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After K-12 Cuts In Year One, Scott Wants More Spending

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Gov. Rick Scott said Friday he wants an increase in spending on K-12 education.

Scott has said repeatedly that he hoped the Legislature would at least hold the line on K-12 spending, but on Friday he indicated he likely will recommend an increase.

The governor said his team is still working on the size of the increase, ahead of a spending plan Scott will lay out later this month, the News Service of Florida reports.

If lawmakers were to increase spending on public school education it would come on top of a more than $1 billion increase last year, but critics have noted that that increase only replaced money that was cut during Scott's first year in office.

Scott, who is planning to seek re-election in 2014, has talked extensively about education in recent months, and made a tour of schools seeking input from teachers and parents on what they'd like to see happen in the public school system.

Scott also repeated on Friday an earlier proposal, to create a program where teachers would get debit cards tied to the school system with which they could purchase supplies. Scott said one of the biggest problems teachers have told him about is that they often spend their own money on school supplies.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)

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