Florida’s virtual schools could see a slight funding boost, while charter schools would receive less money for facilities than they did last year, under budget agreements reached by state lawmakers.
House and Senate negotiators met until about midnight on Monday, reaching agreement on budget fine print and their last remaining spending items, including a total of $75 million in capital funding for charter schools and a larger amount for school districts.
Budget negotiators had previously agreed not to overhaul the state’s funding for virtual education programs as proposed by the Senate. Instead, their agreement includes a slight increase in the funding supplement for virtual schools, known as the virtual education contribution.
Florida Virtual School is the largest recipient of funds from the virtual education contribution. The money also supports virtual charter schools and virtual education programs run by school districts, and is intended to bring virtual programs’ funding to the equivalent of $5,200 per full-time student. The new state budget would lift that amount slightly next year, to $5,230.
Star Kraschinsky, FLVS’ director for external affairs, said the slight increase in the virtual education contribution is based on the bonus funding that brick-and-mortar schools receive for students who earn industry certifications and college credits, which virtual schools don’t currently receive.
She said the increase could provide Florida Virtual School with an estimated $1 million in additional revenue, which she said it plans to invest in developing more career-education courses, which legislative leaders like Senate President Don Gaetz have pushed to expand.
That would be an increase of less than 1 percent, but in a year that follows funding changes that cost FLVS tens of millions of dollars, Kraschinsky said the outcome of this year’s budget talks was “very positive” for the award-winning program.
On Monday, budget negotiators also agreed to provide charter schools with $75 million for capital expenditures like leases, construction costs and technology, a reduction of nearly $15 million from what they received last year. They also earmarked $4.8 million for university lab schools, which have also received funding through the charter school capital outlay.
School districts, meanwhile, would receive more than $110 million in state capital funding, the first substantial sum they’ve received in four years. More than half of that total is earmarked for specific construction projects in a handful of rural school districts.
The Senate’s budget chairman, Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said the capital program was intended to “address needs for a lot of counties where there are fiscal challenges and just do some general work in making sure our public schools are well taken care of.”
Charter school advocates had been hoping to receive $100 million in capital funding, in a year when charter enrollment climbed to more than 229,000.
Robert Haag, president of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, said when charter schools do not receive enough capital funds to cover the costs of their facilities, they have less money to spend on instruction. While school districts can raise local revenue for capital needs, charter schools rely on year-to-year appropriations from the Legislature.
“At some point in time, we’re going to have to have a recurring source of funds, just like the school districts have a secure source of funds,” Haag said.
