Budget Department

From 2007-08 through 2011-12, the St. Johns County School District saw its amount of funds per student decreased by the Legislature. When funding reductions occur, the District remains responsible for managing student growth, maintaining constitutional class-size requirements, opening new schools and implementing any new legislative mandates.

Although the 2023 Legislature increased funding for St. Johns County schools by approximately $49.2 million, the financial and economic pressures still facing the District are tremendous. As an example, despite an increase of 18.85 percent in property values this year, the capital outlay millage remains at 1.5 mills rather than the previous levy allowed by law of 2.0 mills. Thus, the ability to raise revenue commensurate with the District’s capital needs is severely restricted. Revenues for the Local Capital Improvement Fund are projected to be $78.1 million, or approximately $9.4 million more than the prior year; yet in 2007-08 the Local Capital Improvement Funds generated approximately $46.8 million. This equates to an approximate 19 percent increase in revenue for capital projects, while at the same time the number of students being served increased by 95 percent from 27,737 students in 2007-08 to 54,145 students in 2023-24. Since 2007-08, the capital outlay budget has lost access to more than $312 million. This revenue loss will continue to jeopardize our ability to maintain existing schools or build new ones as needed. In addition, the ongoing lack of both operating and capital funding could negatively impact the district’s credit rating and its ability to efficiently manage its debt.
On November 3, 2015, to help alleviate the capital funding problem brought on by the aforementioned decreases, the School Board asked the general electorate of St. Johns County to approve a half-penny sales surtax initiative solely for the purpose of funding new construction, renovation/remodeling projects, technology and safety and security measures. The sales tax referendum was passed with more than 60 percent support. This new revenue stream had been steadily growing year over year.

The District’s revenue and expenditure budgets have changed significantly since July 2022. Highlights of the 2023-24 budget process are as follows:

• State & local funding has increased by approximately $49,299,989.

• Per-student funding for 2023-24 is $8,547.97, or approximately 4.21 percent more than the prior year which equates to an increase of $345.22 per student for this year. These dollars are earmarked for categorical line items including Safe Schools, Transportation, Class Size Reduction, and the ESE Guaranteed Allocation. Additionally, dollars are earmarked for new noncategorical line items which were rolled into the Base Funding. Even though many of the “categoricals” are added to the basic funding, we are still mandated to fund the programs those categories represent including Instructional Materials, Comprehensive Reading Allocation, and the Classroom Teacher Supply Allocation & Other Instructional Personnel Salary Increase Allocation.

• Student population for 2023-24 is projected to grow by 7.4 percent, or 3,731 students.

• The 2020 Legislature created the Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (HB 641) which, among other things, requires Florida school districts to increase the minimum base salary to at       least$47,500, or to the minimum amount achievable based on the allocation.

• The District will monitor student growth, Universal Vouchers, Family Empowerment Scholarships,
and other state mandated programs during the 2023-2024 school year.

• The 2023-24 budget will provide over 100 additional instructional staff units.

• Other pressures on the District’s operating budget include the proper funding mechanisms and related plan designs for its self-insured medical plan, legislated increases in the Florida Retirement System contributions, and the growth in the Family Empowerment Scholarship program and Universal Voucher programs.

• Finally, 2023-24 will be the nineth year in a row the Legislature has intentionally “rolled back” the Required Local Effort to not raise local property taxes. This trend is not sustainable and needs to be addressed before its impact becomes a financial distress to school districts around the state.

Florida continues to be in the lowest tier in the nation in terms of per-student funding for operational needs when compared to other states. As previously mentioned, the funding did increase for 2023-24; however, the state has a long way to go to restore Florida K-12 funding to the 2007-08 level.

It cannot be overstated that the District’s capital and maintenance expense budgets continue to be restricted. This is due mainly to the fact that the District student population is growing by 7.4 percent this year and, as stated earlier, has endured several years of declining capital revenue. In fact, the 2007-08 capital fund generated approximately $46.8 million. The same capital fund will generate only $78.1 million in 2023-24. As a reminder, the Florida Legislature reduced the allowable millage levy from 2.0 mills to 1.75 mills in 2008-09 and then again to 1.5 mills in 2009-10. It currently remains at 1.5 mills for 2023-24. For the foreseeable future, capital and maintenance projects must be prioritized with a focus on critical needs only. The District continues to be forced to move from being prepared for growth and using preventive maintenance (in order to minimize costs) to only meeting critical needs.

Although the sales tax revenue added approximately $27.6 million to the capital budget in the prior fiscal year, it is only a fraction of what is truly needed to address the backlog of new construction, technology, safety, and maintenance demands.

In addition, the sales tax revenue also supports approximately $5.6 million in principal and interest payments for the construction of an elementary school and a K-8 school. Of course, this is in addition to the approximate $21.5 million in principal and interest payments for several previously built schools and other projects and is being funded from the 1.5 mill capital outlay levy mentioned above.

In closing, past performance is a good predictor of future performance. To review our past financial performance, please visit our web page at www.stjohns.k12.fl.us, and click on Financial Transparency. There you will find detailed information about your school district’s financial activity.

© 2024 St. Johns County School District