As the Florida legislature works to bring its budget proposal in for a landing, the funding for education issues is stabilizing and an education policy bill that died during the regular session is back on its feet.
Throughout the 2025 session, the Republican-dominated legislature has encouraged the expansion of Florida’s charter schools. Democrats have fought for traditional public schools, which continue to see enrollment declines, especially since a 2023 law removed income as a qualification for the state’s private school voucher program.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper, a Trinity Republican, acknowledged the change in how families are choosing to educate their kids during budget negotiations.
“I think we can all agree that the [traditional] public school population is declining," Hooper said. "But schools still are open and operating, so there’s still that expense is there, and if there’s fewer students being there, then the money comes from somewhere.”
The House and Senate have agreed to add more money to the state budget for charter schools known as “schools of hope,” with the possibility of more dollars in reserve. The "schools of hope" designation is for charter schools that operate near persisently low-performing traditional public schools. Charter schools are schools that are privately managed but are considered part of local school districts.
Lawmakers have added a provision to expand the definition of "persistently low performing" in a way that will increase the number of charter schools that can get the schools of hope label. The measure also lets those schools use vacant public school buildings or co-locate with other schools.
Andrew Spar is president of the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers’ union. He has concerns about the proposed schools of hope expansion.
“One of the problems we have in Florida is when [traditional public] schools struggle, the state punishes them," he said. "They don’t give them more resources, they don’t give them more support. They threaten, and they divert dollars. That makes it harder to turn that school around. And that’s certainly been one of the real challenges that we have in public education is we do not do what we need to do to support every child.”
Coral Gables Republican Representative Demi Busatta sponsored the schools of hope bill. She points out that the state classifies charter schools are public schools and argued during a House debate that the schools of hope simply give students another option.
“It is not a slow death to public education. Let’s get something right: schools of hope are public schools," she said. "The education that they provide, it is public education.”
Another education budget issue that’s come under question is the funding for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, career and technical education, and other accelerated programs. The Senate had proposed slashing them by 50%, but has faced pushback from parents and educators invested in those programs.
But Zephyrhills Republican Senator Danny Burgess, the Senate’s K-12 budget leader, says the Senate hasn’t reduced or eliminated funding for those courses, which he describes as “important.”
“Most dual enrollment courses have a completely different cost structure than typical high-school courses, so with most of the cost being the responsibility of the post-secondary institution, that’s why we decided to maintain that level at this time," said Burgess. "We are simply trying to align this new categorical with the requirements that are in current statute, and that was the Senate rationale in that approach.”
Burgess says budget leaders are moving the funding for accelerated courses into a separate designation, the Academic Acceleration Options Supplement. That’s supposed to include teacher bonuses and district incentives.
Still, to Andrew Spar of the Florida Education Association, state education funding continues to fail Floridians.
“What I would love to see Florida do," he said, "and what I think every educator would love to see Florida do is to focus on getting out of the basement in funding for our schools, raking 50th in the nation in teacher pay -- and let’s focus on becoming top 10 in the nation in funding, in pay, in filling teacher and staff vacancies. And making sure we have the academic freedom we need to reach and teach every child.”
According to the National Education Association, the average Florida teacher makes just under $55,000 a year -- 50th in the nation.
