After slashing education spending to its slowest level in six years, Gov. Rick Scott announced Tuesday, he will propose a $1 billion increase in the upcoming 2012-2013 budget.
Scott said he plans to propose to lawmakers an increase in per-student spending from $6,267 to $6,373 in the new budget.
Earlier this year, Scott signed off on a budget which cut $1.35 billion from education funding, bringing that sector’s expenditures to its lowest levels since fiscal year 2005-2006.
Now, facing a $2 billion overall budget deficit, it’s not clear what spending cuts will be proposed to boost the increase in education spending, given that Scott has made it clear he is opposed to raising taxes.
Even if Republican lawmakers did go along with the $1 billion increase in education spending, Democrats said, it would still leave funding on education below the levels before Scott took over. Per-student expenditure dropped by $542 in the current year over fiscal year 2010-11.
Here’s what per-pupil sending looked like over the last eight years:
2011-12: $6,267/student
2010-11: $6,810/student
2009-10: $6,847/student
2008-09: $6,847/student
2007-08: $7,143/student
2006-07: $6,848/student
2005-06: $6,155/student
