In an election year with a $4.8-billion windfall, Florida lawmakers would have a devil of a time trying to explain why they shortchanged public schools again. Fortunately, the spending plan they appear poised to adopt will speak for them.
Thanks to the pressure applied by Senate President Tom Lee, schools could get a commendable $1.8-billion increase in spending next year. That translates into 8.7 percent more for each student, which is impressive though not extravagant. A constitutional requirement that lawmakers reduce the number of students in overcrowded classrooms will absorb roughly a third of that increase. Increased health care, fuel and utility costs will grab another share, and teachers deserve adequate raises.
Some lawmakers already are calling the increase "historic," which it is. But so are the needs. Florida schools long have suffered from the political illusion that cheap is better. They have ranked 48th in the nation in per-student spending, and they are known for the nation's largest schools and some of its most overcrowded classrooms. The fact that a governor would portray first-grade classes with 18 students as a form of financial Armageddon speaks to a mind-set where excellence is pursued only by the penny.
Schools need standards and testing and aggressive accountability, but they also need dollars. High-quality teachers and more instructional time and reading coaches and smaller class sizes and performance pay bonuses and high school vocational programs all cost money. The proposed budget for next year recognizes that reality, to a laudable extent. Lawmakers should be eager to pass it.
