ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — School budget cuts are on the horizon, with AP, Dual Enrollment, and advanced classes all being targeted by state legislators.
“I believe that these possible funding cuts to AP, IB, Dual Enrollment, all these programs, would significantly hinder the quality of education that we receive as students, and how well we’re even able to access the programs,” said St. Johns County student Ishikta Kumari Friday afternoon.
Action News Jax has been telling you for weeks about the impending cuts to advanced programs across the state and in St. Johns County.
Related: Why Florida lawmakers want to slash AP funding and why education groups say the math doesn’t add up
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Friday morning, district leaders gave some insight into what may be driving these cuts. St. Johns County Superintendent Tim Forson said the cuts may be a way to help the state make room for proposed property or sales tax reductions.
“When they shrink the total bucket of state revenue, either through property tax reduction or sales tax reduction, then unless they increase our portion of those state revenues, our educational dollars are gonna go down,” Forson outlined.
However, Forson said these cuts are also driven by incorrect information and data provided to state decision makers, as it relates to passing rates among these courses.
“[They said] ‘Well, your pass rate in this area is less than, say … ACE and IB were two that were fairly low, were 30-some percent or 40%,” Forson explained. “It wasn’t accurate, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t true.”
Related: Meet the finalists: St. Johns County Public Schools to select a new superintendent this month
“As far as pass rates, AP is 79.5%, ACE [is] 78.1%, and IB is 81.7,” said St. Johns County Associate Superintendent of Curriculum Dawn Sapp.
While school officials reassured Friday afternoon programs won’t be eliminated due to these impending budget cuts, they did say impacts are likely to be felt inside the classroom.
“The programs aren’t gonna be cut, they’re not. We’re gonna focus on them and that’s a part of who we are,” reassured Superintendent Forson. “But what it may be is classes that are tight and full, and you can’t expand or grow ‘em as fast as you’d want to.”
Now, district leaders are calling on concerned parents and community members to call their state representatives in the fight to prevent program funding cuts.
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