Scott Presents $751K To Schools; $295K In District 5

March 23, 2013

Gov. Rick Scott presented a total of $751,000 to 14 Escambia County Schools on Friday — including District 5 schools Byrneville, Pine Meadow and Lipscomb elementary schools and West Florida High.

Florida’s School Recognition Program acknowledges the quality of public schools by giving financial rewards based on sustained or significantly improved student achievement in reading, mathematics, science, and writing. Schools eligible for recognition awards include those receiving an ’A’ school grade, improving at least one letter grade from the previous year, or improving more than one letter grade and sustaining the improvement the following school year.

The school staff and school advisory council at each recognized school jointly decide how to use the financial award.

In District 5, schools receiving award money were:

  • Byrneville Elementary – $14,656
  • Pine   Meadow Elementary School – $79,917
  • Lipscomb Elementary School – $84,242
  • West Florida High – $116,571

As a lifelong educator, I understand the passion and commitment our teachers bring to the classroom each and every day so that our students are reaching higher levels of achievement, said Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. “The School Recognition Program is a great incentive to reward Escambia’s high-performing teachers. I applaud Governor Rick Scott’s proposal to increase funding for this important program in his Florida’s Families First Budget.”

As part of his Florida Families First Budget, Governor Scott requested an increase in School Recognition Program funding to $125 per student, up from $93 this year. State funding for K-12 education in the Florida Families First Budget totals $10.7 billion – the highest state funding level in history.

“We are grateful that Governor Rick Scott made a special visit to Escambia County to congratulate our teachers and staff for a job well done,” said Escambia County School Board Chairman Jeff Bergosh. “The $751,488 in School Recognition Program funds will go a long way in rewarding our best and brightest here in Escambia County.”

During the recognition event Friday afternoon at Brown Barge Middle School, Scott also pushed for teacher pay raises.

“Florida students and teachers were ranked 6th for educational quality, our fourth-grade students scored among the best in the world in an international reading survey, and we recently learned Florida students are number one for percentage of students taking an AP exam. Our teachers have done a great job and that is why I have proposed to provide all fulltime classroom teachers a $2,500 pay raise,” the governor said.

Comments

4 Responses to “Scott Presents $751K To Schools; $295K In District 5”

  1. luvdljr on March 26th, 2013 6:47 pm

    Congratulations to the schools receiving this money.

    However, cannot really agree with yet another “Teacher Pay Raise”. These teachers teach children for 6-61/2 hours per day. Yet, they are paid for 8 hours of work. I think Mr. Scott is trying to get the vote of the teachers. Re-election time is not that far in the future!

  2. Willene & Preston Bryan on March 24th, 2013 7:26 am

    Congratulations Byrneville !!!

  3. Julie Booth-Moran on March 23rd, 2013 11:03 pm

    Congratulations Byrneville Ele! Well Deserved!

  4. David Huie Green on March 23rd, 2013 10:56 am

    nice of him to give us some of our money back