Florida is considering funding cuts to rigorous AP and IB courses!
If you live in Florida PLEASE call your legislator today. PLEASE ask that they not cut funds for AP and IB classes in our high schools. If you have children who benefitted please explain how. PLEASE. 🙏 They are hearing us but they need to hear MUCH more!
Florida’s Proposed Cuts to AP, Other Classes Leave Schools Concerned.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/01/floridas-proposed-cuts-to-ap-other-classes-leave-schools-deeply-concerned/
State lawmakers want to slash in half funding for Advanced Placement, dual enrollment and other college-level high school classes, a move that would cost Florida’s public schools millions of dollars.
Orange County Public Schools alone estimates it would lose nearly $17 million, while the Broward County school district said it could lose about $33.5 million.
Those “detrimental” losses would threaten the districts’ ability to offer classes many students use to earn college credits while still in high school, officials say. More than 193,000 Florida students took AP classes — the most popular of the programs — last year, tackling AP courses in a variety of subjects, from biology to U.S. history.
“There’s no way we could continue the breadth of advanced studies courses that we are currently offering without the funding. Period,” said Stephanie Vanos, an Orange County School Board member.
Losing AP and other college-level courses would make public schools, and the students who graduate from them, less competitive, Vanos added. About 3,000 Orange public school students took AP courses in the 2023-24 school year, according to district data.
Lawmakers said they proposed cutting the funding because they aren’t sure what school districts spend the money on currently.
Some of the money goes to teacher bonuses, exam fees and the purchase of equipment.
But many districts reported spending the money on “other” items but provided no specifics, said Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, chair of the P-K12 Budget Subcommittee, which sponsored the bill.
State funding for these programs had increased significantly since 2021, but Persons-Mulicka argued that it wasn’t always clear if districts were actually spending the money directly on the programs.
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