Northeast Florida school systems would enjoy some of the greatest benefits in what Legislature leaders have called a "historic increase".

Northeast Florida school systems would enjoy some of the greatest benefits in what Legislature leaders have called a "historic increase" in a preliminary Senate education budget.

Each of Florida's 67 counties is in line to receive a significant boost in its education budget if the Senate's plan passes, but Flagler County tops all with a 26 percent jump.
Six of seven First Coast counties stand to get more than the state average.
The bonanza stems in part from a change in the state funding formula pushed through two years ago by Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville.
This is more money than these counties have gotten in a long, long time. And well-earned, I might add," King said Thursday. "There are good things these counties can do with the money."
The Legislature changed the state formula for funding public schools two years ago by deciding that lawmakers should take a county's ability to attract teachers into consideration when doling out state money. The new process, which was phased in over three years, benefits areas like Northeast Florida that have rising costs of living.
Only Putnam County, which still may receive an extra 8 percent increase next year, would have a smaller budget increase than the rest of the state. Clay County would get an extra 18 percent and St. Johns County 15 percent. Duval County would get 11 percent more, about $85 million, if the Senate budget passes, a few percentage points higher than the increase would have been under the old system.
Duval school officials said the change in funding corrects long-running discrimination against counties outside South Florida.
So far, the funds have been used to pay for expansion of the Duval school system's art, music and physical-education programs, said Mike Perrone, budget director for the county's public schools.
"It won't fund everything we're looking for, but it would be more than acceptable," Perrone said.
King said the Senate proposal was tentative, and the final numbers may differ greatly. The governor's proposed budget shows generally lower increases for Northeast Florida school systems.
The new increases are warranted because quality schools are important tools in spurring economic development, said Senate Education Appropriations Committee Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven.
"We certainly have put in some of the strongest accountability in the nation, it's driving our schools to a much better place," he said. "But it can't be one or the other, it's got to be both accountability and quality."
Alexander and Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, also are trying to fit extra transition money into the budget for the South Florida school systems most affected by the funding formula change, King said. The Miami-Dade County School Board and others sued last year to reverse the change and lost.
"If they want to soften it without making it part and parcel of the formula ... so long as they can do that, and there's money to go around, that's fine," King said. "But I don't want to facilitate other counties' programs using money from my county."