Push for more education funding in Florida schools

One Florida lawmaker just filed a bill to require 80% of a state program’s funding to be allocated to teachers and classes. While it seems like an obvious solution, it is more complicated than that.

Mary Jane and Kenneth Hayes have 13 grandchildren. Each one appreciates their teacher.

“They’re going home and doing work at home and their lesson planning and I don’t think that’s a lot it in their work schedule every day,” Mary Jane said. “I don’t think we pay our teachers enough.”

It is why they like the idea of Sen. Manny Diaz’s new bill.

If passed, the bill would mandate that at least 80% of the money from the Florida Education Finance Program goes directly to teachers and students. That means it goes to teacher salaries, school supplies and technology.

Peter Bergerson, a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, told WINK News the bill might disadvantage students in rural areas.

“The urban areas have more students, more classrooms,” Bergerson said. “If this legislation were to pass, they would get more money and the rural areas would get less.

These grandparents of 13 said something needs to be done.

“They’re doing a great job,” Mary Jane said. “It’s just not a respected profession anymore and it should be.”

However, the bill never made it through committee. If Bergerson had to guess, he said it would fail again. The political science professor emphasized that teacher salaries and student resources can be funded by local governments, as well as those federal funds.