classroom and pointed out an old file cabinet with signs of rust, five "dinosaur" computers, musty ceiling tiles and one weak A/C unit that often breaks.
Biden, whose wife is a teacher, told kids: "I think teachers are the most important people in the country, I really do."
"You're one of the best schools in the state," Biden to kids. "These buildings are not an A ... You guys should have a gym" (The school has a blacktop basketball court with an open-air portico for PE.)
"We think every kid in America, every kid no matter where they live, should be in a good classroom, a safe classroom," he said.
"As you can see our campus is not the most modern, but look what our school family has accomplished and just think how much more they could by bringing our school into the 21st century," the principal said.
Biden spoke for about 20 minutes to reporters about the jobs bill. Biden emphasized the proposal would support first-responder jobs, in addition to public schools.
Just before 2 p.m. Biden left the school for a DNC event in Miami.
The fundraising events in South Florida were not open to the media.
24 Sep, 2011--
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