Florida ranked one of worst funded states in K-12 education

From a young age, I have always been curious about the world I live in. This curiosity led me to participate in my school’s annual science fair throughout the entirety of my elementary school education. However, this changed after a brutal defeat at the sixth-grade regional science fair.

What happened? Several of my classmates and I placed in our school’s science fair and were invited to compete in the larger regional competition. Excitedly, we made changes to our projects and prepared for the judge's interviews until the day of the science fair came. It would be an understatement to say we were blown out of the water.After I set up my board, I began scoping out the competition and my jaw dropped. Most of the contestants came from private schools and it was obvious that hundreds of dollars were spent decking out their projects. A couple students had even conducted their research in labs. Perhaps, what terrified me most, was the names of their projects. All of which were chock full of jargon that I was not just unfamiliar with but couldn’t evenpronounce.I couldn't understand how these students put together their projects. My sixth-grade science teacher taught me about the solar system, not the processes of immunoelectrophoresis or thrombocytapheresis. Somehow, I managed to walk away with a second-place ribbon but what I saw crushed me. At that moment, I realized that the public education system would never give me the same tools that private school students have.The unfortunate fact of the matter is that many of us public school students lost ambition because of this disparity. This isn’t to say that the advantages private school students have are wrong but rather they demonstrate the incompetence of Florida’s K-12 system in providing resources and funding to students and schools.Don’t be mistaken, this isn’t the fault of teachers, parents, or school administration teams. It's the fault of legislators. A March 2024 report from the Network for Public Education (NPE) revealed that Florida ranks dead last in its ability to adequately provide funding to schools.Eventually, I was inspired to try competing in the science fair during my sophomore year of high school. My inspiration was spurred on by college-level classes I took through Florida Virtual School (FLVS) as a ninth grader. Interestingly, FLVS is funded by the Florida Department of Education and allows students to take online versions of classes not offered at their schools. Thus, it also helps to eliminate the disparity in course selection between private and public schools.When I was given the resources other students had, I succeeded. My research ended up being recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).Though services like FLVS are a step in the right direction, public school classrooms still suffer from the aforementioned lack of funding. For instance, data sets released by Miami-Dade County indicate that public schools in the area have a significantly higher student-teacher ratio compared to private schools. Personally, several of the Cambridge classes I’ve taken in Lee County lacked textbooks and other resources needed for success on end-of-year exams.Government officials do not care to continuously support students. We are told they care through programs like FLVS but this is hard to believe when just the other day Ron DeSantis vetoed 30 million dollars' worth of funding that would have benefited accessible tutoring. Thus, we are told we are only important when officials need to save face.

Julianna Bendeck, 17, is a rising senior at Bonita Springs High School and a dual-enrolled student at Florida Gulf Coast University. She enjoys organizing volunteer events as the president and student founder of her school's Interact Club. This past year, Julianna also served as the chairwoman of the District Student Advisory Committee and is involved in activities ranging from Teen Court to Marching Band to FGCU's Eagle News. She can be contacted at julianna.bendeck06@gmail.com.