TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A new report by Florida’s premier independent taxpayer research institute of forty years, Florida TaxWatch, provides an update of the true average cost of educating a K-12 public school student in Florida. The government watchdog previously released a similar independent study in March 2017 that considered all categories of expenditures necessary for the operation of public schools.

The latest finding by Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier non-partisan government watchdog, explores the true cost of education beyond the “per student” number often cited by the Legislature and media. This report gives Florida taxpayers a more comprehensive and insightful view of the ways that education dollars are spent and allows them to make informed decisions as to whether their tax dollars are being spent in a fiduciary manner.