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The budget proposals:
Don't improve educator pay
The budget proposals keep Florida at the bottom of the nation in average teacher pay. This is a direct cause of the teacher shortage which leads to ever-increasing class sizes.
Slash college and career prep courses
The budget proposals slash funding for courses that prepare students for college and careers. This will put college out of reach for many students and will force districts to scale back CTE programs.
add unfunded mandates
The budget proposals continue the long practice of unfunded mandates. Once again, educators are being asked to do more and more with less and less resources.
Supporting educators and public education isn’t just a talking point.
Lawmakers say they support educators, communities and students. We are again calling on lawmakers to show that support for our public schools by reworking the budget to ensure districts can meet the needs of every student who walks into our public schools. We can do this by:
How did your lawmaker vote?
Supporting educators, students and communities takes real action. How did your lawmaker vote on the budget proposals in their chamber?
What is the impact of budget cuts?
If these cuts move forward, Florida students in could lose:
- After-school tutoring and Saturday school sessions that help them succeed,
- Early access to IB and AICE strategies that build critical thinking skills starting in elementary and middle school,
- New career and technical programs aligned with student interests and local workforce needs, and
- Access to updated technology, equipment, curriculum, and prep materials, and
- The growth and quality of CTE programs, already strained by rising operational costs
Florida currently ranks #42 in per-student spending. The Senate and House proposals call for an increase of $135 and $62 respectively. A child who was in kindergarten when Gov. DeSantis signed his first budget in 2019 will be starting middle school when the 2025-26 budget is implemented. During that time, per-student funding for that child has decreased by $400 when adjusted for inflation based on the proposed Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) calculations (which can be found below). This means that once again, districts and educators will be forced to do more with less.
With more than 200,000 educators shaping the minds of our future, the House proposes a budget of $102 million- half of last year’s appropriation for salary increases. That would mean on average less than $500 raise for instructional personnel. The Senate proposes $248 million, which equates to around a $1,200 raise for instructional personnel and is still not enough of a raise to cover rent hikes, rising insurance premiums, student loan payments or childcare, let alone recognize the value of our teachers.
Capitol Outlay Funds:
- House: $101,001,510 (32% decrease in funding)
- Senate: $150,262,016.00 (12% increase in funding)
Overall Funds
- House: $1,630,810,108 (2% increase in funding)
- Senate: $1,690,810,108 (6% increase in funding)
The State University System will see a significant decrease in Capitol Outlay funding. Last year’s budget included $616,172,762 in PECO dollars allocated from the House and Senate. This year’s budget proposals are about 1/3 of last years funding, with $263,550,491 proposed in the House and $207,865,512 proposed in the Senate.
Overall funds:
- Senate: $3,270,260,379 (18% decrease in funding)
- House: $3,687,069,889 (8% decrease in funding
The House keeps the university performance incentive funding match in place and has additional funds for Recruitment and Retention Incentives ($100 million) as well as keeping in the Incentives for Programs of Strategic Emphasis funding ($59.4 million)
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How will budget cuts to public education impact your students or your job? Let us know by sending us your comments today!
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Resources and Data
Florida Policy Insitute: How much will your district lose?
School districts, because the size of their student population and participation rates, differ in the amounts that are allocated to them. The interactive map below shows how much funding each school district currently receives and what it would receive if funding were cut for programs like AP, IB, CAPE and more. Find the full data set and more at the Florida Policy Institute.
