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Budget workshop: Escambia schools face flat FEFP growth, rising scholarships and pressure to ‘right‑size’ facilities
Summary
Escambia County School District staff told the school board on June 30 that the first FEFP calculation for 2026 shows only a 1.37% increase in state funding, while traditional-school enrollment is projected to decline and family empowerment scholarship participation is rising—pressures that complicate next year’s budget planning.
Escambia County School District staff told the board at a June 30 budget workshop that the first Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) calculation for 2026 shows only a modest 1.37% increase in state funding and that traditional-school unweighted FTE is projected to decline by roughly 536 students while family empowerment scholarship FTE is rising.
The district’s presenter said the FEFP calculation is deceptive on totals because family empowerment scholarships remain in the FTE count but are adjusted out of FEFP revenue. Staff reported 40,993.95 total unweighted FTE in the current year (including scholarship students) and said current-year family empowerment scholarship enrollment was 5,047 unweighted FTE, with the new-year projection just under 6,000 unweighted FTE.
Officials warned the board that the teacher-salary allocation included in the FEFP will be about half the size of the prior year’s allocation: the FEFP-calculated teacher-salary pool…
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