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Q&A – Proposed Education Funding “Cuts” for Mask Offending Florida School Districts
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Today’s Entry: Hi Brian love the show! I support Governor DeSantis but can’t get behind the school funding cuts he’s now supporting because of the mask issue. Funding cuts don’t hurt the officials responsible for the decision making – it hurts the students. I’d like for you to address that point.
Bottom Line: I’m happy to address this topic. Whatever the end result of the state budgeting process regarding school funding is, the current reporting is but the latest example of misleading reporting sounding like it's something it's not. When you hear the word “cut” in the context of school funding what comes to mind? A reduction in funding, right? Now, if there’s a huge increase funding to a school district from one school year to the next, is that a cut? Of course not, yet that’s exactly what we’re talking about here. I’ll start by resetting where we actually are in the school budgeting process...
The state Senate and House each have their own budget proposals which are being worked on in Committee in advance of final votes which will require a reconciliation process to remedy any meaningful differences between the two budgets. As it currently stands, the state Senate budget proposal doesn’t include any financial penalties for the twelve school districts which broke Florida law by violating the Parental Bill of Rights in mandating masks for students without parental opt outs. It’s the House budget proposal which does. The current House proposal would strip $200 million in additional funding from the 12-school districts with the size of the reductions based on the size of the districts. Given the size of South Florida’s school districts – they'd see the biggest impact. The Miami-Dade School District would see a $72 million reduction in funding, with Broward and Palm Beach Counties seeing reductions of $32 million and $28 million. Originally Governor DeSantis indicated he wasn’t onboard with the idea, though upon further review of the specifics of the House proposal he has since endorsed the idea. That would seem to suggest that should one chamber’s budget include the penalties – that’d be the one which would have the upper hand in reconciliation. Now, with all of the back story and procedural stuff accounted for, let's get down to the brass tax of what the penalties represent.
If the current House proposal for school spending were to become law as written, there would be a 4% increase, or $323 more per student, received for each school district above this year’s levels. Here’s the operating budget info available for the 2021 school year (rounded):
- Broward: $2.8 billion – $1.2 billion provided by the state
- Miami-Dade: $3.6 billion - $1.2 billion provided by the state
- Palm Beach County: $2.2 billion - $700 million provided by the state
What’s the value of the still proposed 4% of the total provided by the state? $28 million for Palm Beach County, $48 million in Broward and Miami Dade. So, what does the house budget proposal really mean in context? Palm Beach County’s contribution would be flat with Broward and Miami-Dade still experiencing increases in revenue from the state even with imposed penalties. There are no proposed “cuts” in the Houses’ budget even for the 12 districts which are under consideration for penalties. There’s a reduction in the rate of the increase in funding for these districts. And by the time you factor in huge increases being derived from record property tax revenues due to property values reaching record high levels across South Florida – along with federal increases... The proposed penalties for the offending districts are literally the equivalent of rounding errors in the accounting.
I’m sure school districts can (and already have begun to) spin the woe is me narrative regarding these proposed sanctions by the House budget and endorsed by the Governor – however the reality on the ground doesn’t meet the rhetoric. Consider Palm Beach County School Superintendent Michael Burke to CBS 12: I've never seen anything like this in my 31 years in education. I feel its unconstitutional. There’s irony regarding the Superintendent of a school district which violated state law complaining about perceived unconstitutional policy. And that’s the bigger point here. If there aren’t penalties imposed for school districts breaking the law, what’s to keep them from continuing to do it as they see fit?
The proposed sanctions amount to little more than a slap on the wrist and even if the House budget is adopted all offending school districts will have record budget revenues they’ll spend next school year. Even school districts with shrinking student populations (as we continue to see many parents opt for other education options outside of public schools due to concerns like what these districts are potentially being penalized for). There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. These are the facts.