School board gets update on state funding plan
Although the governor’s budget was released before winter break for the School District of Lee County, it does not guarantee a certain amount of funding, but rather provides insight with fiscal future.
“The governor’s budget is not actuals. It’s kind of an idea of where they might be thinking and heading as we head into the legislation,” Budget and Grants Director Kelly Letcher said.
The governor’s budget recommendations include an unweighted full-time equivalent increase of $2,173.82 from fiscal year 2026 second calculation. The base student allocation has an increase of $100 from $5,372.60 to $5,472.60.
“Last year it was $94. We ended up at $41. It’s hard to determine where we are really going to land,” she said.
The total funding increase is $39,837,062. The Family Empowerment Scholarships is $13,035,229 and the district schools and charters is $26,801,833.
“One of the things the governor does appear to be doing is breaking the Family Empowerment Scholarships out from actual allocations,” she said. “The Family Empowerment Scholarship is still in place. It was intertwined with our student population. The governor is trying to pull those numbers out separately, so you know what dollars are Family Empowerment and which are for the district schools and charter schools. The Family Empowerment Scholarship is still going strong.”
Some of the decreases include Educational Enrichment of $3.2 million, ESE Guarantee Allocation of $6.4 million and Transpiration at $1.1 million.
Those that received increases include Safe Schools at $471,000, Mental Health Allocation of $505,000 and Academic Acceleration of $628,000.
“Overall, they are proposing a 1.66% increase per FTE and scholarships a 3.76% increase for FTE,” Letcher said.
Board member Sam Fisher said as they look into the future and state revenues level off, they need to be prepared.
“We need to make sure we are pulling and stretching the dollars the furthest,” he said.