The two chambers of the Florida Legislature proposed different approaches to funding charter school facilities in their competing spending plans released late last week.
The ensuing negotiations could affect not only charter schools’ bottom lines but those of nearly two-thirds of Florida’s school districts.
A major education law passed last year, coupled with a trio of lawsuits aiming to block it, add extra layers of potential intrigue to the annual budget talks.
The current state budget provides $50 million in state funding for Charter School Capital Outlay and another $50 million for school districts.
The state Senate’s plan for next year would largely keep that template, but it would shift the allocations. Charter schools would get $25 million and districts would get $75 million.
At first blush, that might look like a gift to districts at charters’ expense, but it isn’t quite that simple.
The state distributes charter school capital outlay funds among 544 of the state’s roughly 650 charter schools. After that, under a contentious new law passed last year, districts are required to top that money off with money from local property taxes.
This year, school districts’ share of charter school capital funding comes to about $91.2 million. They’re required to distribute the money by Feb. 1. Add the $50 million in state funding, and that brings the statewide total to about $141 million for charter schools.
If the state cut its share of charter capital funding from $50 million to $25 million, as the Senate has proposed, some school districts would have to pick up a larger share of the bill. The Senate would offset that impact by boosting state funding for districts.
But some districts, like Polk and Pasco Counties, would still have little or no money to contribute to charters. That’s because the new law lets districts set aside money they need to cover their long-term debt. As a result, charters in rural and suburban districts with large debt loads or thin tax bases could be in for a budget cut.
The House has proposed a different approach, with more money for K-12 public school capital expenses overall. It would set aside more than $120 million for charters and $50 million for districts. That’s enough to cover most of charter schools’ share of capital funding. Therefore, it would substantially ease the new law’s impact on school districts. It also would smooth over the impact on charters in districts with little local money to share.
In addition, having the state foot most of the bill for charter school capital would create a sort of one-year insurance policy. If districts prevail in one of their three lawsuits challenging HB 7069 over the next year and a half, charters would see less immediate impact.
Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, the House’s education budget chief, has said he was looking at ways to insulate charter schools from the HB 7069 lawsuits. And Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville, said he wanted lawmakers to steer more money to district-run and charter public schools alike. The House’s plan would achieve those aims.
But here’s where things could get tricky as the House and Senate try to reconcile their competing proposals. It’s not just districts and charter schools competing over state funding through the Public Education Capital Outlay. The same pot of money is also the lifeblood of construction projects at state colleges and universities.
The Senate in recent years has made higher education a priority. Accordingly, its spending plan would set aside a larger share of capital funding for colleges and universities. Higher education officials have at times noted that, unlike school districts, they have no authority to raise local property taxes.
By passing the law last year requiring districts to share more local property taxes with charter schools, lawmakers had pushed to insulate charters from this four-way tug-of-war over an uncertain funding source that has not kept pace with their steady growth. Charter school leaders felt the old system shortchanged their students.
Of course, districts didn’t like the fact that last year’s funding solution came at their expense, which is why so many of them went to court.
It appears the tug-of-war isn’t quite over yet.
The two chambers are expected to tweak and approve their rival budgets over the next two weeks. Then, they will have until the first week of March to reconcile their proposals in time for the end of the 60-day legislative session.
