State Education Finance and Governance Profile: Florida

Overview & Synopsis

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Florida. The state of Florida has 67 regular school districts as well as additional special districts comprised of developmental research schools and other schools that serve special populations. In 1973, the Florida Legislature adopted the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) as the funding formula to be used to allocate funds appropriated by the Legislature to school districts for K-12 public school operations. The FEFP uses the following information to determine the amount of funding to be allocated: the local property tax base, costs of education programs, costs of living, and scarcity of student population. Meanwhile, Florida's education governance is handled by the members of the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. Although many public schools (2,125) in the state of Florida are making a grade of A or B on the statewide grading scale, slightly more than half of schools (2,512) did not make adequate yearly progress in 2007 as mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This is potential evidence of a disconnect between state and national education standards and requirements. (Contains 1 table.)