Educational Crisis for Florida
Categories: In The News, Miami Beach, Real Estate News
hiAs the budget cuts appear so do the big holes in your child’s education. For all you parents out there here are the facts.
- Florida ranks 49th to 50th in tax dollars spent on public schools in the nation depending on the program, but never higher than 49th.
- Florida ranks 49th in out of state placement at University’s in the nation.
- Florida ranks #1!!!!!! (In high school drop outs)
- Florida lawmakers agreed to a 100 Million Dollar Education budget cut the same week they signed a 300 Million Dollar Deal for the new Marlins Stadium we all voted down.
- Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties pay a higher percentage of property tax than all of the other counties in the state. Yet we receive less of educational tax dollars back through the state than all the other counties in the state.
- The School Board has asked the teachers to pay for their own health care insurance.
- The district has recently announced due to cuts they will no longer provide busing to Charter Schools. Imagine how this will affect low income parents who have to be at a job by 8 am and can’t afford a private bus.
The budget cuts to date mean our little North Beach Elementary now spends approximately $700 per child on education. This does not cover the costs of Teachers Salaries, the building, or running costs of the building. This is new books, paper, copies, etc… It has survived so well due to the fact that Friends of North Beach and the PTA supplement the budget by 350K a year.
To put this into perspective a child in a private prep school will pay $1250 for a year of school lunch. Now we all know why schools like Ransom Everglades ranked in the top 10 in the Nation had over 2,000 applicants for 6th grade this year. Parents desperate to spend in excess of 25K per year just to assure a good education. In states like North Carolina the average cost for all (State and Private) Universities is 10K a year, 2.5 college tuition’s for the cost of one sixth grader! The situation is not pretty nor likely to get better any time soon. Be aware of what is happening in the state legislature even if you do not have children in the school district. This affects us all as business are leaving Florida due to the lack of education in the general workforce.
