Making students safer with the Student Protection Act

An under-reported but serious problem in American schools is that of sexual exploitation of students by adults they ought to be able to trust. You may recall some of the shocking reports of such cases in Central Florida in recent years.  Sadly these cases happen more frequently than you might think.  It's a national problem and it may affect millions of students. A study cited by the U.S. Department of Education estimates that more than 4.5 million children are subject to sexual misconduct by a school employee sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade.  But because there are no nationwide standards for dealing with these cases, school systems often times don't know how to properly handle accusations.  And sometimes offenders simply move from one school system to another.

Last week I re-introduced a proposal to provide additional protection for students from school employees who are sexual predators. The Student Protection Act (HR 781) would establish uniform rules for dealing with accusations of sexual misconduct by school employees.  In addition, it would create a nationwide database of those convicted of such crimes, giving school systems an important tool in keeping people convicted of these crimes out of our classrooms.  The goals of the Student Protection Act have been endorsed by Gov. Crist and the Florida legislature as well as the Nation Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

It's time to address this issue now, before another child is victimized, before another family has to deal with the emotional and psychological damage caused, and before another classroom or school is shaken by another breach of trust.

Giving senior citizens a better tax form 

Our tax code has grown so complicated that the average American must spend many hours or hundreds of dollars to file their forms with the IRS. But for many people, taxes can and should be a relatively simple matter.  That's why I introduced legislation to create a simplified tax form for Senior citizens (Form 1040-S).

The new form would be designed to help senior taxpayers report the most common sources of income, such as social security benefits, distributions from qualified retirement plans, annuities or other deferred payment arrangements, interest and dividends, and capital gains and losses, regardless of income.

The IRS estimates that as many as 11 million seniors could benefit from this new form in the first year it's made available.  And that number will grow as America's population ages.  By 2030, as the Baby Boom Generation ages, a fifth of America's population will be over the age of 65.

The benefits of the Seniors’ Tax Simplification Act will grow over time, save millions of taxpayers countless hours of time and energy could be better spent than in fretting over complex and often confusing tax forms.