Education Commissioner Pam Stewart told a Senate budget panel Thursday that funding would be “woefully short” next year if lawmakers do not use an increase in property tax collections to support schools. Gov. Rick Scott‘s proposed budget for 2018-2019 includes a $200 increase in per-student funding for the kindergarten-through-high-school system. Scott wants to increase the overall K-12 budget by $770 million, which includes a $450 million increase in “required local effort” property taxes.
