Bolder, Brighter and Full of Baloney
A first look at Governor Desantis’ proposed (Anti-Public) Education Budget
On Monday, Governor DeSantis presented his 2020/21 Budget Proposal branding it “The Bolder, Brighter, Better Future Budget.” Of course, the governor’s budget recommendation is merely that: a recommendation. It is the Legislature’s job to create the state budget. The Governor’s recommendation does highlight his spending priorities and the new policies that the Governor (and, in this case, his Commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran) plan to pursue. Examining his budget proposal and its accompanying “Recommended Budget Implementing Legislation” can give insight into the Governor’s plans for public education. (More details, including a Side-by-Side comparison of current year funding with the governor’s recommendations for next year can be found here, Thanks FSBA!).
After his press conference and press release, the Governor took to Twitter to celebrate his proposals. If you take a closer look, there is a lot of cause for concern. When we saw this image, tweeted out after the press release, we recognized it as “spin” that needed to be translated to fully understand the impacts of these proposals. (It appears the original image has since been taken down, possibly because it is embarrassing to misspell “principal” when describing education policy.)
Here is the Accountabaloney Guide to the Governor’s Budget Spin as it applies to Education:
Our Response to the Governor’s claims:
√ Increases per student funding: to a large part the Governor’s proposed funding increase is created by bypassing collective bargaining and eliminating local control of education dollars, directing nearly $1 Billion towards teacher salary and bonus gimmicks (rather than funding the Base Student Allocation, where flexible funding for personnel compensation is generally found), and expanding publicly funded vouchers. Funding of Student Transportation, Instructional Materials and Base Student Allocation is either cut or fails to keep up with inflation and student population growth. To be clear, the proposed per pupil spending of $7979 is a significant 3.94% increase over 2019/20 levels but lacks flexible spending and continues to fall well below inflation adjusted 2007/08 levels of $8971.76 (and the proposed $50 Base Student allocation increase to $4,329.49, fails to keep up with inflation over the last year and falls well below the inflation adjusted rate from 2007/08 of $5132.16). When funding fails to keep up with inflation and/or population growth, it should be considered defunding.
√ Teacher and principle (sic) bonus programs: It looks like Florida is finally going to do away with the much maligned Best and Brightest Teacher bonus. Unfortunately, it is being replaced with a new ill-advised scheme. The implementing bills describe bonus programs that double down on high stakes testing and school grade nonsense, eliminating the need for teacher effectiveness and rewarding teachers and principals, essentially, for where they work – rewarding teachers and principal who work at schools which achieve a certain increased percentage of points in their school grade calculation. No longer will teachers require effective or highly effective evaluations to qualify for this new “Florida Classroom Teacher Bonus,” but rather teachers will be rewarded if their school earns “85 percent or greater of the school grade points or increased the percentage of school grade points earned by six or more percentage points in their A through F school grading calculation for the prior year.” Teachers working in qualifying Title I schools earn larger bonuses, teachers in schools increasing their school grade by less than 6 percentage points earn smaller bonuses. We have concerns:
- Bonuses are not raises. They can’t be relied on, they won’t qualify you for a mortgage, etc., etc. Teachers and principals deserve raises.
- School grades are calculated on test scores from a few grade levels and a narrow range of subject. Many teachers’ students do not directly contribute to the school grade calculation. For example, a kindergarten teacher may be fantastic but her students’ test scores won’t contribute to the school grade calculation until 3rd grade and beyond. Librarians and Reading Coaches, who most definitely help struggling readers (and, therefore, improve their test scores and the school grade calculation), will not qualify for this bonus program as written.
- These are NOT merit bonuses. Teacher effectiveness is not considered; highly effective, experienced teachers, even in A rated schools, may fail to qualify.
- These bonus schemes continues to ignore the efforts of essential instructional staff, rewarding only those classified as a “classroom teacher.”
- Your Principal is your “pal” and deserves capitalization.
- One more time, for those who still can’t hear it: bonuses are not raises.
√ Raises minimum salaries for teachers to $47,500 while, simultaneously, ignoring the financial needs of Florida’s most experienced teachers and retaliating against communities that, tired of chronic underfunding in the face of critical teacher shortages, passed local tax referenda to adequately compensate their teachers. It is unclear whether the legislature can legally bypass collective bargaining in this way. Mandating significant salary increases for our least experienced teachers while ignoring our most experienced teachers is certain to sow discord and exacerbate the “Silent Strike,” where frustrated educators are choosing to walk away from the classroom. Some districts (many small rural, “red” districts -coincidence?) where current starting salaries can be below $40,000, will see large salary increases for their teachers. Other districts (like Monroe), where high costs of living require higher salaries just to survive, ALREADY pay minimum salaries above $47,500 so their teachers will see nothing. Charter schools, who have historically paid teachers less than public schools, may be a big winner here.
√ Funds mental health initiative in Florida schools: $25 million increase to a total of $100 million. Increased funding for mental health services are much needed; how districts will be able to access and use such funds remains to be seen. Districts will need the flexibility to fund their community’s unique mental health needs. In July 2019, the State Board of Education mandated new Mental Health Instruction requirements for 5 hours of instruction for all students in grades 6-12. Will these funds be available to create such programming? Charter schools are exempt from the requirement, will they qualify for the funds?
√ Implements the first statewide behavioral threat assessment strategy: Is this in reference to the creation of a controversial Big Brother-like surveillance system that parents, civil rights, privacy and disability advocacy organizations warn may “be used to label students as threats based on data that has no documented link to violent behavior, such as data on disabilities or those seeking mental health care?”
√ Invests in Florida’s military members and their families, in part by giving them vouchers to private religious schools, with no academic standards or oversight, rather than adequately funding the public schools serving military communities. New language in the Governor’s implementing bills gives priority status for Family Empowerment vouchers to dependent children of the US Armed Forces whose parents are transferred to Florida. Remember, these Empowerment vouchers are directly funded via, in part, local property taxes and help fund tuition at private, mostly religious, schools. The voucher does not ensure admission; private schools control their admissions processes. Private schools are also exempt from federal requirements for the education of children with disabilities. In Florida, there is zero oversight of academic standards/accountability at these schools. Are military families asking for the option of sending their children to unaccountable religious schools?
√ Helps children and families in need – unless what they need is a well-funded public school in their community in which case their choice will continue to be ignored.
Not mentioned in his meme but significant items in his Budget Proposal:
More Public Funds to Private Religious Schools: Continues to expand local property tax funded vouchers to private religious schools, with no academic standards or oversight, by doubling the expansion rate and expanding eligible populations. Language in the implementing bill allows current Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipients (funded by diverted corporate taxes) easy transfer to the Family Empowerment voucher (funded directly by you property tax dollars) and allow elementary children currently self-paying at a private school, access to the voucher. Why are more and more of your property tax dollars being used to fund private religious schools? Because, as the Governor has said, “If the taxpayer is paying for education, it’s public education.”
VPK Funding is increased in the Governor’s budget proposal but funding still lags behind inflation: After lamenting low “Kindergarten Readiness” scores and instituting more high-stakes accountability measures in Florida’s Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, increases Base Student Allocation (BSA) of $49 for the VPK school year (the first such increase since FY 2013-2014) fails to keep up with inflation when compared to 2019/20 and remains more than $900/student below (inflation adjusted) 2006/7 levels.
Teacher raises designed to sow discord. Another bogus bonus program. Expansion of vouchers. The illusion of increased funding while failing to keep up with inflation and population growth in critical areas. If these are the Governor’s education priorities, then it looks like public schools are in for another bumpy ride during the upcoming legislative session. Public education will need everyone’s support if it is to survive the impending onslaught.
Getting the Governor to listen is not going to be easy. When Florida’s teachers unions questioned the Governor’s teacher salary proposal, DeSantis dismissed those criticisms as partisan:
“It’s just funny though, I mean look – let’s not pretend there’s not politics involved in this, I mean it’s just the fact of the matter – I’m a republican, they’re not. And so what I’m doing is never going to be enough, and my job is not to do what the union wants, it’s what I think is best for education and particularly for individual teachers.”
The truth is, at the community level, support for public education tends to be nonpartisan. Most communities support their local schools. The Governor’s Budget Proposal makes it clear he has not been listening to teachers or local public school advocates. He can’t possibly know what is best for public education if he’s not listening. Real conversations regarding the impact of these policies on local public schools should be occurring in Tallahassee. Help us get the conversation started:
- Take the time to call the Governor [(850) 717-9337] and contact your state legislators. Let them know that you’re not buying the Governor’s spin. Tell them of your support for public education and your concerns regarding these proposals.
- Consider participating in a rally in Support of Public Education. On MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020 — the eve of the 2020 legislative session — educators and parents will Take On Tallahassee and hold a rally for public education. More info here.
Plan to take action now.