Education burden shifted to property owners
Florida continues to rank near the bottom of all states in per-pupil funding.
By Joe Callahan
Staff writer
Published: Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
A decade ago, voters overwhelming passed an amendment to the Florida Constitution that says legislators must make education a top priority.
It was 1998, and more than 70 percent of Florida voters demanded that new wording be added to Article IX, Section 1, entitled Public Education for Children.
"It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders," the Constitution now reads.
Jon Mills, a former speaker of the Florida House and longtime Gainesville resident, penned those words, considered at the time the most definitive education requirement in any state constitution.
Mills, now director of the University of Florida's Center for Governmental Responsibility, said the state has not lived up to that standard.
Instead, lawmakers have shifted the responsibility of paying for K-20 education - kindergarten through college - to property owners.
Of all the state's general revenues - which include sales tax and fees - education's share declined from 61.5 percent in 1984-85 to 50.5 percent in 2005-06.
Looking at just the education budget: In 1985, state sales taxes and fees paid 65 percent of the cost of public education. Now, sales taxes and fees pay only 47 percent. The rest comes from property taxes.
"Local taxpayers are now shouldering the responsibility that should be shouldered by the state," Mills said.
State revenues and property taxes both are subject to fluctuation, depending on the economic climate. But even though there's no perfect ratio, there is a strong sense - outside Tallahassee, at least - that the state just isn't doing its share....
The picture grew darkest in the past (2008-09) school year, when education funding was severely cut, causing school districts around the state to slice programs, reduce staff and trim expenses.
The issue prompts educators to question the state's commitment to education and lawmakers to defend their actions....
Just a few years ago, Florida was flourishing financially. Tourists and new residents flooded into the state and property values soared.
By the 2006-07 budget year, the state collected a record $73 billion in sales taxes, ad valorem tax and other fees.
But then came a recession-led storm that kept away tourists, thus reducing sales tax revenue, and slowed the once-steady stream of incoming residents who supplied new property tax revenue.
When the housing market crashed, which sent property values and revenues plummeting, state funding was like a house of cards in a wind tunnel.
In just three years, the state budget declined by $11 billion, lawmakers say. Thanks to federal bailout money, the state's budget for 2009-10 will top $66 billion.
The 2009-10 total revenue for education is expected to remain constant, but only because federal stimulus dollars are essentially providing a two-year grace period.
In 2006, if the state had funded education at 1985's 61.5 percent level - and if the local efforts remained the same - there would have been $3 billion more in the state education budget, a 22 percent increase.
And that doesn't include about $1 billion in Lottery funds.
Even that would have left Florida about $500 below the national average in per-pupil funding....
The big concern for Florida TaxWatch is that property owners are paying a bigger share for education.
In 2008-09, 53 percent of the education budget was financed by ad valorem taxes. Two decades ago, property owners paid only 35 percent.
But student enrollment in Florida has doubled in 20 years. That's why the budget has grown by $10 billion.
The good way to gauge funding is on per-pupil figures - and Florida ranks among the worst.
Keith Birkett, the assistant superintendent who oversees the budget for Alachua County Public Schools, disputes any claim that the state is paying its share.
"It's smoke and mirrors," he said. "The increase in funding has been based on property tax increases" and not sales taxes....
While the state is reducing education's share of the pie, voters and lawmakers have been adding more unfunded mandates, especially the class-size amendment.
Experts agree that small classes are best. When class sizes remained too high for voters' tastes, advocates eventually went to the voters and asked that requirements be written into the state Constitution. Despite then-Gov. Jeb Bush's fight against it, the effort prevailed, and the state has been trying to find money to pay for it ever since.
When the class-size amendment passed in 2002, Florida lawmakers had to start funneling more money into building classrooms, instead of improving teaching, school officials say. And it also meant many more teachers had to be hired, thus increasing school district expenses.
All told, it crippled school districts, most school experts, lawmakers and finance directors agree. That's because school districts now must abide by the amendment with less revenue than they were receiving back in 2005.
"Before the class-size amendment, we just put more kids in a class until it [economy] got better," said Steve Barrett, Marion County's executive director of support services. "Today, we can't do that."
Barrett says Tallahassee needs to fix this. But, "lawmakers do not have the fortitude to create a mechanism for a dedicated funding source for education," he said.
Barrett said lawmakers need to look at repealing some of the estimated 250 exemptions that could free up as much as $2 billion in revenue.
Tax Watch has a committee reviewing those exemptions. State Rep. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, filed a bill last session that required lawmakers to look at those exemptions. She didn't get much interest, she said....
Judy Preston, a Brevard Public Schools associate superintendent over finance, has become known statewide for her push for better education funding. She believes that education needs more money to operate, and that less should be coming from property owners.
She believes a financial disaster is looming if the economy does not turn around by the end of 2010-11. That's because stimulus money will run out and it appears that lawmakers are not making plans for alternative funding sources....
Alachua County's Birkett said the funding crisis led a grassroots group, called Citizens for Strong Schools, to push last year for a 1 mill levy to help fund Alachua County education.
The four-year funding source was passed in November and will generate about $13 million annually for that district.
That's a prime example where the state is failing and proof that the state needs to step up, experts says....
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