Budget conference: House proposes covering AP, IB, AICE credits with a categorical grant
By Jacob Ogles
The House wants to fully fund accelerated credit hours for students taking college level courses in high school. But it remains unclear if the Senate will match that dollar amount.
The latest offer from the House PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee meeting includes funding for Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) credits.
The plan would provide more than $596 million in the form of an Academic Acceleration Options Supplement.
“The $596 million equals 100% of what the add-on weights would have generated,” said Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Fort Myers Republican who chairs the House subcommittee. “Every School District would receive the same or more under the categorical as they would if current add-on weights applied.”
The shift from an add-on formula, which ties funding to enrollment and student performance, could have repercussions in the future.
Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Sarasota Republican, said appropriators saw a need to change from a system that originally incentivized schools to launch advanced programs but has since provided a lot of money to districts without dedicating dollars to a specific purpose, outside of a dedicated bonus to teachers when students achieve exemplary test scores at the end of the course.
“It has completely grown out of proportion with the number of programs offered and students enrolled,” McFarland said. “But because it was such a gravy train, districts have come to value that pot of money.”
The House initially planned to cut funding for courses in half, but that prompted outrage among education professionals, students and families. The House now hopes to fully fund the program, but by doing it as a categorical grant, language will be tied to dollars and ensure it gets reinvested in the advanced programs and cannot be used to suppress or supplement other funding streams, McFarland said.
But it remains unclear what the Senate appropriators will do. The last Senate Pre-K12 Education Appropriations Committee plan included funding for the courses, but not at the same level. The first Senate offer provided just $418 million in the form of a supplemental grant.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, returned to Tallahassee for budget talks concerned about the impact on Florida families of cuts proposed in the Senate.
“The students who’ve been benefiting from them are able to get college credit without paying tuition before they graduate, and this has saved a lot of Florida families a lot of money,” he said. “The conforming bills proposed in the Senate that are tied to the budget, they will reduce funding for these types of advanced placement courses and dual enrollment courses.”
The Senate hasn’t released its own response yet, but Smith believes the chamber could offer $480 million as a counter. That’s still more than $100 million less than the House offer generates.
Persons-Mulicka hopes the Senate responds by matching the House plan.
“I look forward to the Senate’s next offer and will continue to work with Senator (Danny) Burgess on funding for acceleration courses,” she said.
Burgess heads the Pre-K12 Appropriations Committee in the Senate.
The difference in how to fund the advanced credits for classes comes as the House defends a budget that overall is much leaner than current Senate drafts. Budget talks were delayed for weeks past the traditional deadline as the House pushed for a plan that spends less in order to allow for more tax cuts.
Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at jacobogles@hotmail.com.