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School leaders in Florida have made it clear for years that they want more money to manage their districts.
They asked legislators for higher funding per student and the freedom to spend that money where it was needed. They asked for more money for construction and insisted that property tax rates remain the same so that schools can take advantage of higher values.
Not so fast, says Ron DeSantis, the Republican candidate for governorship.
He suggests that the system already contains a lot of money – unlike Democrat Andrew Gillum, who has argued a rise in the corporate tax rate to increase spending on education by $ 1 billion.
We just have to spend more wisely, DeSantis suggested, calling for a reduction in "bureaucratic waste and administrative inefficiency".
His goal: to direct 80% of all public funds dedicated to education "in the classroom". This is his slightly modified approach to the "65% solution" that several states, including Florida, have explored but abandoned more than a decade ago.
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The details are where the topic of discussion becomes risky. The DeSantis campaign does not define what it means by "in the classroom". His examples of waste and inefficiency include about $ 125,000 in administrative increases in Broward County that the local school board has already interviewed.
A spokesman for DeSantis said the proposal was still under construction and that it would include consultations with teachers, parents and lawmakers.
"The list will include things that any Floridian will be able to look at and say yes, these are things that go to class to help our kids learn," spokesman Stephen Lawson said.
State registers show that school administrative expenses have increased over the past five years. On average, districts spent 16% more on administration per student in 2016-17 than five years earlier, essentially at the same pace as inflation.
Still according to Dominic Calabro, CEO of Florida TaxWatch, "There is a lot of money in education that is not spent in class, I'm not saying it's a waste, but it's a lot of money. "
It targets functions such as information technology, student transportation, building safety and maintenance, and other operational needs. And, as in any large enterprise, inefficiencies may exist.
According to Calabro, the problem is that school districts do not always try to rationalize these costs. This could save millions of dollars, he suggested, which would be used to improve student learning.
According to him, this requires regular attention to detail and a constant search for improvement.
School district leaders say they have actually sought to control spending through annual department-by-department budget reviews.
For example, the Hillsborough County Administrative Team reported the removal of nearly 2,000 jobs, including more than 50 district directors, in three years.
Yet this type of effort can not go so far, suggest the officials.
The members of the Pasco County School Board continued to face barriers this summer by discussing the reallocation of funds to increases, as almost all items on the list could have requirements or drawbacks, such as: a possible reduction in the credit rating.
They wonder if the problem is wasteful or if they have not been funded enough to do everything they are supposed to do – and it goes well beyond education.
Officials in many districts say that, according to the definition of "in the classroom", they are already approaching the 80% mark sought by DeSantis. Much of this money comes from the salaries and benefits they pay to people who work with students, but not all of them directly.
Trying to go up much higher, they suggested, could be difficult – especially if the state continues to tax their money to spend a lot of its time.
"If you think about it, we have not really had any significant increase, and all the increases we've received are consistent with most of our categorical contributions," said Olga Swinson, director of school finances. Pasco, referring to public funds such as: lottery funds allocated to certain expenses.
Swinson, who also chairs the Florida School Finance Council, noted that legislators have spent millions of dollars in new funding this year on security and mental health services – which can not be considered "class" spending – while increasing the rest of the operating budget by only 47 cents per student.
"I do not know how you limit us to 80% of the money that has to be used for teaching purposes when we have little control over the money that is paid to us," she declared.
At the same time, the Board of Finance that she heads, who advises Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, has observed in a white paper that Florida education funding does not have the same effect. had not kept up with rising costs.
"It would increase the average funding by an additional $ 1,120, or 15%, to $ 8,528 per student to offset the estimated impact of inflation as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ", said board members Michael Burke of Palm Beach Schools and Ron Steiger of Miami-Dade Schools.
To complicate matters, the state forced districts – which in many countries are the largest employers – to reduce their tax rates by an average of 18 percent over three years, while municipalities and local governments not face the same reductions.
Over the years, the student population has increased and the districts have added new schools to serve them.
Even though they needed to reduce their administrative ranks, Swinson said, the job would remain, whether it was disciplining the students or paying the bills.
"It's not like the state says," You're down 1% and you're not forced to do all those things, "said Swinson. increase my budget in overtime. "
Calabro compared Florida's education spending to money in a mattress.
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"I do not know if there is enough money in the whole mattress," he said. "I know it's a very bumpy mattress, with too much in some areas and not enough in others."
He then accurately summarized the nuances of a situation that politicians from both parties tried to address in different ways. Financing education in Florida depends as much on who decides how money is spent as whether there is enough money to spend.
Calabro suggested that some guidelines and best practices could help save money. The main thing, he said, is to try to reduce and control costs over time, without imposing more constraints on schools that put pressure on the system.
"You can put blame everywhere," he says. "The question is, what are you going to do about it?"
DeSantis asked for audits of the money spent and suggested reducing waste rather than raising taxes. The auditor is already reviewing the districts regularly, but not annually.
Lawson, the campaign spokesperson, said, "The best way to determine how the government can use taxpayers' money more effectively is to look at how it is being spent."
Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at [email protected] Follow @jeffsolochek.
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