Guest Author
As the father of three young children and a graduate of Pasco County’s public schools, the responsibility to oversee the Senate’s budget for Pre-K-12 Education has been quite an honor.
I take this assignment very seriously, and therefore, I feel compelled to address and clarify an issue that has caused some confusion.
The Senate’s fiscally responsible, balanced budget reduces state spending, lowers per capita spending, and reduces the growth of state bureaucracy. The budget authorizes early payoff of state debt, accounts for significant, broad-based tax relief, and maintains historic state reserves for emergencies.
As it relates to K-12 education, once again this year, Florida taxpayers will make an unprecedented investment in our children’s education, including an increase of nearly $1 billion for public schools and our K-12 scholarships. We are also raising our annual investment in teacher raises to more than $1.5 billion.
New reporting requirements throughout the budget safeguard taxpayer dollars, improving accountability, transparency and oversight of government spending. As part of that effort, when we crafted our K-12 budget, we looked for opportunities to better align funding with actual program costs.
For example, each Advanced Placement, International and Cambridge AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education) course is funded at approximately $852 per course for 2024-25. These funds account for 1/6 of the funds set aside for each full-time student and pay for the teacher’s salary, professional development, instructional materials, etc. Over the years, greater value has been placed on these courses, which prepare students for college and career success.
Prior Legislatures have made the policy decision to significantly weight these courses, paying a second $852 per student (double funding) for each student who earns a certain score on the course exam.
We are cutting the second $852 in half to align these necessary courses with actual costs. Moving forward, instead of double funding each student who passes an exam in each advanced course, the school district would receive an initial $852 to cover course costs and then $426 per student who earns a specific score on the exam. According to cost reports from the Department of Education, this amount is sufficient to cover testing and teacher bonuses, with extra funds left over.
Rather than taking away the second $426, we are leaving those funds with the school districts as part of an overall increase in funding. If the school district decides to keep investing those funds in AP/IB/AICE courses, like they were required to do previously, that’s great with us.
If they would rather spend the money on teacher raises, student services or other improvements, that works too. The whole plan is designed to appropriately fund advanced courses (including teacher bonuses and student tests) but give districts flexibility to spend the rest of these dollars as they see fit.
I’m proud of the Senate’s strong track record of cutting red tape, ending needless bureaucracy, and supporting the parents and teachers who choose our neighborhood public schools. Our K-12 budget aligns with that overall policy objective. In our new environment of universal choice, where the money follows the student, our public schools are still the first choice for the majority of families.
The Senate’s K-12 budget supports their choice and continues to provide abundant funding for students who pursue advanced coursework and the talented instructors who teach these classes.
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Sen. Danny Burgess, a Zephyrhills Republican, serves as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Pre-K-12 Education.
9 comments
Sue
April 10, 2025 at 5:24 pm
Senator Burgess, I don’t think your bill says what you claim it does. “Rather than taking away the second $426, we are leaving those funds with the school districts as part of an overall increase in funding.” Prove it! – because the SB2510 Staff Analysis (page 9) says “The proposed reductions to the acceleration program bonuses may provide an estimated $292 million SAVINGS TO THE STATE.” (my emphasis). That add-on funding is for programs that are expensive and valuable to students and families. The incentive funding allowed districts to expand these programs, serving more students. Cutting the incentive in half will make it impossible for districts to continuing the same number of programs and college bound children will suffer. Don’t balance your budget by cutting robust, academically challenging programs from our public schools.
As for that “unprecendent investment” of nearly $1 billion more for public schools and our K-12 scholarships – well, the empasis should be on “our K-12 scholarships” as over 80% of the increase is going to vouchers even though voucher recipients only make up 14% of the students funded in the formula.
Someone is being gaslit: is it you? Or are you gaslighting the rest of us?
K. Hyman
April 11, 2025 at 7:55 am
Yes!
Holding accountabaloney accountable
April 13, 2025 at 7:42 am
You are the definition of a grifter Ms. Baloney. You should’ve come to the House budget committee that had a presentation from DOE where hundreds of millions of dollars in the weighted funding was completely unaccounted for – districts were asked to audit their spending of the funding and simply could not account for how a huge amount of the funding (which districts have gamed significantly and has exploded over the last few years).
You should’ve gone up and defended why it’s okay for districts to do that. You should’ve spent another week running around Tally meeting with lawmakers pretending like you don’t constantly insult them online. You should’ve defended why we should keep giving this money to the districts even though they literally cannot explain how the money was spent. Kind of like how it’s hard to explain why a Florida keys school board member spends so much time in Tallahassee lobbying and is a millionaire with multiple homes constantly trying to hurt school choice families.
That’s not gaslighting. That’s exactly what you are
L. Feist
April 11, 2025 at 11:25 am
When adjusted for inflation, per-student funding has not recovered to pre-recession levels. In the 2007-08 fiscal year, per-student funding was $7,305.79, which would equate to approximately $11,066.36 today. However, the current allocation stands at $8,958.59, indicating a shortfall of over $2,100 per student.
This funding gap has tangible consequences for our students, potentially leading to larger class sizes, reduced access to specialized programs, and diminished support services. Educators may also face challenges in securing competitive salaries, impacting teacher retention and student outcomes.
I respectfully urge you to advocate for no cuts and a more substantial increase in per-student funding that accounts for inflation and the growing demands of our PUBLIC education system. Ensuring equitable and adequate funding is crucial for providing Florida students with the quality education they deserve.
Thank you for your attention to this pressing matter.
Mindy Gould
April 11, 2025 at 12:09 pm
Fool me once…
Parents are realizing that there is more to the story than just hearing half of the dollars lost in the proposed budget will go into the hands of the school districts. If this is being played down, why touch the dollars to begin with? This is a voucher supported proposal. We know it, so please stop gaslighting parents.
Mary Elizabeth Cooper
April 11, 2025 at 12:10 pm
I am writing to urge you not to eliminate dual enrollment options for high school students. This is a very important option for students who have met their high school requirements but who do not want to graduate early or who would like more challenging coursework. My son started dual enrollment classes this year and is looking forward to taking more next year as a senior. Please don’t take this option away from our students!!!
Louise Sorensen
April 12, 2025 at 6:51 am
No cuts to Dual Erollment!
Susan
April 12, 2025 at 9:51 am
The op-ed by Senator Danny Burgess doesn’t address our district-run schools loss of funding. He says in the op-ed that there is an “increase of nearly $1 billion for public schools and our K-12 scholarships” but he doesn’t say how much of the increase is for the vouchers (he calls them scholarships.)
Since my school district is already facing a budget deficit, I am worried about further loss of funding.
I continue not to understand why state legislators are prioritizing subsidizing the private school tuition of millionaires over our public schools.
If we can’t convince the state legislature to quit defunding our public schools, my school district will have to eliminate popular programs, increase class sizes, and close neighborhood schools. This is all VERY SAD! Is it Senator Burgess’s goal to hurt our public schools, to try to drive more students from wealthy families to private schools?
The Florida Senate’s proposed 2025-26 PreK-12 budget:
1. Slashes more than $290 million in funding for Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment, and other academically challenging coursework in public schools. See it on page 9 of the staff analysis for SB 2510.
2. Provides a per-pupil funding increase that is well below the current inflation rate of 3.0% and inadequate to fund predicted increases in property insurance and health care premiums.
3. Diverts 70% of the proposed overall funding increase to tax-funded vouchers for private schools.
The Florida Senate in SB 2510 has prioritized funding private school vouchers over expanding successful and desirable academic programs in public high schools. The House budget in HB 5101 was worse. In addition to slashing funding for advanced college-level courses, the House cut funding for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs designed to prepare students for the workforce.
This year, Florida will spend more than $4 billion annually on private school vouchers.
Pam Ramirez
April 13, 2025 at 7:47 am
Florida’s public school families ARE NOT CONFUSED! Both the House and the Senate are slashing the incentive funding that school districts rely on to enhance and expand advanced programs for college-bound students. (the House also slashes incentive funding important Career and Technical Programming.”
We see clearly what the plan. To defund and dismantle public schools in FL. NO CUTS TO AP, DE, IB, AICE OR CTE!
Prove us that you also support Public schools by amending or getting rid of the cuts all together! Our children deserve better!!