Schools slash $10 million from budget without affecting students
By Don Coble
While the Clay County District Schools will operate with $10 million less next year, Superintendent David Broskie assured the cuts won’t come at the expense of its students.
“We are still focusing on prioritizing students in the classroom, minimizing the impact on our employees and not eliminating any programs that our students benefit from,” Broskie said. “My hope is that you don't see anything. That’s the whole idea.”
The Florida Legislature passed bills that increased education spending by 1.4% for the next fiscal budget, Broskie said. As first reported in Clay Today on April 27, with inflation at 2%, the school district will have 10 million fewer dollars to spend, compared to the current budget.
After meeting with staff and principals, the district slashed its budget across the board by 20% – all without cutting student programs, such as Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Advanced Placement classes, and reducing salaries or making layoffs.
All programs were examined, and if they didn’t produce the expected results, they were eliminated. Worthy programs were renegotiated on better terms.
Broskie said that several administrators were also reassigned to classroom positions to utilize their talent and save money.
“The steps we’ve taken, we believe that we're close to resolving it,” he said. “There'll be some minor tweaks, but we feel like we've already gotten there with some of the things we've implemented.
“We did a statistical analysis on the effectiveness of some of our programs with students. We determined whether those programs were as effective as we would have liked for the money we were spending. And we cut that program if it wasn’t. We're just not going to have that program in the toolbox of things if it’s not as effective, if we find other ways we believe will be more effective.”
While the legislators have finished their work, the budget hasn’t been signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis yet. He could demand deeper cuts, which would force district officials to make them.
Legislators said the cuts are necessary to offset the deficits created by the school voucher program. The state expanded eligibility for public school vouchers to all students, along with increasing annual enrollment caps for students with Unique Abilities in 2023, as more funds were diverted from traditional public education to private schools and home-schooled students.
Schools received bonuses for students who excelled in dual enrollment IB, AICE, and Advanced Placement programs and earned certifications in CTE classes.
Clay District CTE Supervisor Kelly Mosley said 1,926 CTE students graduated certified in their fields during the 2023-24 school year.
There are 15 CTE fields in the district with more than 130 CTE instructors.
Florida receives poor grades for funding its education, but, like Clay County, it does reasonably well in spending it wisely. According to the Education Data Initiative, Florida ranks 44th in spending, at $12,415 a student. However, according to U.S. News and World Report, Florida ranks No. 22 in pre-kindergarten through high school education.
Broskie wondered how long the state’s education system could operate so frugally.
"I think we'll manage this year's budget just fine,” he said. “I believe that school grades are coming out shortly [from the Florida Department of Education], and I think you'll see that we will do well. I can't say for certain, but I believe it will be in an ‘A’ school district and a Top 10-performing district, for sure.
“I do worry about the long-term effects of continually not funding education at a proper level, though.”
Because at some point, the numbers can't add up.