Session ends with $88.7 billion budget; critics say it shortchanges schools, state workers

Florida lawmakers finished the 2018 legislative session Sunday with the approval of a record $88.7 billion state budget that included $170 million in tax cuts. The spending plan includes $400 million in school security measures and immediately earned an F grade from educators for shortchanging the operations budget for public schools.

The Senate passed the proposal 31-5 and the House of Representatives 95-12. It is 7.6 percent more than the current budget and is balanced with a $400 million sweep of trust funds and $200 million in reserves.

Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, was the only member of the Leon delegation to vote no.

“We did not give all state employees a raise,” said Montford. Certain law enforcement officers, and firefighters and members of the judiciary will get a boost in pay.

“We have left out of thousands of other state employees. That is not good for Florida and that is not good for the workers personally,” said Montford.

Lawmakers had extended the 2018 legislative session after a Valentine's Day mass shooting at a public high school disrupted the legislative calendar. Thousands of protesters marched on the Capitol to demand lawmakers address school security and access to guns.

Amidst crafting a state budget in the session's final days, the Legislature produced a wide-ranging plan to make schools more secure, implement and fund mental health programs and the state’s first gun control measures in a generation.

“We showed government can work,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard. “Yes, people have problems with some of it but we came together and we did it in less than three weeks.”

A combination of safe schools, security, and mental health initiatives will spend $400 million to prevent mass shootings at public schools. That will boost per-student spending to $7,408, a $101 increase.

School superintendents, though, say if you take out the school safety money, the increase amounts to just 47 cents in the base student allocations, a quarter of the rate of inflation.

The base student allocation pays to keep the school doors open, said Montford.

“It’s the operational budget. The utilities, property insurance, salaries. The cost of doing business is not covered by 47 cents,” he told other senators, reading a letter from the superintendents of the 10 largest school districts calling for a no vote.

“Florida school districts will have to cut programs. Will have to find a way to save money and scrape by,” said Montford. “We told them to put a school resource officer in every school. And then we don’t give them money to pay for it.”

The budget sent to Gov. Rick Scott will spend $21.1 billion on public schools and relies on $107 million increase in the required local effort raised through property taxes. Scott said he fought for more money for schools and that lawmakers earmarked “significant” resources towards education.

“We do have more money for our students this year,” said Scott. “But this year it was important to listen to these parents (from Parkland), these families and focus on school safety and that’s what we did.”

The new budget will also make permanent expansion of the Bright Futures scholarship to include full coverage of tuition and the summer term. The $121 million increase in the scholarship is included in the education bill Scott signed Sunday.

Most state employees will go without a pay raise but a select few will see more money. There is a 7-percent hike for Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers – 10 percent for those with 10 years of service.

Officers for the Department of Juvenile Justice will see a 10-percent pay raise.

Firefighters will get a $2,500 bump in salaries

Supreme Court justices are in line for a 36-percent raise if Scott signs off on it. The new state budget provides a $54,400 raise for each of the seven justices, increasing their salaries to $220,600.

Three justices are set to retire and lawmakers explained those upcoming vacancies were a factor in the decision to award the judges a five-figure salary increase.

Slipped into the package of back-to-school and hurricane-preparedness tax holidays is a provision allowing more flexibility in how tourism tax dollars can be spent.

“It will make a huge difference,” said Fine, who sponsored the amendment. “It will transform how we fund the repair of the Indian River Lagoon. Our Lagoon is dying and this is a way to spend $10 million more each year to fix it if the local government chooses to act.”

Lawmakers propose spending $4 billion on environmental programs. Florida Forever will get $100 million if Scott signs the budget. Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley said it is the biggest commitment to the conservation and recreation land-buying program since the Great Recession.

The $88.7 billion budget represents a 27-percent increase (in constant dollars) in state spending since Scott signed his first budget in 2011 ($69 billion). That year he vetoed $615 million in spending.

Scott has 30 days to decide whether to veto items once the budget lands on his desk.

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. News Service of Florida contributed to this report.