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Florida school districts

The Florida public school system (prekindergarten-grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards members and superintendents. Florida has sixty-seven public school districts with geographical boundaries that are identical to the geographical boundaries of Florida's 67 counties. There are also several special school districts.

The Florida state constitution requires that the state offer free and "adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders." Additionally, by 2010 the Florida Legislature requires that prekindergarten through grade 3 classrooms not exceed 18 students, grades 4 through 8 not exceed 22 students, and grades 9-12 not exceed 25 students.[1]

School spending

See also: Florida state budget
Florida's education costs are 1/3 of the state budget

The state of Florida had an approximately $65.5 billion budget for FY 2009, of that education was approximately a third of the total budget, $20.5 billion.[2] In 2009, in light of a national and state economic decline, state officials eliminated $466 million in education spending. Additionally, according to the 2008 Deficit-Elimination Package, they presented an option for school administrators to volunteer for pay cuts and limited the severance of teachers and administrators to one year.

The Florida Department of Education provides a list of past, current, and future school enrollment totals for each district.

  • On July 1, 2009, officials announced that the state's budget crisis has forced the state to eliminate summer school for 2009.[3]

School districts throughout Florida -- many having billion dollar budgets, thousands of employees, and dozens of properties -- are finding major problems as tighter and tighter budgets raise more and more questions about where the money goes. The Broward County School Board is perhaps the poster child of such activities. Deemed "officially corrupt" by a Florida Grand Jury, in the past 10 years Broward has seen billions of dollars dished out to a select group of contractors, leaving the school board with a two billion dollar debt. Charges of deliberately building unnecessary schools, has climbed all the way to the superintendent's office and led to the arrest of board members, along with one of their spouses. Though the grand jury did not make any direct accusations, it said that the district is victim to "malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance." [4]

Personnel salaries

Florida's school superintendents make impressive salaries in comparison to other states. For example, one superintendent is reported to make $298,756 a year. [5]

According to a May 2008 report by the Florida Department of Education, the average salary of a public school teacher in the 2007-08 school year was approximately $46,922, a $1,626 (3.6 percent) increase from 2006-07. In the 2006-07 school year the average salary was $45,296. In 2003 the average salary was approximately $40,598.

Monroe, Collier, Broward and Dade school districts have the highest teacher salaries in the state ranging from $50,000 to as high as $54,083 a year. [6]

Teacher contracts

In the state of Florida, teachers are usually hired on annual contracts. After a span of three years, teachers are typically awarded "professional service contracts," commonly known as tenure. Tenure offers special protections from firing, for example during layoffs and budget cuts. However, in recent years, the practice has come under scrutiny because some argue it makes it hard to fire "bad teachers" or has a tendency to "push out young teachers." Supporters of the practice argue that tenure helps draw people into teaching and that getting rid of the current system won't guarantee that firing decisions are based on "quality or need."[7]

Transparency

See also: Evaluation of Florida school district websites
  • In June 2009, a Florida circuit court judge ruled that "a man has no right to have access to thousands of names, addresses and telephone numbers of employees and their dependents enrolled in the Manatee County School District’s health insurance plan." Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas said the information is exempt under Florida law and cannot be requested. The ruling comes in light after Joel Chandler made a public records request for health insurance information from all the Florida school districts.[8]
  • In early 2009, Sen. Mike Fasano sponsored Senate Bill 468 is sponsored. The bill proposes to exempt personal identifying information regarding the health and benefit coverage of public school employees from the Sunshine Law. The transparency legislation was proposed in reaction to the outcry that arose after Joel Chandler requested the information.[9]
  • In May 2009, Polk County court judge ruled that Wes Bridges, the Polk County School District's lawyer, was guilty of violating the state's public records law despite the "admirable" attempt. Bridges pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge and was ordered to pay $275.50 in fine and court costs.[10] Bridges was charged on April 17 2009 after a complaint was filed stating that the attorney made continuous excuses for withholding public records after Joel Chandler submitted his request. [11]

List of school districts

Florida's 10 largest school districts are in Miami-Dade County, Florida (345,000 students),[12] Broward County, Florida (255,174), Hillsborough County, Florida (191,181), Palm Beach County, Florida (171,658), Orange County, Florida (172,943),[13] Duval County, Florida (124,050), Pinellas County, Florida (104,305), Polk County, Florida (93,179), Lee County, Florida (81,870)[14] and Brevard County, Florida (71,592).[15] [16]

Florida counties
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Special school districts

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Florida Constitution,"Article IX, Section 1," retrieved June 24,2009
  2. ↑ Florida state FY 2009 budget, retrieved June 24,2009
  3. ↑ The New York Times,"Florida among states cutting summer school classes," July 1, 2009
  4. ↑ The Bradenton Times, Under budget microscope, Florida school board find mismanagement, July 8, 2011
  5. ↑ Florida Superintendents make impressive salaries - they insist they are worth it
  6. ↑ Florida Department of Education, "Teacher Salary, Experience, and Degree Level, 2007-08," May 2008
  7. ↑ St. Petersburg Times,"Tenure often determines if Florida teachers keep jobs," April 9, 2009
  8. ↑ Bradenton Herald,"Judge rules employees’ info off limits," June 23,2009
  9. ↑ Florida Senate,"SB 468," retrieved June 29,2009
  10. ↑ The Ledger,"Polk Schools Lawyer Broke Law On Records," May 14,2009
  11. ↑ The Ledger,"School Board's Lawyer Faces Charges," April 18,2009
  12. ↑ Miami-Dade school enrollment
  13. ↑ orange county enrollment
  14. ↑ enrollment totals (p.17)
  15. ↑ Florida's largest school districts
  16. ↑ full-time enrollment 2009-2010

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