Edumacation?! Alexa Thomson [FGCU]

14. March 2010 by student.

Florida Education.

An incredible number of words/thoughts come to mind when those two words are said. For me, it was “pshhh…I heard it sucks.” But to my delight, after a bit of research I found that Florida legislatures are doing what they can to insure a great education for new and coming generations, starting with Pre-K.

Probably the best thing I found to support this evidence, was a PDF that I happened to stumble upon in my research. The author, Susan Aud, is very passionate about getting everyone’s perceptions of “poor education spending” straight. She thoroughly breaks down in big paragraphs and bullet points and even some graphs, to clearly draw the lines on Florida’s real education spending.

“One of the most important issues in education, especially in the last few years, is the question of whether education funding is “adequate.” Unfortunately, this debate is hindered by widespread ignorance, confusion, and misunderstanding about how much we actually spend on education” Susan quotes.

Take a look at these numbers: as of 2006 the education expenditures of day-to-day expenses amounted to $17.6 billion or around $6,931 per student. Here are some averages for the largest districts in Florida.

Broward county: $6,976

Hillsborough County: $7,156

Miami-Dade County: $7,309

Orange County: $6,914

Palm Beach County: $7,424

And these expenditures are still on the rise. And all this money goes where might we ask? Well the majority of it goes to straight up day-to-day expenses such as staff salaries, supplies, utilities, administrative costs, transportation services, school board expenses and so fourth.

An article I read online at convergemag.com talked highly of Charlie Christ’s efforts to increase school spending and aim for higher national standing altogether. He has put together a few fundraising programs to insure that we “do not deprive our kids of the right to learn as much as they can”

Even after my research, the whole thing seems a bit fuzzy in my mind. I don’t now whether to believe our education systems are improving or, if we still stand at a very low ranking amounts our fellow states. Maybe it’s all up to our sociological imaginations to tell us what is, and what isn’t.

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