Members of the State Board of Education adjourn the Aug. 21, 2024, meeting in Niceville. (Screenshot via Florida Channel)
As Hurricane Helene approached the Sunshine State, the Florida Board of Education converted a meeting scheduled to take place in St. Augustine Wednesday to a telephone meeting, paring its agenda down to a few items including its budget request to the Florida Legislature.
Board of Education meetings typically open with remarks from Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and a representative from the hosting institution and include several items up for discussion. This time, they skipped the niceties.
The department’s 2025-2026 operating and fixed capital outlay budget request to the Legislature was the main item up for discussion in the 15-minute meeting.
There was no discussion by board members of the request for $27.21 billion for the Department of Education. That’s about $165 million, or 0.61%, more than the appropriations for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The request anticipates approximately 52,000 additional students entering public schools during the 2025-2026 school year over this year’s enrollment.
Some of the notable provisions, according to Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Operations Suzanne Pridgeon, are a $50 increase in base student allocation, $100 million in salary increases for teachers, and $10 million increases each for safe schools, student transportation, and mental health.
Teacher funding has been a focus of both Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Education Association, although they have disagreed on the most effective route to boosting pay for Florida’s educators, which, according to the National Education Association, ranked second to last in the nation in 2024.
“The education budget is one of the largest budget items where we have discretion, the Legislature has discretion, and with the record funding that we have in this budget request, I think it really shows where the state of Florida’s priorities are,” Board Chair Ben Gibson said.
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The budget request was not available on the online agenda until the meeting in which it was approved.
The Florida Education Association, as well as a parent speaking during public comment, criticized the Department of Education for the delayed release of the budget request.
Yearly, @EducationFL releases their budget requests where they tell you how much they will (or wont) invest in our public schools. They voted to approve those budget requests today but you weren’t allowed to see the budget request until the moment the meeting began today. Weird.
— Florida Education Association (@FloridaEA) September 25, 2024
Also up was the Florida High School Athletic Association annual budget and an adjustment to its name, image, and likeness policy to incorporate an affidavit of compliance effort to protect athletes.
The board approved a rule awarding diplomas to eligible people who were previously confined to the Dozier School for Boys or Okeechobee School, which had a long history of abuse toward their wards.
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