What is David Jolly's plan to fix Florida's public schools?
David Jolly's plan is a 10-year renaissance in public education: dramatically increase state investment, put more public schools in more neighborhoods, and pay teachers more, funded in part by reallocating a portion of Tourist Development Tax revenue toward teacher pay and school infrastructure. Florida currently ranks 50th of 51 states for average teacher pay at $56,663, more than $17,800 below the national average.[1]
David Jolly talks with a 40-year Miami-Dade educator about school choice, funding, and the case for a public education renaissance.
The plan, at a glance
Pay teachers more
Florida ranks 50th of 51 states for average teacher pay, only Mississippi ranks lower, and opened 2024-25 with roughly 5,000 unfilled instructional positions. Jolly's plan raises pay to keep experienced teachers in Florida classrooms.[1][2]
Reallocate the bed tax
Florida's Tourist Development Tax generates over $1 billion a year, restricted by statute to tourism uses. Jolly would expand authorized uses to include teacher pay and school infrastructure.[3]
Why this matters
Across Florida, public education has become part of a family's economic crisis. Some communities look for a public school and there isn't one. Others send a child to a choice school and pay tuition on top of the voucher. The numbers behind that story are stark. Florida ranks 50th of 51 states for average teacher pay at $56,663, more than $17,800 below the national average of $74,495.[1] Per-pupil spending sits around $12,400, 8th lowest in the country, and Florida earned an "F" for school spending in Education Week's Quality Counts report.[6]
This isn't a one-year budget problem. It's decades of structural underfunding. David Jolly's framing is direct: public schools have been inadequately funded in Florida for decades.[7] The consequence shows up in classrooms. Florida opened the 2024-25 school year with nearly 10,000 vacant positions, including 5,007 unfilled teaching jobs, with the greatest need in special education, English, science, and math.[2] The starting-pay rank is decent, 19th nationally, but mid-career pay falls far behind, so experienced teachers leave for Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina.[1]
The approach: a 10-year renaissance
Jolly proposes a 10-year renaissance in public education, treated as a generational investment rather than a single-cycle fix. Three parts: dramatically increase investment, build more public schools in more neighborhoods, and pay more teachers more.[7] The funding lever he names most often is the Tourist Development Tax. Orange County alone collected a record $384.6 million in FY 2024-25, most of it directed to the convention center, because state statute restricts the bed tax to tourism uses.[3] Jolly's line is plain: Florida doesn't have a crisis of convention centers. It has a crisis of public education. Redirecting a portion toward teacher pay and school infrastructure would require a change to Chapter 125 of Florida Statutes, not a stroke of a governor's pen.[3]
The plan does not eliminate school choice. It reforms it. Florida's universal voucher expansion under HB 1 removed all income limits, and about 69% of new voucher recipients after 2023 were already enrolled in private schools, meaning the program largely subsidizes families who already paid tuition.[5] Total voucher and scholarship spending reached roughly $3.9 billion in FY 2024-25, about 19 times the original $209.6 million projection.[4] Jolly calls this a model likely to collapse. His three reforms: private schools taking a voucher should cap tuition inflation, provide the same specialized services public schools provide, and the program should be means-tested for demonstrated economic need.[7] As he puts it, if Florida funds a world-class public system, families will choose it in a school choice environment. This is one piece of the campaign's full public education plan.
Frequently asked questions
Q.What is Jolly's "10-year renaissance" plan?
"Public schools have been inadequately funded in Florida for decades," Jolly says. His proposed renaissance has three components: dramatically increase investment in public schools, build more public schools in more neighborhoods (especially in growth areas where capacity has not kept pace with population), and pay more teachers more. The 10-year framing is deliberate. Jolly treats this as a generational investment rather than a one-cycle budget fix. The Tourist Development Tax reallocation is one funding lever; growing state appropriations to FEFP is another. The aim is to reverse decades of structural underfunding.[7]
Q.What does Jolly want to do about teacher pay?
Jolly wants to dramatically increase teacher pay as part of a "10-year renaissance" in public education. Florida currently ranks 50th of 51 states for average teacher pay ($56,663 vs $74,495 national average). The funding source he proposes is reallocation of Tourist Development Tax revenue (TDT), currently restricted by statute to tourism-promotion uses like convention centers, toward teacher pay and school infrastructure. This requires legislative change to Chapter 125 of Florida Statutes, not just gubernatorial action.[1][3]
Q.Why are so many teachers leaving Florida?
Florida public schools opened the 2024-25 school year with nearly 10,000 vacant positions, including 5,007 instructional (teacher) positions. The largest district vacancies are in Hillsborough (742), Broward (606), and Palm Beach (490). The structural cause is pay: Florida's average teacher salary of $56,663 ranks 50th of 51 nationally, only Mississippi is worse. Florida's starting salary ranks 19th (decent), but mid-career and veteran pay falls dramatically behind peer states. Teachers report low pay, high cost of living, and Florida's political climate as reasons to leave the profession or the state.[2][1]
Q.Does Jolly want to eliminate vouchers entirely?
No. Jolly's position is structural reform of the voucher program, not elimination. The three changes he proposes, tuition inflation caps, equivalent specialized services, and means-testing, would still leave a functioning voucher program for low-income families who genuinely need school-choice options. The reforms target the dynamics that turn universal vouchers into a tuition subsidy for families who were already in private school (about 69% of new voucher recipients after the 2023 expansion). The goal is to make voucher dollars do what they were originally promised to do: expand access for kids who otherwise couldn't attend private school.[5]
Q.How much do Florida vouchers cost the state?
Florida spent approximately $3.9 billion on voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs in FY 2024-25, $2.8 billion in FEFP-funded vouchers plus $1.1 billion in tax credit scholarships. The Florida House's original fiscal impact analysis for HB 1 (2023) projected $209.6 million in annual cost. Actual spending is roughly 19 times that projection. This trajectory is the basis for Jolly's framing that the voucher program is "built on an economic model that is likely to collapse."[4]
Q.Why redirect Tourist Development Tax money? Won't that hurt tourism?
The TDT generates over $1 billion per year statewide. Jolly proposes reallocating a portion, not all, toward teacher pay and school infrastructure. Tourism marketing, beach renourishment, and existing convention center operating budgets can continue at adequate funding levels while still freeing capacity for education investment. The signature framing: "Florida doesn't have a crisis of convention centers, it has a crisis of public education." The opportunity cost, billions sitting in tourism-restricted funds while teachers leave for other states, is the policy case.[3]
Q.Doesn't Florida already have great 4th grade math scores?
Yes. Florida's 4th-grade math NAEP performance ranks 3rd nationally and is a genuine bright spot. The structural question is what happens between 4th and 8th grade. Florida's 8th-grade math score declined significantly from 2022, making Florida one of only four states with a significant decline; Florida's 8th-grade math mean is now lower than Mississippi's. Achievement gaps for Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged Florida students have not narrowed even as 4th-grade math has improved. Jolly's "10-year renaissance" framing aims to extend early-grade gains into middle school, not just early-grade reading and math.[8]
Q.Don't vouchers help low-income families afford private school?
The original FES program (pre-2023) was targeted at low-income families and worked as intended for that population. The 2023 universal expansion removed income limits, and the result has been heavily skewed toward families already in private schools. About 69% of new voucher recipients after HB 1 were already enrolled in private schools, meaning the expansion functioned as a tuition subsidy rather than expanding low-income access. Jolly's means-testing reform would restore the targeting to families who actually need the program to access private school, the use case the original voucher framing promised to serve.[5]
Q.What about students with disabilities?
Special-education classrooms have the largest teacher vacancies in Florida; the FEA identifies students with disabilities as the area of greatest need. The voucher program's structural problem for special-needs students is that voucher-accepting private schools are not required to provide the same special-education services that public schools must legally deliver. A parent of a child with disabilities who uses a voucher to leave public school often loses the IEP and accommodations their child needs. Jolly's reform requiring private voucher schools to provide the same specialized services would close that gap.[2][9]
Q.What if I have kids in Florida public schools?
Public school enrollment in Florida fell during the universal voucher expansion: about 2.81 million students in FY 2024-25, projected to drop more than 70,000 by 2029-30. Class size and program offerings have been affected by the FEFP funding reductions that voucher uptake triggers. Jolly's plan would restore funding pressure on public schools through increased appropriations and TDT reallocation, raise teacher pay to retain experienced instructors, and reform the voucher program's structural drain on FEFP. The 4th-grade math strength remains, and the plan aims to extend that success into 8th grade and reading where Florida has been declining.[10]
Q.How are Florida public schools funded?
Florida K-12 public schools are funded primarily through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), a per-student state allocation paid to school districts with adjustments for special programs (special education, ESOL, vocational). The total funding pool combines state appropriations, local property tax revenue from school districts, and federal funds (Title I, IDEA). Florida's per-pupil spending is approximately $12,400, ranking 8th lowest among U.S. states, and Florida earned an "F" for school spending in Education Week's most recent Quality Counts National Report Card.[6][11]
Q.Does spending more on schools improve student outcomes?
Yes, according to peer-reviewed research. Jackson, Johnson, and Persico (Quarterly Journal of Economics) documented that increased K-12 school spending, particularly in low-income districts, produces measurable long-run improvements in student outcomes: higher graduation rates, college attendance, and adult earnings. A 10% increase in per-pupil spending sustained for 12 years of school is associated with 0.31 more years of completed education and 7.7% higher adult wages for low-income students. Several states (New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York) consistently outperform Florida on NAEP outcomes while also spending substantially more per pupil.[12]
Sources
- National Education Association, Educator Pay Data 2026, https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank/teacher · 2026-04-01
- Florida Education Association, Teacher Shortages, https://feaweb.org/issues-action/teacher-shortages/ · 2024-08-16
- Florida Department of Revenue, Local Option Tourist Tax, https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/taxesfees/Pages/local_option.aspx · 2025-01-01
- Florida Policy Institute, Universal Voucher Cost Analysis, https://www.floridapolicy.org/posts/universal-voucher-program-under-hb-1-would-cost-billions-analysis-finds · 2023-03-01
- Florida Senate, HB 1 (2023), https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1 · 2023-03-27
- Education Week, Quality Counts, https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/quality-counts · 2024-01-01
- David Jolly, Saving Our Schools, https://davidjolly.com/saving-our-schools · 2024-01-01
- NAEP Nation's Report Card, Florida, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile?chort=1&sub=MAT&sj=FL · 2024-10-01
- Florida Department of Education, K-12 Scholarship Programs, https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-programs/ · 2024-01-01
- Florida Department of Education, Education Data Warehouse, https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/edw/ · 2024-10-01
- Florida Department of Education, FEFP, https://www.fldoe.org/finance/fl-edu-finance-program-fefp/ · 2024-01-01
- Quarterly Journal of Economics (Jackson, Johnson & Persico 2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv036 · 2016-02-01
This isn't a budget line. It's the future of Florida's kids.
Florida can choose to lead the nation in public education instead of ranking near the bottom. Have a question for David? Visit the Town Hall and ask.