To Donna Greene, education budget cuts from Tallahassee are akin to the way that peasants were treated during the French Revolution.

On Thursday, she dressed as Marie Antoinette — complete with a gown, wig and sign that read "Tallahassee Says: Let Them Eat Cake" — joined more than 150 other parents, students, teachers, and local and state leaders in a rally to support public education. "We feel that Tallahassee is ignoring the suffering of their students," said Greene, a mother of two South Broward High School students from Hollywood. "We need real tax reform and we need funding."

The Broward County School District is facing $140 million to $160 million in budget cuts for the upcoming school year, though money from the federal economic stimulus package could reduce that figure.
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Florida's university system reached an agreement Thursday with the Florida Prepaid Plan to make sure both remain financially sustainable.

The Florida Board of Governors, the policymaking body for state universities, agreed to cap the tuition it charged Florida Prepaid at about 6 percent to 6.5 percent a year. Local fees would go up 5 percent and dormitory costs would go up 6 percent. The agreement applies to contracts bought before July 1, 2007.

The deal has no impact on anyone who holds a prepaid contract, which is guaranteed by the state, nor does it affect how much people pay for tuition. "Prepaid contracts were never at risk," said John Delaney, president of the University of North Florida, who is temporarily handling the duties of chancellor of the State University System.

Prepaid sells its contracts assuming tuition will climb about 5 percent to 6 percent a year.
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How do you know if your children are ready for kindergarten? One way is by enrolling them in the state's free voluntary pre-kindergarten program, according to statistics released Thursday.

Using three methods of testing new kindergartners, the state found that 54 percent of students who completed the optional pre-K classes demonstrated overall readiness for school as opposed to 42 percent who did not attend voluntary pre-K at either a public or private school.

State Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith said the results "show us that by tapping into this potential at the earliest of ages we are ensuring that our students are getting the head start they need to succeed in both school and life."
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A rodeo is a rip-roaring, noisy event. The crowd gets excited as a brawny steer appears. Two men on horseback race to lasso the beast. Mission accomplished. The crowd cheers.It's a familiar routine for cowboy Greg Clair who will compete in Davie's annual hullabaloo, The 72nd Orange Blossom Festival, Parade and Rodeo, at Bergeron Rodeo Grounds this weekend.

Activities include a concert by recording artist John Anderson (Swingin'). But the main event is the professional rodeo.

Clair will be galloping after that reluctant steer in the team-roping competition. It's not just a couple of guys horsing around, but "a true working part of ranch life," he said. "You immobilize the animal so he can be doctored."

The former cattle rancher turned land developer and Davie resident has been doing this 30 years. Now 45, he says he has another 10 years of it left in him. But it's physical work that some say is better left to the young and the reckless.
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Prosecutors on Thursday dropped a criminal charge against a Weston principal accused of trying to strangle his wife.

Falcon Cove Middle School Principal Mark Kaplan, 37, was charged last month with a felony count of battery, for allegedly trying to strangle his wife, Alyson, 36, as she slept in their Coral Springs home.

After Mark Kaplan was arrested and removed from the home, Alyson Kaplan said she came to believe the attack was unintentional and she did not want her husband to be prosecuted.

Mark Kaplan said he has a sleep disorder, parasomnia, that made him act violently.

"This is the kind of defense you couldn't dream up — it's valid from the beginning," said the defense attorney, Eric Schwartzreich.
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