FEA Legislative Update - October 8, 2007

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The appropriations conference committees completed their work on Monday. The revised 2007-08 budget is now "cooling off" for the constitutionally prescribed 72 hours before going to final vote by both chambers. That means this Friday (October 12) the House and Senate will take the bills up for debate and vote. It has been reported that the Governor may extend the call of this session to include property tax reform or call another Special Session immediately following Special Session C. Stay tuned!

FEA lobbyist Marshall Ogletree created the following "Cliff Notes" version of the revised budget -for your reading pleasure!

Senate Bill 2-C Budget Reductions/Appropriations

This bill is the budget reduction bill approved by the conference committee. A recap of the impact on education funding is reviewed below. Click here to access the budget. The education section is found on the first 23 pages of the bill.

Prekindergarten
Early learning coalitions are reduced $22.1 million. This reflects a 5.9% decrease in funding but the per pupil funding was not impacted as it is intended to revert only funding for students who failed to enroll in prekindergarten.

K-12
The bill reduces K-12 FEFP appropriations by $269.8 million. The reduction incorporates the total 2007-08 Merit Award Program (MAP) appropriation of $147.5 million. See Senate Bill 6-C for more on MAP.

Most line items were reduced 0.69% except there was no reduction in the Teachers Lead program that is designed to reimburse teachers for buying student learning materials and school supplies. After the reduction, the net increase from the 2006-07 appropriations is 5.19% per student. All school districts were reduced 1.4% but this includes their MAP distributions that were not available for 2007-08 expenditures. To see what this will mean in your district go to the online FEFP report from the conference committee with county-by-county detail.

In the non FEFP category, Excellent Teaching funds were reduced by $14,150,000. See the description of SB 6-C below for details on language.

Public School Workforce
This program was cut a total of $9.5 million or 2.3%. This reflects a nonrecurring allocation of $629,614 (see SB 8-C below) to restore lost tuition revenue from the first 6 months of this fiscal year. This is the five percent tuition increase passed in May that was vetoed by Governor Crist.

Community Colleges
Community college programs were cut a total of $19.4 million or 1.8%, after nonrecurring funds were added back. The recurring cut was $35.3 million but $15.9 million was added back in nonrecurring funds. Of the nonrecurring funds, $11.4 million were to restore lost tuition revenue (funds vetoed by the governor) from the first semester of this school year (see SB 8-C). Note: Some of the specific impacts on each college can be found in SB 2-C.

Universities
The final reduction number for state universities was $58.8 million or 2.5%. The recurring cut was $83.8 million that was offset by a nonrecurring add back of $25 million. A total of $9.5 million of the nonrecurring funds were to restore lost tuition revenue (funds vetoed by the governor) from the first semester of this school year (see SB 8-C). Note: Some of the specific impacts on each university can be found in SB 2-C.

Senate Bill 6-C Relating to Adjustments to Education Appropriations/Pre K-12

Bill highlights:

  • Authorizes commissioner to reduce the class size penalty transfer to fixed capital outlay by 10 percent if the class size operating categorical is reduced in a subsequent appropriation during the same fiscal year.
  • Provides for flexible but limited use of reading instruction and instructional materials funding if districts do so by a resolution of the school board.
  • Modifies the use of 2-mill capital outlay funds to clarify that school districts' class size reduction compliance does not include schools (charter) that do not use district facilities and that for 2007-08 up to $25 per un-weighted FTE can be used for 2007-08 expenses for property and casualty insurance and purchase of certain vehicles.
  • Provides that MAP funds are distributed by July 31 and changes the distribution of funds from September 1 to October 1. Documentation of district MAP expenditures is moved back to November 1.
  • Allows proration of the National Board mentoring payments in any year where funds are insufficient to pay the full amount of the payment.
  • Expresses the intent of the Legislature that any reductions in expenditures by school districts in response to any of the appropriation reductions for the 2007-2008 fiscal year be made in functions other than classroom instruction.

For the full text of SB 6-C click here.

SB 8-C Tuition and Fees for Higher Education

This bill increases tuition by 5% for Public School Workforce, Community Colleges and Universities for the remaining school term. Part of this tuition increase must be used for need-based financial aid and each school district, community college and university must submit a plan to do so by November 21, 2007. The bill also appropriates the nonrecurring funds that restore the lost tuition funds caused by the governor's veto.

For the full text of SB 8-C click here.