Pre-K-12 Education Team

Mission:  The mission of the Pre-K-12 Education Team is to raise public awareness about the lack of adequate funding for public education in the State of Florida and to provide holistic solutions to key policymakers, such as the Governor and State Legislature. 

Issues:  Florida ranks 50 out of 50 (dead last) in educational spending.  Neighboring Southern states, such as: Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina rank much higher in educational spending than Florida.  Florida’s State Constitution states that providing children with an adequate education is a PARAMOUNT DUTY of the State.  Florida is a very low tax state, ranking 47 out of 50 in the country. 

Solutions:  The Governor and Legislature should explore creative and innovative revenue-creation ideas in order to provide much-needed funding for Florida’s severly underfunded K-12 public education system.  Repeal any and all sales tax exemptions and exclusions which are not clearly found to be in the public’s interest and earmark said funds specifically to increase the base student allocation.  In addition, the State of Florida must become a full member of the Streamlined Sales Tax Initiative which involves enforcement of already-existing laws to collect sales tax on internet and other remote sales transactions and earmark funds specifically to education.  The State should explore other options, including but not limited to: increasing the cigarette tax; reducing the lottery jackpot (winning) amounts in order to allocate a larger portion of lotto ticket sales revenues to education; impose an estate tax, income tax, and service tax; mandate a costing-out study in order to ascertain what it means to “adequately” fund education in the State of Florida.