Florida legislators, vote ‘NO’ on negligible increase in base student allocation

As superintendent of the second largest school district in Florida, I am compelled to speak out against the proposed state budget that will keep school funding in Florida below the national average. State legislators’ proposal to add a mere 47 cents (.01 percent) to the base allocation for per-student funding disregards the growing challenges we face in public education.

In the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, one of the nation’s worst tragedies, at one of our state’s best schools, Florida legislators would have us believe they are proposing “historic legislation” with much-needed funding for Safe Schools and Mental Health budgets. In reality, these categorical funds cannot be used by school districts for day-today operating costs. Schools should not have to make a choice between properly funding basic educational needs and providing safe schools and mental health services.

The Florida Legislature, poised to vote on the budget as early as today, must NOT pass this proposed budget, and we implore citizens in our state to join us in our call to make public education a priority with meaningful, rather than negligible, increases in student funding.

Legislators should follow the lead of Gov. Rick Scott, who called for an increase to the base student allocation of $152 per student, and consider the impact of inflation in our operating expenses, state-mandated increases in retirement contributions, increased costs in utilities, property insurance, and health care for our employees and an influx of 27,000 new students, as families relocate to Florida from Puerto Rico and other locations.

The Legislature’s proposed budget, if passed, will force Florida school districts to cut millions of dollars from our budgets — cuts that will impact our schools, our communities and the children we serve. The base student allocation is the money the state provides school districts to use flexibly for new programs or expansion of personnel and services.

The $88.7 billion budget represents an increase of more than $5 billion to the current budget; it is hard to believe, with so little going to schools, that legislators considered the impact of hurricanes, the continued influx of families and the heartbreaking tragedy in Parkland in its proposal to add a mere 47 cents to its per student funding.

With a growing state economy, low unemployment, rising property values and a budget surplus that adds $3 billion to its reserve, the Florida Legislature has the means and must have the foresight to invest meaningfully in education. Our children and our communities deserve no less.

Schools should not have to make a choice between properly funding basic educational needs and providing safe schools and mental health services.