Florida must ‘right-size’ its education budget, lawmakers say
Legislative budget proposals have started to roll out, and the message of the session is prepare for less.
“We need to right-size our budget this year,” House PreK-12 Budget chairperson Jenna Persons-Mulicka told her panel Tuesday as she unveiled her recommendations. “We have to stop the spending.”
She said her bottom line figure for PreK-12 came in just under $21 billion, or about $400 million less than the current fiscal year. Among the reductions are a $50 million decrease in school recognition funds and the elimination of 123 vacant state education positions, saving about $8.5 million.
She also recommended a smaller than usual increase in new money for teacher salaries, at $100 million. And the state’s share of total funds per full-time equivalent student, or FTE, would decrease.
While the FTE would go up by $62.21, or 0.69%, it includes a 1.01% decrease in the state share and a 2.74% rise in the local share. The base student allocation would increase by $50.51, or 0.95%.
Among the other numbers that Persons-Mulicka highlighted, $20 million would go into the New World Scholarship program for early learning, $14 million would go toward K-8 student transportation vouchers, and $7 million would go toward security at Jewish day schools. Read the proposal here.
The committee also gave its blessing to a conforming bill that would revise some of the rules for voucher funding, clarify how categorical money is distributed, and reduce the add-on funding weights for some student programs such as career-technical education.
The Senate is scheduled to discuss its budget and funding formula legislation when it meets today. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued his budget request earlier in the spring.