Florida Education: Winners, Losers, and Casualties
Sarasota Herald Tribune - August 28, 2025
Schools are open, and students are back in class after a tumultuous summer of budget battles. Florida lawmakers, weeks beyond their deadline, finally passed a budget in June, which Governor DeSantis signed into law.
Meanwhile, federal money - already allocated - was withheld. Weeks later, it was suddenly released. For months, school districts couldn’t count on needed funds. Despite the drama, our neighborhood district schools have survived and are moving forward.
The League of Women Voters is a longtime supporter of public education as foundational to a democratic society. So, let’s take a look at how the budget battles created winners, losers, and casualties.
Winners in the Budget Battles:
- Vouchers: In the name of Parental Choice, Florida continues to move towards privatizing education at taxpayer expense. The 2025 budget offered hefty increases to voucher funding for home and private education – without accountability.
- Charter schools: “Schools of Hope” were originally created to serve children in areas with persistently low performing public schools. A last-minute budget agreement allows these charter schools to co-locate, rent free, in public schools with available space. This puts these charter schools – many managed by for-profit, out-of-state companies - in direct competition with struggling traditional schools.
- Secondary programs: Popular programs like Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, Dual Enrollment, and Career Technical Education had faced drastic cuts. A huge public outcry helped to restore these funds – but only for 2025. More funding battles loom ahead.
Losers in the Budget Battles:
- Taxpayers: Vouchers for private and home education are taxpayer funded, yet lack accountability or transparency. Nearly one in four dollars allocated to education go to vouchers, the majority religious schools.
- Teachers: Despite claims of record funding for teacher pay, Florida teachers are losing the fight against inflation. This year’s raises result in net gains of $18-$20 per paycheck for most teachers. Florida remains 50th among states for teacher pay.
- Families with Young Children: Florida lawmakers cut funding for early learning programs by 5.7% - just as more families than ever rely on this support. Federal funds for after-school programs in Leon County were eliminated shortly after school started.
- School Districts: Increases to school funding are insufficient to cover rising costs, including insurance. The Base Student Allocation increased by only $41.62. This 0.8% increase doesn’t keep pace with inflation or student needs.
Students are the Casualties!
When politicians and policy makers value profits and political points over an equitable system of public schools, kids and families suffer the most. When funds are pulled away from traditional public schools to fund private and for-profit charter schools, fewer dollars are left to fund programs to support struggling students and schools.
The League of Women Voters stands firmly with the promise of a well-funded, fair, accountable system for all Florida’s children. We remind politicians to focus on their duty to follow Florida’s Constitution which states:
“The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida…Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools…”
Rosemary Niles (Citrus County) and Sally Butzin (Leon County) are members of the state education task force of the League of Women Voters of Florida. For more information go to
www.lwvfl.org