TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Education Association is urging lawmakers to focus on better pay and public school funding this legislative session.
The group of educators is in Tallahassee Thursday to bring their concerns directly to state lawmakers.
With programs like the school-voucher initiative and Schools of Hope, the association worries public school districts are underfunded, short-staffed, and receiving little state support.
“It’s time for lawmakers to listen to the voters in the state of Florida and invest in our public schools,” Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar said. “When we look at all of the challenges that we have in our public schools right now, 45th in the nation, in funding a massive teacher and staff shortage driven by really low funding, really bad policies, we see the inequities.”
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In Dec., Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a proposed 2026-27 budget exceeding $117 billion, allocating $30.6 billion for K-12 public schools and $1.56 billion for teacher pay increases — an increase of $200 million from last year.
“We put our money where our mouth is. We did record funding for teacher pay increases for Florida,” DeSantis said.
Spar argued the funding is not enough to keep educators in the classroom.
“The increase is around $200 million or a little less than $200 million, which, when you divide it among all of the teachers in the state of Florida, does not come close to keeping up with inflation,” he said.
The budget also includes $20 million for the Schools of Hope program, which allows charter schools to share space with public schools.
“(This) is an increase of $14 million to provide critical funding for proven, high-performing charter school operators to establish open and operate within the neighborhoods of Florida’s chronically Florida’s chronically-struggling public schools. Schools of Hope provide an additional option for families to access a world class education for their child,” Florida Department of Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas explained the day the budget was announced.
Spar criticized the potential investment and the ongoing co-location law that allows charter schools to use public-school space.
“Public-school space can be really stolen from these massive corporate charter schools, displacing our students in our neighborhood, public schools, draining more dollars from our public schools, all at taxpayer expense and all at the expense of the learning for our students,” he said.
The Florida Education Association plans to advocate for several bills, including SB 1216, which would provide cost-of-living adjustments for employees who work directly with students.
The Florida Senate last month unanimously passed a bill to overhaul Florida’s school-voucher system. So far, that bill has not seen much movement in the House.
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