Florida budget talks seem to agree on boost in school funds for AP, other advanced classes
The Florida Times Union | By Steve Patterson | June 12, 2025
With deadlines looming for Florida lawmakers to finalize a 2025-2026 state budget, legislators seem to have agreed to modestly increase funding for schools’ accelerated academic programs like Advanced Placement courses.
Education budget proposals from both the House of Representatives and Senate have included a $596.8 million supplement for “academic acceleration options,” a catch-all that includes AP, International Baccalaureate, career training and other acceleration programs except dual-enrollment programs with colleges. The agreement was previously reported by the Florida Politics website.
The agreed-on amount is about $10 million more than the state budgeted for this year, according to an April analysis of this year’s funding by the Florida Policy Institute, a center-left think tank that had warned of potential cuts. The institute’s head cheered the agreement evidenced in a June 9 Senate proposal referred to as a “bump offer.”
“We are pleased that proposed cuts to these programs have been reversed — thanks to an upswell of advocacy from public school parents, students, teachers, and communities,” CEO Sadaf Knight said in a June 10 release.
Knight said the Legislature should increase the funding to match the yearly inflation rate, but didn’t specify a dollar amount.
School districts around the state had raised concerns during the Legislature’s regular session in March and April that a Senate proposal then might eliminate some funds that were previously distributed to schools based on the number of students successfully completing AP tests, achieving professional certifications and other signs students were applying learning from accelerated programs productively.
What’s it mean for Duval County Public Schools?
Florida Policy Institute had projected potential funding losses as high as $290 million statewide and in the spring Duval County schools reported being “deeply concerned” about a potential loss of about $8 million.
School districts across Northeast Florida were projected to have about $23 million on the line.
High school students lobbied Jacksonville’s City Council to speak up for their cause and on June 9 about 20 high school students attended a ceremony where Mayor Donna Deegan signed a resolution supporting funding for the advanced programs.
Sen. Danny Burgess, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on Pre-K – 12 Education, said on Facebook June 5 that there had been “a lot of questions and confusion” about the earlier proposal but that his committee “did not reduce or eliminate funding for these important courses.”
He said 54 out of Florida’s 67 counties would have seen increases under the plan his committee took up during the spring, but that the Senate proposal was changed to include a “categorical” allotment “to avoid further confusion.” Burgess said dual enrollment programs weren’t included because their funding is usually structured differently, with much of the costs carried by participating colleges.
The House had previously proposed a categorical allotment and the Senate “bump offer” matched that amount, effectively eliminating academic acceleration funds from the list of budget questions waiting for lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis to agree on.
