Peter Schorsch
Much has been made about the increase in K-12 funding, but a deeper dive into the numbers shows an actual cut in base student allocations.
Overall, the increase in total funds for K-12 FEFP funding in FY 2017-2018 budget is $241,293,414 or 1.2%. These dollars fund an additional 23,919 students who will be entering Florida’s public school system in the upcoming school year.
However, when you take the time to look at additional dollars available per student, the budget provides for a mere $24.44 or .34 percent increase over last year’s budget. This increase can be found only in the categorical funds, which, by law, are designated for specific uses, such as Transportation, Instructional Materials and ESE Guaranteed Allocation (services for disabled students).
Moreover, and this is also key, the increase in funds cannot be used for general operating expenses or to increase teacher pay, these funds may only be used for specific purposes.
The only flexible funds school districts have access to are those in the Base Student Allocation (BSA), which decreases in this year’s budget by $25.97 from $4,160.71 to $4,137.74 dollars per student.
Money in the BSA is those used to fund teacher’s salaries and benefits or to add new programs for students.
This will be the first time since the great recession the Base Student Allocation has been cut in the state of Florida.
2 comments
Julie G. Delegal
May 3, 2017 at 10:07 am
Now, run those numbers through a CPI calculator for 2007. You’ll likely see that they go backwards. That is, we’re allocating less per pupil in terms of real dollars than we did in 2007.
Alternately, run the 2007 figures for 2017. You’ll see we’re nowhere near what it would take to make a real dollar increase from 2007 levels. In 2017 dollars, it would be well over the $8k mark to match what we were doing in 2007.
Dan
May 3, 2017 at 10:34 am
The current median household income for Florida is $49,426. Real median household income peaked in 2007 at $54,646 and is now $5,220 (9.55%) lower. Now run that through your CPI Calculator. I don’t see teachers or the 960,000 government working class in Florida losing 10% of their pay in real dollars…. but they should.
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