California vs Texas vs Florida Top 25 School Comparisons

[Hwy17]

I'm sure economics has much to do with this.  Florida is, and always has been a low wage state. Here in the middle part of the state, $15/hour is looked at as a good paying job. Our main economic drivers in Florida are tourism, healthcare (because of a large number of retirees), and agriculture (which is in decline).  All three of those industries create a lot of low paying jobs.  People move to Florida to retire and live the good life.  They don't have kids in school, so funding for public schools is not on a priority.  Politicians see the retirees as a very large voting block and as such cater to them over anyone else.  We don't have (nor do I advocate) a state income tax.  We rely heavy on sales taxes because of tourism, and property tax.  Both are regressive in nature.  

[OldSchoolLion]

12 minutes ago, Hwy17 said:

I'm sure economics has much to do with this.  Florida is, and always has been a low wage state. Here in the middle part of the state, $15/hour is looked at as a good paying job. Our main economic drivers in Florida are tourism, healthcare (because of a large number of retirees), and agriculture (which is in decline).  All three of those industries create a lot of low paying jobs.  People move to Florida to retire and live the good life.  They don't have kids in school, so funding for public schools is not on a priority.  Politicians see the retirees as a very large voting block and as such cater to them over anyone else.  We don't have (nor do I advocate) a state income tax.  We rely heavy on sales taxes because of tourism, and property tax.  Both are regressive in nature.  

...published by "Florida Kids Count."  Florida's children... 

-rank 40th in the nation when it comes to their health, education and economic well-being

-close to a million are living in poverty  

-41% of children live in homes/apartments their families can barely afford. 

-more than 73,000 Florida school children are homeless.

-this generation of Floridians has already reached minority-majority status, meaning that, collectively, there are more kids who are Hispanic, black, Asian-American or other minorities than kids who are non-Hispanic white.

 

Some of our challenges in hs football are a microcosm of problems on a bigger scale.  If we truly care about the kids, we owe it to them to educate ourselves about the issues, even if it means getting uncomfortable with the subject matter.  That's why I share some of this information. guys...simply to raise awareness.  It's so ironic that in Florida we have all this talent and success, yet we have football players going to bed hungry at night.