With one of his key priorities having been to increase Pre-K to grade 12 education by $1 billion, Gov. Rick Scott will use an elementary school on Tuesday as the backdrop for signing the 2012-2013 budget.

The governor’s office announced Monday that Scott will sign the $70 billion budget at noon Tuesday at Cunningham Creek Elementary School in St. Johns.

The signing ceremony, Scott’s second, will continue his form of traveling away from the political trappings of Tallahassee to highlight the fiscal package.

Last year, the setting was the Central Florida community of Eustis, amid tea party groups from throughout the state.

This year, education was Scott’s theme, announcing in December that he wouldn’t sign a budget unless there was a “significant” increase for primary education.

Details of the entire budget package that will be signed by Scott on Tuesday were not immediately available.

Budget watchdog Florida TaxWatch has called for Scott to cut 143 projects worth $150.6 million from the budget, ranging from the Brevard Community College Public Safety Institute to a land purchase next to the governor’s mansion and a Bay of Pigs Museum in Miami.

TaxWatch, which has been suggesting budget cuts to legislative earmarks since 1983, was particularly opposed to 24 water projects -- such as St. Johns River restoration and city sewer work in Umatilla -- because it says they were approved without proper legislative review.



Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.co or at (772) 215-9889.