BY DAN HILDEBRAN
During their October 28 workshop, Clay County School Board members continued to discuss their budget struggles in light of state cuts to public education and dissatisfaction from the Clay Education Association about the school district’s salary offers.
During the October 2 school board meeting, Vicki Kidwell, President of the teachers’ union, publicly rejected the district’s latest salary proposal, stating that it leaves 45% of educators without raises and offers as little as a 0.82% raise for veterans.
“Budgets are about priorities,” she said. “We ask you to prioritize salaries in your budget instead of offering teachers a bucket of leftovers.”
During the October 28 workshop, board member Michele Hanson complained to her colleagues about misinformation spreading about the budget and salary negotiations, recounting a recent conversation she had.
“I said to someone the other day,” Hanson said, “who was very angry with us, ‘Has it dawned on you that we’re telling the truth? We don’t have the money.’”
“And I feel like that’s super basic, right?” Hanson continued. “We really don’t have the money.”
Superintendent David Broskie said he has always prioritized employee salaries when crafting district budgets, and agreed, “our employees deserve more than they are currently getting.”
“The challenge this year that’s different,” he continued, “is the availability of funds.”
Broskie reviewed the district’s recent budget struggles. He reminded board members that the state withheld its final $47 million payment to districts in the summer of 2025, that education vouchers for private and home schooling have diverted nearly $30 million from the Clay district’s budget, and that inflation has increased district costs by around $14 million.
He added that in response to those challenges, the Clay district cut its 2025-2026 spending plan by 20% and eliminated 240 jobs.
“The majority of the money comes from the state,” he said of district revenues, “not from local taxpayers to support education in Clay County.”
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see what’s happening,” he said of the $4 billion of statewide taxpayer money going to private schools and parents of home-schooled students. “If you’re wondering why we’re talking about the budget, wonder no more.”
Broskie said that when the state removed the income cap for private school scholarships, the number of school vouchers proliferated.
“You could be a millionaire in the State of Florida and receive a voucher for your child to attend a private school,” he told board members. “This is taking money from public education. I don’t know how to say it diplomatically. That’s what’s happening.”
Broskie said that, in addition to state cuts, the federal government has also reduced funding allocated to local school districts.
He reminded board members of previous budget increases to teacher salaries, stating that in the fiscal year of 2019-2020, the district added a $6.3 million recurring increase. This was followed by recurring increases of $1.8 million in 2020-2021, $3.6 million in 2021-2022, $5.1 million in 2022-2023, $5 million in 2023-2024, and $5.3 million in 2024-2025.
“Salary is a recurring cost,” he said. “Once you pay that cost for one year, it compounds onto the next year and the next year and the next year. It never goes away.”
School board Chair Erin Skipper said she had a message for teachers who are struggling financially.
“We hear you, and we’re not ignoring you,” she said. “We’re not saying that we don’t want to help you. What we’re saying is this is what we’ve done. We want to continue to do this. This is where we are, and we are trying to find solutions to get back to this point so that we can continue to do the things we’re doing… We’re trying to find solutions.”
