Volusia schools losing millions in state funding, district says

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A school board chair member for the Volusia County School District said its schools are unfairly missing out on millions of dollars in state funding.

Channel 9's Michael Lopardi found out the loss has to do with the state's funding formula.

Melody Johnson told Eyewitness News that the state formula is hurting smaller school districts.

“We've lost $140 million since this formula came through. This year alone, $11 million,” Johnson said.

The formula is in boxes. Johnson takes issue with the "district cost differential." That's a cost-of-living adjustment for each county because some things are more expensive depending on where a person lives. But Johnson told Eyewitness News that it's unfair for local tax dollars to be sent to wealthier districts.

“Our residents are paying a dollar, sending it to Tallahassee and they're giving us back 96 cents, and it just doesn't make sense anymore,” Johnson said.

Previous efforts to end the differential haven't been successful in Tallahassee, so Johnson is going to neighboring districts Lake, Brevard and Osceola counties searching for support.

“This is educational malpractice. It's time to stop,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the extra funding could help cover teacher raises, or the nearly $2 million budget shortfall that the district will tap reserves to close.

Johnson said she plans to travel the state, but realizes she has a long road ahead of her.

UPDATE:

Since our story first aired Monday, Eyewitness News had the chance to speak with Jim Dewey, director of economic analysis at Florida Polytechnic University, who helped create the Florida Price Level Index.

Dewey said the district cost differential is computed, in part, by looking at wages for more than 800 different occupations across the state.

He said teachers are not counted in the calculations so districts don't try to manipulate the results.

The premise of the formula is that it costs a different amount to deliver the same education in different places. Dewey said researchers previously used the price of certain goods before wage data was readily available.

Cox Media Group