ORLANDO, Fla. — As Florida legislators get ready to vote on the budget later this evening, state Rep. Anna Eskamani addressed how it will affect schools in central Florida.
“Our school district is going to continue to struggle to make ends meet. As we recently saw, OCPS had to essentially end the contracts of 800-some teachers,” said Eskamani, D-Orlando.
The $115.1 billion budget won’t include any increases to help save teachers’ jobs locally, but advanced acceleration programs will continue, such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which allows students to graduate early.
“We were able to stop that from happening and those programs will remain untouched. However, when it comes to substantial teacher pay salaries, there is not a lot of focus or prioritization on that in this budget,” Eskamani said.
Teacher Kevin Strang said this makes it challenging for everyone involved.
“I went from a normal teacher load, around 480 students, clear up to 210 students,” he said.
And to make matters worse Eskamani said part of the state budget further emphasizes the privatization of public education.
House budget Chairman Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, says the final budget is fiscally sound, saying, “What Floridians are getting is a Legislature that thoughtfully appropriated money in a balanced way but still managed to invest in education in a record manner.”
The plan also includes a sales tax holiday in August for back-to-school items.
Lawmakers projected to reduce state and local government revenue by about $1.3 billion next year.
“There are back-to-school holidays. There are tax breaks on generators, batteries and other items that intersect with hurricane preparedness,” Eskamani said.
But there are areas where taxes are being eliminated. Eskamani said the electric vehicle program will be eliminated, meaning drivers won’t get a tax break for buying electric vehicles.
She also said the Agency for Person’s with Disabilities didn’t get the money it was expecting to deal with a very long wait list with 20,000 people.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
