Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday that he wants state lawmakers to boost charter school capital funding to $100 million for the 2015-16 school year. That would be a high-water mark since he took office office, and a $25 million increase from a year before, when charter schools’ construction funding was reduced.
Construction funds have been scarce for all types of schools since the end of the last recession. They’ve started to recover, but charter schools often have to compete with school districts, colleges and universities for facilities funding in the state budget.
Charters received $75 million for the current year, a reduction of more than $15 million from a year earlier, or about $299 for every charter school student in the state.
This school year, Florida’s charter school enrollment surpassed the quarter-million mark, reaching 250,430 according to the state’s latest statistics. That steady growth means the fluctuating amounts in the charter school capital outlay fund are constantly being stretched among more students and schools.
Robert Haag, the president of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, said in a statement that advocates “appreciate Governor Scott’s support of parental choice” in his early budget announcements.
“(Scott’s) proposal of $100 million for capital outlay funding will go long way in helping public charter schools better serve their students,” Haag said. “However, we hope this amount is a starting point and that the final capital outlay allocation will be larger to match the growing demand for charter schools from families across Florida.”
Scott’s proposal comes days after he said he wants an overall funding increase for the state’s public schools. Charters will likely continue to trail school districts by hundreds of dollars per student when it comes to overall capital funding because districts are able to raise local taxes which they generally don’t share with charters. That hasn’t stopped critics from crying foul when lawmakers propose funding increases for charter school facilities, in part because needs have risen in districts, too.
