M E M O R A N D U M

TO:                 Duval County School Board

                        Executive Staff

                        Principals

                        SAC Chairs

                        PTSA Chairs

                        Duval Teachers United

FROM:           Ed Pratt-Dannals 

                        Superintendent of Schools

SUBJECT:     CENSUS BUREAU STUDY ON FUNDING FOR EDUCATION

DATE:            May 13, 2008

In April 2008, The U.S. Census Bureau released a report on public education K-12 funding by states for the 2005-06 school year. This was an excellent year for funding increases in Florida with an 8% overall increase. Not surprisingly, Florida came in 37^th place in per pupil funding among the 50 states.

However, what was new information was the analysis of overall funding for education counting federal, state, and local sources of revenue adjusted according to income. Florida was in last place among the 50 states with only The District of Columbia providing lower funding. This is significant in that this statistic gives a more equitable basis of comparing funding on an “ability to pay.” Also disturbing was how Florida compared in funding K-12 education with other southern states that are typically “low tax” states:

Per $1,000 of Income

West Virginia                54.56

Arkansas                      50.10

Louisiana                      48.77

Georgia                        48.21

Mississippi                    48.18

South Carolina  47.07

Texas                           44.26

Alabama                       42.75

Virginia             39.23

North Carolina 38.42

Tennessee                    35.55

Florida                         33.51

Page 2

Census Bureau Study

May 13, 2008

As the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy increase, we need to better prepare all of our students for their futures. A key element in our success is attracting and retaining high quality teachers and principals. To do this, we have to be competitive with salary and benefits. Georgia is currently paying an average of $5,000 more per teacher, and districts like Fort Worth have teacher recruitment billboards up in our city. As a profession nationally, teachers are making 10% less than their equally prepared peers, even after adjusting for the shorter work period, benefits, and retirement. As Mishel, Allegretto, and Corcoran state in their book, The Teaching Penalty: Teacher Pay Losing Ground (2008), “If we deliberately set out to design a plan to discourage the best-qualified people from becoming teachers and to drive away the most experienced teachers, the pay penalty teachers now face would be the perfect way to do it.”

Florida must change this embarrassing situation through a multi-faceted state-wide effort to secure adequate, dependable revenue to support basic services such as K-12 education. To do less would be a travesty for our children and ultimately for our community.

EPD:dm

c:          The Alliance for World Class Education

            Chamber of Commerce

            NAACP, Jacksonville Branch

            Community Foundation

            United Way of Northeast Florida

            University of North Florida

            Edward Waters College

            Florida Community College at Jacksonville

            Jacksonville University