The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce has a simple idea for how the Florida Legislature could bring more jobs to the state: Stop cutting funding for schools.

''What we're saying is no further cuts,'' said Michael Burnstine, chairman of the chamber's state advocacy committee. ``If you don't have educated people, you're not going to be competitive in the world.''

The chamber's top priorities for this year's legislative session also include a request that the state restore funding for a proposed tunnel to provide easier access to the Port of Miami. The port is widely regarded as a key engine for the local economy.

Schools, meanwhile, have long been an Achilles heel for the state's efforts to attract new businesses and jobs.

''Clearly, I think one of our key issues in continued recruitment is education,'' Miami-Dade's chief business recruiter, Frank Nero, has said. ``We cannot continue to recruit knowledge-based industries without understanding that we need to provide the knowledge -- and therefore funding for our education system.''

According to 2006 figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida ranked 39th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for per-pupil funding.

BIG CUTS

Last year, funding for K-12 education was cut further, forcing the Miami-Dade district to make more than $300 million in cuts to its $5.5 billion budget. Broward has slashed about $130 million from its $2 billion operations budget in the past year and a half.

Nevertheless, state leaders point out that Florida's school-quality ranking jumped from 14th to 10th this year, despite the previous education cuts, according to Education Week.

In any case, there's a good chance the chamber could get its wish: Gov. Charlie Crist wants to use money from the federal stimulus package to inject $1.7 billion into the state's school system, a plan that could leave districts with an increase over this year.

Other business groups have relatively modest hopes for the session with respect to economic development.

The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's mostly tax-supported economic development agency, is interested in a proposal to help attract so-called ''captive'' insurance companies to Florida. These are insurance firms created by a parent company to insure the parent's risks.

The Beacon Council says it is working with Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation on legislation that would make the state more attractive to these firms.

The council also supports a request from Enterprise Florida, the statewide economic development group, for $5 million to advertise Florida as a good place to locate a business.

The Beacon Council has said that many companies think of South Florida mainly as a vacation spot and don't know, for example, that more than 1,100 multinational companies have offices here.

RESHAPING AN IMAGE

''Getting that message out is a top priority,'' said Holly Wiedman, the council's executive vice president.

Meanwhile, the Florida Economic Development Council, a trade group for business recruiters, wants the state to give additional time to companies that agreed to create jobs on a particular timetable in exchange for taxpayer money. The premise is that the companies' projections didn't account for the major economic downturn.

The group also wants $20 million allocated to a fund for transportation projects needed to help companies set up shop or expand in Florida.