Declining enrollment, economy spells hardship for school districts

Only about four years ago, the state's school districts were adding portable classrooms, building new schools and classroom wings and struggling to find enough teachers to fill all those new classrooms.

Now, a faltering economy and declining student enrollment has led to big funding cuts; districts are laying off teachers and some are even closing down schools.

Public school enrollment statewide fell by about 40,000 from 2005 to 2008.

Despite a recent report showing growth in Florida's population, the 2009-10 school year could be another year of regression for school districts.

Between the school years of 2000-01 and 2006-07, enrollment in Highlands County schools increased an average of 216 students each year.

Highlands Deputy Superintendent of Business Operations Mike Averyt said the district won't know its official enrollment, which affects funding, until the February student count, but the district is down about 120 to 130 students compared to last year.

"That means we are going to have less revenue than projected," he said.

The district is slated to receive $3,631 this year in state funding for every enrolled student.

The Highlands December enrollment count is down about 200 students compared to two years ago.

Enrollment in the district peaks during the winter months due, in part, to the influx of migrant families.

With funding shortfalls from the bad economy and reduced enrollment hitting schools, a new committee created by the Florida School Boards Association has compiled a list of funding ideas.

Florida's Economic Commitment to Public Education, chaired by W.C. Gentry, a Duval County school board member, suggests the following revenue sources: a new sales tax for schools, collecting sales tax for online purchases, repeal on some sales-tax exemptions such as those on bottled water, off-shore oil drilling, increased state authorized gambling and a redesigned corporate tax structure.

All the options have critics, but the status quo will not work any longer, Gentry stated according to an Orlando Sentinel report. "We can't rely on continued growth," he said, noting that Florida never financed its schools all that well even when growth was rampant.