State offers big incentives at a large price

Sydney P. Freedberg and Connie Humburg of the St. Petersburg Times wrote about Florida's attempt to attract business by offering large incentives to help companies create jobs. The incentives were not working with some companies shipping jobs oversees instead of creating them. These economic efforts come at a big price with Florida's economic development efforts costing the state government more than $900 million. "In a state with a $61-billion proposed budget, $900-million could pay for nearly 11,000 new teachers, prekindergarten classes for 150,000 4-year-olds and all of next year's tuition increase for more than 250,000 university students." The story also includes 14 charts that break down details from wages to cash grants.