TAMPA, Fla. — Local teachers will be watching the legislative session closely which starts in Tallahassee on Tuesday.

A big spending measure in Gov. Ron DeSantis’s budget includes a $1.1 billion increase in spending for education, up to $23.9 billion for K-12 public schools.

The governor’s plan also includes another round of $1,000 bonuses for teachers and principals.

“They actually have to be able to do it, and make sure that money actually gets to the classroom and not through holes in the bucket with politicians or political mandates,” said Burney Elementary School teacher Emily Lee.

Lee talked about the proposals for education spending in the upcoming budget year, and although she is encouraged by the increases, she says inflation and a drop in public school enrollment still present challenges to an already financially strapped school system.

Florida ranks 41st in education spending in the U.S., despite having the fourth largest state budget in the country.

Catching up from those ratios will not happen in a single budget year, and she says current mandates to raise starting teacher pay, passed by legislators in 2020, are not addressing a growing problem of veteran teacher turnover.

“Districts are spending a lot of money on that new mandate to recruit new teachers,” said Lee.  “But retention will, once you get five, seven, 10 years in, is where there is a lot of movement and where you see a lot of the mass exodus.”

During the legislative session starting on Tuesday, there is also a proposal to dump the state’s Florida Standards Assessments in favor of a more metered approach.

It would include shorter testing windows three times per school year, instead of one big test in the spring.

Right now teachers say it is not clear if the state will continue rewarding higher-performing schools based on test scores, which has been a big complaint from teachers since the FSAs were introduced.