Appearing at Florida's top tourist attraction on Thursday, President Obama ordered more U.S. visas issued more quickly to visitors from Brazil and China.

"We want to tell the world America is open for business," the president said at Disney World. "We want America to be the top tourist destination in the world."

Visa-processing backlogs in Brazil -- which sent the most international tourists to Florida last year -- were cited by the president as a stumbling block.

"We make it too hard for them," Obama said of tourists from Brazil, China and India.

President Barack Obama and Gov. Rick Scott are poles apart politically, but their visits to Brazil last year put them on the same page when it comes to the value of Brazilian tourists here.

Obama is scheduled to be in Orlando on Thursday, reportedly to announce new initiatives to streamline the issuance of U.S. tourist visas for Brazilians. The program could encompass China as well, sources said.

Scott has called for changes in the visa program.

While plans for high-speed trains have slowed across the country, intercity buses are hitting the accelerator.

Florida, which rejected a $2.4 billion federal grant to launch high-speed rail service between Tampa and Orlando, is home to some of the fastest-growing bus corridors in the country.

RedCoach, a luxury bus line, increased its Florida ridership by 20 percent last year. The company's routes connect South Florida, Orlando, Gainesville and Tallahassee.

President Obama will be in Orlando on Thursday to talk about tourism. And like Democratic senators who skipped Obama appearances in other states, Bill Nelson will be nowhere in sight.

Obama is scheduled to be at Walt Disney World, where a White House aide said the president will "unveil a strategy that will significantly help boost tourism and travel."

Nelson's office told reporters that a scheduling conflict will prevent the Democratic senator from appearing with the president -- a statement that was quickly mocked by two of Nelson's Republican foes.

The number of Florida school employees earning $100,000 or more jumped 818 percent from 2005 to 2010, a new report shows.

By contrast, the ranks of private- and public-sector workers making $100,000-plus inched up only 7 percent during the same period, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.

In 2005, just 103 of Florida's public-education employees earned $100,000 or more. By 2010, that number had swelled to 946, the FGA said.

Legal challenges are mounting against a new state law that prevents political candidates from switching parties within 365 days of an upcoming election.

Former Public Service Commission member Nancy Argenziano is suing to run as a Democrat for Congress. Argenziano, a former Republican, was barred from running as a Democrat because she had registered as a member of the Independent Party of Florida.

"A lot of people don't know about the law. They will find out at last minute at qualifying," said Janet Ferris, Argenziano's attorney.

Gov. Rick Scott's probe into expenditures at the state's special taxing districts might want to start at Lee County Mosquito Control.

With an annual budget of $22 million, Lee's mosquito district spends more than 46 other mosquito districts -- combined.

"There's no excuse for it," says state Rep. Paige Kreegel, who has introduced legislation that could abolish the district.

Scott last week directed his Office of Policy and Budget to review and make recommendations for cutting costs at some 1,600 special districts levying more than $15 billion in taxes each year.

U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux lashed GOP rival Rep. Connie Mack and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in a speech to a tea party group Thursday.

"You don't send career politicians to fix Washington," LeMieux told the Indian River County Tea Party in Vero Beach. "I would serve a term or two and go home."

Characterizing Mack's private-sector experience as "a market outreach coordinator for Hooters," LeMieux renewed his call for term limits and noted that he lives and works in Florida.

More Florida high schools are earning A's and B's while only 39 percent of 10th-graders are reading at or above proficiency levels on the state's FCAT exam, Department of Education records show.

Some 78 percent of high schools scored either an A or B grade in 2011, up from 71 percent last year. A-rated schools receive financial awards from the state of up to $150,000 per campus.

Yet high school students' academic competence is flat or falling. The 39 percent of students reading at or above Level 3 "proficiency" was the same as it was in 2010.

Florida's ranking in Education Week's 2012 Quality Counts report tumbled to 11th place nationally, dropping out of the top 10 for the first time in four years.

Rated fifth in the country last year, Florida was surpassed by Ohio and other states which have adopted Sunshine State-style school reforms launched by Gov. Jeb Bush in the 1990s.

Education Week handed Florida an overall grade of "C+" --down from a "B-" last year.

Maryland, for the fourth straight year, repeated as the top education state, with a "B."