Florida lawmakers increased education funding, but will districts really feel it?
Angela Martini, a speech pathologist and parent of two children in the Miami-Dade public school system, had never been involved in politics until she heard that accelerated and honors classes were at risk in this year's state budget.
Martini, along with parents across the state, mobilized to oppose proposed cuts to funding for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge AICE programs.
The funding was ultimately restored through other mechanisms, and parents believe their lobbying made a difference.
'We won the battle, but we don't want to lose the war,' Martini said. 'It was the first time I got politically involved—and it spoke to my core values about the importance of investing in children's education.'
But despite this small win, Martini and other parents as well as state funding experts, policy analysts, and educators are all concerned about the overall funding for education in Florida. Increases this year were marginal and did not match the rate of inflation, they say.
Funding for private school vouchers however, continue to proliferate unabated in the state.
The state budget, which passed Monday after weeks of disagreements, allocated $15.8 billion in state funds toward education this year, up from $15.6 billion last year. This is a 1.73% increase over last year, less than the rate of inflation at 2.4%. This does not include local funding or other categories.
This year's education budget raises the base student allocation—the flexible dollars districts use to pay for salaries and core services—by $42 per student, or 0.78%, to $5,372.60.
Total per-student funding (including local funding and other categories) rose 1.59%, to $9,130, up from last year's $8,988
But the overall total including local, state and private school voucher funding for education increased by 3%, due to a huge increase in state money going toward private school vouchers —- which provide $8,000 for students to attend private schools. There is no cap on those scholarships, which are serving an increasing set of students who previously did not receive public money at all. Since vouchers became universally available in 2023, each year they have ballooned by almost $1 billion in the budget.
'You cannot physically do all of what we need to do in public education,' said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, of this year's small increase.
'Florida is one of the wealthiest states in the nation, and again, we don't invest in public education,' Spar added.
But state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers , chair of the PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee, disagreed.
Persons-Mulicka said the budget was absolutely sufficient, and that it 'was very important to ensure the funding for district schools was higher this year than last year.'
'While we put forth a very fiscally conservative budget, we again prioritize education in our state,' said Persons-Mulicka.
The consequences of under-funding include difficulty retaining quality teachers, challenges in providing extra support staff, and difficulties maintaining and upgrading school buildings.
Parents, including Martini and David Pollack, a parent of 11th grade twins at Miami Palmetto Senior High, say they have seen firsthand the impact of budgetary issues, like stagnating teachers salaries, on students. Florida currently ranks at the bottom nationally for teacher pay, according to the National Education Association. Pollack said two teachers at his children's school left the state for Missouri where they could afford a better life as teachers.
'It really appears the rhetoric doesn't match the reality,' said Pollack.
'You can't provide quality education if you don't pay for it,' said the father, who has been calling his elected officials to lobby for increased funding only to be disappointed in the results.
The education budget does include $101 million for teacher salaries, but the Florida Education Association says this will work out to about $20 per paycheck per teacher. Last year's teacher raises were roughly $250 million in the state budget.
Norin Dollard, an analyst at the Florida Policy Institute, put it simply: 'The increases are not enough to support public education.'
Systemic underfunding
Researchers say Florida's budgetary priorities this year are not new, but rather part of a trend of habitual under-funding of education over decades.
Florida ranks 48th out of 50 states in how much of its economic resources it dedicates to public education, according to research by Bruce Baker, a professor of school finance at the University of Miami.
His research shows that Florida on average spends just 2.46 percent of its GDP on education when the national average is 3.43 percent.
Across the nation, during the 2008 financial crisis states, including Florida, began to lower funding to education. In the years since, Florida never returned to the previous funding levels.
According to Baker's research, if effort in Florida had recovered to its 2006 level, education spending would now be 28.3 percent higher in the state. But instead, it has been a long, steady decline, he says.
This is despite Florida's economic prosperity increasing over time. It is now 35th in the nation in terms of prosperity, but again, 48th in terms of the effort it puts into funding education.
Ron Steiger, the chief financial officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, said that with more funding for education, teacher salaries would increase, and the district would be able to hire more out-of-classroom staff like school nurses and guidance counselors.
'The state should be robustly funding its education system,' said Baker, who has advised state legislatures around the country. 'Instead, we're seeing trivial increases that will keep us on a slow, long downhill slide.'
Over the last decade, Florida has steadily shifted the financial burden of education onto local school districts. In Miami-Dade County, only about 38 percent of education funding now comes from the state. Much of the rest comes from local property tax revenue, which is shared with districts through voter-approved referendums, and can vary widely by district and increase inequality between wealthier and lower-income communities.
Funding from referendums now also has to be shared with charter schools, further squeezing traditional public school budgets.
Steiger said the district is struggling to cover rising costs—including teacher pay, insurance, and infrastructure — without a meaningful increase in state support.
'If our dollars per kid don't go up in line with inflation, then we substantially get poorer,' said Steiger. 'We have no capacity to do what private institutions do, which is control their revenue.'
Miami-Dade is among the most expensive counties to live in in the state, but Steiger said it ranks 29th out of 67 counties in terms of per-pupil state funding.
'The funding formula itself is biased against large districts,' he said.
School choice funding expands — again
While funding to public schools has increased minimally this year, funding to expand school choice initiatives has increased exponentially.
Since Florida expanded its universal school voucher program in 2023, state funding has followed students to private and religious schools that are not required to meet the same accountability standards as public schools.
The first year of the voucher program, 2023, the state spent $3.2 billion on vouchers — and the number is expected to jump each year. According to the Florida Policy Institute, universal vouchers increased to $4 billion in the current school year, and is projected to increase to $5 billion, including $1.1 billion in tax credit vouchers, in the next school year.
Since there is no cap on school choice vouchers, which hand $8,000 in public dollars to private schools, 'this is new money we are going to spend on K-12,' said Steiger.
'The priority is making sure that parent choice grows unabated,' said Steiger. 'But that puts a real stress on the overall K-12 budget.'
Persons-Mulicka stood behind the decision to increase funding for private school and homeschool vouchers in Florida, as she said she believes in a philosophy of choice where 'every student should be treated the same.'
Baker, the researcher from the University of Miami, noted private schools which accept publicly funded vouchers are also not governed by an elected school board and do not have the same accountability measures regarding testing, teacher-student ratios or teacher training.
'If we wanted to more efficiently improve outcomes, we wouldn't be shifting funds to schools that aren't accountable,' he said.
For Spar, the budget represents a broader failure of leadership in Tallahassee.
'Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of legislators do not support the words of how important education is,' said Spar.
Spar said that early in the legislative session, he met with leaders in Tallahassee who said they wanted to fund public schools so that they have the ability to compete on the market with private and charter schools. But those commitments, he said, failed to materialize.
Based on 2024 data, Florida 8th-grade reading and math scores are lower than the national average, and the state has been on a downward trend since 2022, according to The Nation's Report Card.
'We're operating without accountability. We're seeing the impacts of really bad policy,' Spar said. 'Florida has seen significant reductions in SAT scores. We are doing worse than we were 25 years ago.'
'This is not putting Florida on a path toward being competitive,' Spar said. 'But voters have shown again and again that they support public schools. If lawmakers don't fund them, we're going to vote them out.'
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Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers , chair of the PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee, disagreed. Persons-Mulicka said the budget was absolutely sufficient, and that it 'was very important to ensure the funding for district schools was higher this year than last year.' 'While we put forth a very fiscally conservative budget, we again prioritize education in our state,' said Persons-Mulicka. The consequences of under-funding include difficulty retaining quality teachers, challenges in providing extra support staff, and difficulties maintaining and upgrading school buildings. Parents, including Martini and David Pollack, a parent of 11th grade twins at Miami Palmetto Senior High, say they have seen firsthand the impact of budgetary issues, like stagnating teachers salaries, on students. Florida currently ranks at the bottom nationally for teacher pay, according to the National Education Association. Pollack said two teachers at his children's school left the state for Missouri where they could afford a better life as teachers. 'It really appears the rhetoric doesn't match the reality,' said Pollack. 'You can't provide quality education if you don't pay for it,' said the father, who has been calling his elected officials to lobby for increased funding only to be disappointed in the results. The education budget does include $101 million for teacher salaries, but the Florida Education Association says this will work out to about $20 per paycheck per teacher. Last year's teacher raises were roughly $250 million in the state budget. Norin Dollard, an analyst at the Florida Policy Institute, put it simply: 'The increases are not enough to support public education.' Systemic underfunding Researchers say Florida's budgetary priorities this year are not new, but rather part of a trend of habitual under-funding of education over decades. Florida ranks 48th out of 50 states in how much of its economic resources it dedicates to public education, according to research by Bruce Baker, a professor of school finance at the University of Miami. His research shows that Florida on average spends just 2.46 percent of its GDP on education when the national average is 3.43 percent. Across the nation, during the 2008 financial crisis states, including Florida, began to lower funding to education. In the years since, Florida never returned to the previous funding levels. According to Baker's research, if effort in Florida had recovered to its 2006 level, education spending would now be 28.3 percent higher in the state. But instead, it has been a long, steady decline, he says. This is despite Florida's economic prosperity increasing over time. It is now 35th in the nation in terms of prosperity, but again, 48th in terms of the effort it puts into funding education. Ron Steiger, the chief financial officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, said that with more funding for education, teacher salaries would increase, and the district would be able to hire more out-of-classroom staff like school nurses and guidance counselors. 'The state should be robustly funding its education system,' said Baker, who has advised state legislatures around the country. 'Instead, we're seeing trivial increases that will keep us on a slow, long downhill slide.' Over the last decade, Florida has steadily shifted the financial burden of education onto local school districts. In Miami-Dade County, only about 38 percent of education funding now comes from the state. Much of the rest comes from local property tax revenue, which is shared with districts through voter-approved referendums, and can vary widely by district and increase inequality between wealthier and lower-income communities. Funding from referendums now also has to be shared with charter schools, further squeezing traditional public school budgets. Steiger said the district is struggling to cover rising costs—including teacher pay, insurance, and infrastructure — without a meaningful increase in state support. 'If our dollars per kid don't go up in line with inflation, then we substantially get poorer,' said Steiger. 'We have no capacity to do what private institutions do, which is control their revenue.' Miami-Dade is among the most expensive counties to live in in the state, but Steiger said it ranks 29th out of 67 counties in terms of per-pupil state funding. 'The funding formula itself is biased against large districts,' he said. School choice funding expands — again While funding to public schools has increased minimally this year, funding to expand school choice initiatives has increased exponentially. Since Florida expanded its universal school voucher program in 2023, state funding has followed students to private and religious schools that are not required to meet the same accountability standards as public schools. The first year of the voucher program, 2023, the state spent $3.2 billion on vouchers — and the number is expected to jump each year. According to the Florida Policy Institute, universal vouchers increased to $4 billion in the current school year, and is projected to increase to $5 billion, including $1.1 billion in tax credit vouchers, in the next school year. Since there is no cap on school choice vouchers, which hand $8,000 in public dollars to private schools, 'this is new money we are going to spend on K-12,' said Steiger. 'The priority is making sure that parent choice grows unabated,' said Steiger. 'But that puts a real stress on the overall K-12 budget.' Persons-Mulicka stood behind the decision to increase funding for private school and homeschool vouchers in Florida, as she said she believes in a philosophy of choice where 'every student should be treated the same.' Baker, the researcher from the University of Miami, noted private schools which accept publicly funded vouchers are also not governed by an elected school board and do not have the same accountability measures regarding testing, teacher-student ratios or teacher training. 'If we wanted to more efficiently improve outcomes, we wouldn't be shifting funds to schools that aren't accountable,' he said. For Spar, the budget represents a broader failure of leadership in Tallahassee. 'Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of legislators do not support the words of how important education is,' said Spar. Spar said that early in the legislative session, he met with leaders in Tallahassee who said they wanted to fund public schools so that they have the ability to compete on the market with private and charter schools. But those commitments, he said, failed to materialize. Based on 2024 data, Florida 8th-grade reading and math scores are lower than the national average, and the state has been on a downward trend since 2022, according to The Nation's Report Card. 'We're operating without accountability. We're seeing the impacts of really bad policy,' Spar said. 'Florida has seen significant reductions in SAT scores. We are doing worse than we were 25 years ago.' 'This is not putting Florida on a path toward being competitive,' Spar said. 'But voters have shown again and again that they support public schools. If lawmakers don't fund them, we're going to vote them out.'
