TALLAHASSEE – While others were networking and creating new business contacts, Clay County Superintendent David Broskie worked at last week’s Clay Day at the Florida State Capitol.

He politely lobbied the Clay County District School’s case against the legislature’s proposed cuts, using House Bills 5101 and 2510, as lawmakers seek to save every dollar for taxpayers.

“I think it went well,” Broskie said after meeting with Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Reps. Sam Garrison and Judson Sapp. “We’ll see.”

The bills are expected to receive a final vote before the session ends in the final week of May.

Legislators said the cuts are necessary to make up deficits that school vouchers created. The state expanded eligibility for public school vouchers to all students, along with increasing annual enrollment caps for students with Unique Abilities, in 2023 as more funds were diverted from traditional public education to private schools and home-schooled students.

Schools received bonuses for students who excelled with dual enrollment IB, AICE, Advanced Placement and earned certifications in Career and Technical Education classes. If the bills pass, those bonuses would be cut by as much as 50%.

Broskie told school board members that the budget for the add-on fund would reduce from $5.8 million to $1.9 million during a workshop on April 22.

“It’s not good news,” he said. “The district will take a posture of re-evaluating allocations. We’ll see what the budget actually comes out to be. I wanted to prepare for doom and gloom, right? But it's not really a budget. If the governor signs it, we'll see what happens here in the next couple weeks.”

Broskie also said the District won’t cut any services.

“It will have an impact on students,” he said. “You can't deny that. It's a fact. We're always going to do what's right for kids. But you're asking, ‘Are you going to be asked to do it with less money? The answer is unequivocally yes.’”

Nobody will be laid off, and no services will be cut, Broskie said.

It will have a dramatic impact on the District’s CTE program.

“When students earn industry certifications as part of their career and tech ed course, the school district gets bonus funding for those students earning those certificates,” said District CTE Supervisor Kelly Mosley. “For example, if a student earns their CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) or their EKG (Electrocardiogram Technician), or if they earn their NCCER (National Center for Construction Education Research) certification, then, based on their performance of earning that, the district gets money. We can use that money to purchase more industry certifications for students, or buy equipment, or buy consumable supplies, or anything like that.”

Broskie said the District spends $4 million a year on the industry certification exams. The certification tests are administered by companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, and leaders in the nursing, agriculture, and technology industries.

Mosley said 1,926 CTE students graduated certified in their fields a year ago. There are 15 CTE fields in the District with more than 130 CTE instructors.

Broskie also warned that the state has proposed an overall budget increase that is less than the rate of inflation.

Sapp said the cuts are necessary, not just for Florida’s schools, but for all aspects of the state.

“I think that while it's going to be tough, I think we've got to make adjustments,” he said. “I think there will be good-faith policy that comes out of that.

“If it brings more ability to use your budgets than you had before, and some aspects like that, that will, long term, be good. Will it be a little difficult at first? Yeah, it's going to be a little bit difficult, but if we've saved Florida's result, and I think that's the important thing.”

Sapp represents the southern end of Clay County.

Garrison said the state is going through financial growing pains. He admitted the needs are real, but so is the need to tighten the purse strings.

“The jail was old when I was working there 20 years ago,” he said. “I think what you're seeing right now, at least from the House perspective, is probably a little bit more on the way to give you the money, you have to figure out what to do with it, as opposed to get this, get this for this, get this for this.

“The question, of course, is how much? Because the challenges are increases in costs, anticipated costs, whether it's retirement costs or basic inflationary costs. Things cost more than they did three years ago.”