The time to engage in real conversations about how we fund our public schools has come! Education activists across the state are uniting behind the Fund Our Future message. We believe the path to achieving a world-class education system is grounded in three principles:
- Student success, with goals such as ensuring safe learning environments, providing needed services, reducing class sizes, and prioritizing real learning over rote learning and high-stakes testing.
- Our public schools, in order to raise per-pupil spending to at least the national average, pay for initiatives mandated by the Legislature, and provide fair funding for districts and competitive salaries for our educators.
- Retention and recruitment, so that school districts can attract and keep the qualified teachers and staff who are fundamental to student success and achievement.
Florida ranks consistently among the bottom 10 states in both per-student spending and pay for our teachers and education staff professionals. Florida earned an “F” for school spending in Education Week’s most recent National Report Card.
As of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Florida’s K-12 education budget has not caught up with pre-recession levels when adjusted for inflation.
Politifact found that, at $7,408 in spending per student, the budget is more than $1,000 short of 2007-2008 levels in dollars per child. No matter that some state leaders point to “historic” funding for education, we are still in a huge hole for per-student spending and investment in our public schools.
Funding our future does not mean diverting money from neighborhood public schools to private schools and for-profit charters. Taxpayers should not be asked to support schools that are not accountable to them, nor should they be forced to pay for schools that do not meet accepted educational standards for our students and a well-educated workforce.
Funding our future also does not mean dangling one-time bonuses for teachers. What our state needs, for the purposes of recruiting and retaining educators, is fair, competitive salaries that our teachers and education staff professionals can count on.
Funding our future means investing in public education and all the elements needed to provide our students with a world-class education — within the system of free, high-quality public schools mandated by our state’s Constitution.
Tell your legislators that it is time to Fund Our Future!
https://feaweb.org/news/take-action/fundourfuturefl/