Is Anyone Really Surprised?

What Monroe County’s numbers reveal about Florida’s broken school funding priorities

I saw this image today, and it prompted me to take a closer look at the numbers for my Florida school district: Monroe County.

SURPRISE! Here is the state funding breakdown for Monroe:

• Monroe’s 8,457 Public School students (district and charter) receive $181.86 each from the state (for a total of  $1,537,924).
• While Monroe’s 743 Family Empowerment Scholarship voucher recipients receive $6,786.03 each from the state (for a total of $5,040,326).

What if that $5,040,326 was used to fund Monroe’s public school students instead? Per pupil funding would be nearly $600 more per pupil, which could translate into teacher raises of $8,000/year or a reduction in class sizes, expanded electives,  richer learning experiences, or some combination of all of the above – all of which could directly improve classrooms and student learning.

The Rest of the Story:

The Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) is the state’s primary funding formula for K–12 public schools. It is funded through a combination of state revenue and local property taxes. In districts that are “property rich,” like Monroe, local property owners are asked to generate as much as 90% of their district’s FEFP funding (with the State chipping in the rest). In districts with lower property tax bases, the State contributes a larger percentage of the FEFP. The formula’s goal is equitable funding and the formula, though complex, has withstood court challenges, earns high marks and is often cited as a national model for funding equity.

Since 2019, Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) vouchers have been funded through the FEFP. In 2023, when HB 1 made vouchers universal, the cost of those vouchers – and their impact on public-school funding – skyrocketed. The cost of Florida’s universal school vouchers has broken its K-12 funding formula and, as shown in the recent “Whatever Could Go Wrong, Has Gone Wrong” audit, bankrupted the K–12 funding formula in 2024–25, resulting in a $47 million deficit.

Here are the numbers for Monroe:

According to the 2025–26 FEFP Second Calculation, Monroe County is funded for a total of 9,199.69 students (the decimal reflects part-time enrollment).

• 8,456.94 students attend public schools (district-managed or charter)
• 742.75 students receive publicly funded FES vouchers

Total FEFP funding for Monroe is $121,138,651, of which the Net State FEFP is $6,578,250.

• Total FEFP funding (Monroe): $121,138,651
• Net State FEFP: $6,578,250

In Monroe County, nearly all of the Net State FEFP is consumed by funding for voucher students, while public-school students are funded almost entirely by local property taxes.

• 742.75 FES voucher students:
  • State funding: $5,040,326
  • Per-student state funding: $6,786.03
• 8,456.94 Public school students:
  • State funding: $1,537,924
  • Per-student state funding: $181.86

Although voucher students represent only about 8% of the Monroe students funded through the FEFP, they receive more than three-quarters of the state portion of FEFP dollars. Meanwhile, the remaining 92% of students in public schools are funded almost entirely by local taxpayers, with minimal state support.

What it would look like if 100% of the Net State FEFP were spent on Monroe’s public school students instead of vouchers?

• Net State FEFP: $6,578,250
• Public school students (district + charter): 8,456.94
• $6,578,250÷8,456.94 ≈ $777.90 per public school student (almost $600 more than now)

Currently, Monroe’s public school students receive less than one-quarter of the state funding they would receive if voucher students were not drawing from the Net State FEFP. Instead, the vast majority of state dollars are concentrated on a relatively small number of FES voucher students, leaving local property taxpayers to shoulder almost the entire cost of educating the remaining 92% of students. The funding exists — it’s just being redirected away from public schools.

[It is also important to note that most voucher recipients were never enrolled in public schools to begin with. Universal vouchers have largely subsidized students already homeschooling or attending private schools, often at significant public expense and with far less accountability.)

The state dollars currently absorbed by voucher students in Monroe County are large enough to fund meaningful, across-the-board teacher raises, or significant classroom or instructional enhancements – without raising local property taxes.

Florida has the resources to meaningfully invest in public education but those resources are being diverted elsewhere. Monroe County is not an outlier; the same calculation can be made across Florida, with the same result. This is not a funding problem. It is a policy choice.

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Want to do the calculation for your Florida District?

The 2nd Calculation FEFP is here.

• Total Student Population (K-12 Unweighted FTE Students) is on page 2.
• Net State FEFP is on page 6.
• Adjusted Net State FEFP is on page 7. (this is how much your public schools get, subtract this from Net State FEFP to determine how much the state is funding vouchers in your district)
• Grand Total Family Empowerment Scholarship students is on page 13.

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