Vibrant Communities Need Quality Public Schools

Here is the full text of a Letter to the Editor of the Florida Keys Free Press, written by Monroe County School Board Member (and co-founder of Accountabaloney), Sue Woltanski:

Florida Politics’ “Winners and Losers” list has named Traditional Public Schools as the “Biggest Loser” of the 2019 legislative session, shuddering to think how much worse things could get for the schools attended by 2.8 million of Florida’s children. The Tampa Bay Times, in an editorial published in The Citizen, outlined the decades-long dismantlement of traditional public education by a legislature intent on funneling tax dollars to private education options, rather than adequately funding our locally controlled public schools. While some may call it hyperbole, Florida’s lawmakers have clearly failed their paramount constitutional duty to adequately fund a uniform, safe, high quality system of free public schools. Some are even suggesting that any time public dollars are spent to educate a child, in any way, it should be considered public education – choosing to rewrite definitions rather than fund our traditional public schools. 

The 2019-20 Education Budget has been carefully crafted to allow lawmakers to celebrate “record education spending” but the truth is sobering. Much of this year’s “increased spending” is the result of a shell game, reflecting the shifting of education dollars for arbitrary teacher bonuses and turnaround funds from the State’s General Fund to the FEFP (the portion paid primarily by our property taxes), giving the illusion of increased spending per pupil. In addition, a new $130 million private school voucher program was created to share per-pupil funding with public schools. As this voucher program grows, it will allow the appearance of increased per-pupil spending while directly defunding public schools. Finally, claims of record spending ignore the impact of inflation: proposed per pupil funding, when corrected for inflation, lags pre-recession 2007-8 spending by more than $1,000 PER CHILD. Faced with skyrocketing housing costs, it will be difficult to retain quality teachers on funding that fails to keep up with inflation. 

Budgets reflect priorities, and in a year where Florida’s General Revenue rose from $29 billion to $34 billion, it is clear our legislators are not prioritizing our local public schools. Is it a death sentence like the Tampa Bay Times suggested? I hope not. Vibrant communities need quality public schools.
 
Sue Woltanski M.D.
Monroe County School Board District 5
Views are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Monroe County School Board