Legislature brings spending up to Scott's desired level

It took a couple of rounds with a combative Legislature, but Gov. Rick Scott has met his stated goal of raising per-pupil education spending — with $2 to spare!

In his second budget proposal after his re-election, Scott asked lawmakers in November 2015 to boost K-12 spending to $7,221 per student, which would have been a historically high amount. Legislators seemed content to increase the budget, although they disagreed over the way to do it and by how much.

Scott wanted most of that increase to come from property taxes through a form of funding called the Required Local Effort. The House and Senate rejected that method, reaching a deal to fund the difference with state general revenue. They kept property tax revenue the same by dropping the millage rate. (You can read more about that in this fact check.)

Scott promised to increase per-pupil spending to $7,176 while running for re-election, but the Legislature stopped short of that goal in 2015.

This year, the Legislature approved a $20.15 billion K-12 budget that broke down to $7,178 per student, reaching the total Scott outlined in his campaign promise. This total may adjust slightly as the Department of Education recalculates actual spending periodically through the year based on needs and enrollment, but Tallahassee has agreed upon the general dollar amount.

That's the most ever spent per student by the state of Florida, topping by $50 the previous high of $7,126 set by former Gov. Charlie Crist back in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Those dollars also aren't going as far as they used to: Adjusting for inflation, per-pupil spending would have to be about $8,150 in 2016 to keep up with Crist's 2007 high.

Education spending has been below that in the intervening years, including a big drop as the state was mired in recession. Scott came into office in 2011 wanting even more cuts than what was passed, but his proposed slashing was tempered by the Legislature.  

Here's a look at education budgets over the last few years to give you an idea of where education spending has been:

We consider this a Promise Kept.