Budgets, whether personal or public, reflect what we value as our most important priorities.
As the Florida legislature allocated its budget this year, it is obvious that the education of our children was not the highest priority. A census bureau report released in April lists Florida as spending $33.51 per $1,000 in income for education. That places us at 50th among the 50 states; DEAD LAST. A recent Time magazine article on Florida cited numerous woes, with a lack of commitment to K-12 public school funding among the most significant. What has become obvious to the national media and companies searching for a highly trained work force must become obvious to our legislators and the average citizen.
Through a loss of property taxes through amendments and sales taxes due to the economy, Duval County Public Schools face a shortfall of 35 million dollars for the 2008-09 school year. Including increases in utilities, fuel, contracts and health care costs, we are facing a 70 million dollar shortfall. This is the first time in 37 years we have gone backwards in funding. Amendment 5, which will be voted on in November, would further devastate school districts, replacing more dependable property taxes with fewer less reliable sales taxes.
Through reductions in district administration, use of reserves and other cost saving measures, we have presented a balanced budget for this year. It has been extremely challenging in light of the additional requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind legislation and State A++ accountability requirements. In fact, the amount of flexibility for school districts has been steadily eroding, with 8.67 percent of our budgets being mandated by
categoricals (funding restricted for a specific purpose) in 1993, increasing to a staggering 33.58 percent last year.
While the climate and culture of the school is key, being able to provide an adequate salary and benefit package is also necessary. As expectations and accountability for our teachers and principals increase, so must compensation.
In Duval County we are moving in the right direction in
student achievement, graduation rates and post secondary readiness. But as a state we are failing miserably. Our state legislature needs to be held accountable for the values expressed in this year's budget. We must turn an embarrassing lack of commitment for our children's future into a call for action to support adequate funding for public education. Ask our legislators, "Is 50th place good enough for Florida?"
