DeSantis praises Florida education gains, cites $7 billion for teacher pay and expanded school choice

Governor Ron DeSantis opened a back-to-school event at Tortuga Elementary in Lehigh Acres by highlighting state education metrics and new spending aimed at teachers. "We've put $7,000,000,000 over and above what was being done when I became governor just into teacher salaries," DeSantis said, and he credited progress-monitoring assessments with raising the share of students at or above grade level in English language arts from 49% to 61%.

DeSantis said 76% of all Florida schools earned an A or B grade in 2026, and he pointed to a record 92.2% high-school graduation rate. He framed universal choice as central to those results, noting roughly 408,000 students attend charter schools and about 150,000 are homeschooled while asserting that much choice occurs within district schools as parents seek different options. DeSantis also described categorical budget decisions—an initial teacher-salary categorical of about $3,400,000,000 and a recently signed budget including $1,560,000,000 for the teacher categorical—to argue the state is directing more money specifically into educators' pay.