Florida has remained in good financial standing this past fiscal year. This is also true of the state’s debt position. FY 2021-22 marks the ninth consecutive year with a debt ratio below the six percent target established by the Legislature. In addition:
Where and how well our school districts spend our education dollars can have a profound impact on student academic achievement and success. Historically, education makes up about one-fourth of Florida’s total budget. Florida TaxWatch believes that shifting education spending away from administrative and other expenses and toward classroom/instructional expenses is beneficial.
As Florida TaxWatch has been detailing in our Budget Watch series,1 the state’s fiscal circumstances have been steadily improving since the initial shock (and resultant revenue loss) at the beginning of the pandemic. Even with historic state spending and tax cuts over the last two budgets, record reserves still exist. Florida’s tax system continues to produce revenue at a breakneck pace, with actual collections beating the estimate in each month over the last two year. Lately, the magnitude of the overage has been staggering. In the last three months of FY2021-22 (April-June), collections exceeded estimates by $2.545 billion (23.9 percent).
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch released Building a Culture of Success: What Effective Principals Do – The 2022 Florida TaxWatch Principal Leadership Awards Roundtable Discussion Summary and Findings. The report provides a comprehensive summary of a May 2022 roundtable discussion with 10 distinguished principals who were recognized through the government watchdog’s 2021-22 Principal Leadership Awards, an annual program that identifies and rewards educational leaders who are creating meaningful change in their K-12 schools across the state. During the conversation, the principals offered their thoughts on the philosophies, strategies, and leadership required to bolster the achievement of at-risk students.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch released Building a Culture of Success: What Effective Principals Do – The 2022 Florida TaxWatch Principal Leadership Awards Roundtable Discussion Summary and Findings. The report provides a comprehensive summary of a May 2022 roundtable discussion with 10 distinguished principals who were recognized through the government watchdog’s 2021-22 Principal Leadership Awards, an annual program that identifies and rewards educational leaders who are creating meaningful change in their K-12 schools across the state. During the conversation, the principals offered their thoughts on the philosophies, strategies, and leadership required to bolster the achievement of at-risk students.
The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met on August 16, 2022, to develop the state’s new forecast for general revenue (GR) collections. After the close of FY2021-22, which wildly exceed revenue expectations, the REC increased the estimates for FY2022-23 and 2023-24 by a total of $5.3 billion.
Florida TaxWatch is pleased to present taxpayers with a guide to the FY2022-23 state budget, which went into effect July 1, 2022. The report includes all appropriations for the new fiscal year— the General Appropriations Act (GAA), “back-of-bill” spending, and general bills—net of the Governor’s vetoes.
In early June, Florida TaxWatch received the Bond Oversight Committee Quarterly Report for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2022 (“Quarterly Report”). This report provides updated information on the implementation of the District’s SMART Program and the use of general obligation bond funds to purchase and install technology upgrades, purchase music and arts equipment, improve school safety, upgrade athletic facilities, and renovate educational facilities.
Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, during Florida TaxWatch’s (FTW) spring meeting in Tampa, the taxpayer research institute released 2022 How Counties Compare. Complementing the larger How Florida Compares research series, this report analyzes Florida’s 67 counties and the myriad of local governments within the state, offering community leaders, elected officials, and members of the media insight into tax rates, tax collections, other revenue sources, and government expenditures.
On Thursday, April 14, Florida TaxWatch joins the taxpayers in our state in celebrating Florida Taxpayer Independence Day 2022. On that day, Floridians are finally earning money for themselves–not for the tax collector. This symbolic date assumes that every dollar earned since January 1 goes to pay federal, state, and local tax obligations. This measure of tax burden is based on the relative size of all taxes paid in Florida to our state’s total personal income. In 2022, for the average Florida household, paying its taxes takes 103 out of 365 days, nearly three and a half months.
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