$3.5M in held federal funds for Seminole Schools cleared to be released

The federal government has cleared more than $3.5 million in grant money that was on hold for the upcoming year, and it’s now destined for Seminole County Public Schools. The federal funds will fill a potential big gap in the school system’s budget.

SCPS Superintendent Serita Beamon confirmed the news this week at the 2025 State of our Schools speech. 

SCPS has 45 full and part-time employees that are reliant on that federal funding. 

“Well thankfully on Friday at about 3:50 p.m., we had a conversation that confirmed for us the funds will flow for this year,” Beamon told reporters at a press conference after the speech. “That uncertainty is absolutely a challenge. But for this year, that should not impact our students and our staff.”

Beamon spoke to reporters about other budget cuts. The district has had to cut nearly 100 teaching positions for the coming school year because of a multi-year decline in student enrollment. 

Oviedo Community News asked what the long-term plan is to change the trajectory in enrollment. 

“The long-term plan is to make sure that our families understand that Seminole County is the choice, the best choice, for education here and their kids will have all of the opportunities they desire them to have right here in our public school system,” Beamon said. 

Pastor Andy Searles of Church Together in Casselberry attended the speech. He said he was impressed that SCPS was looking not just at academic metrics, but helping to nurture “the whole person.”

He said he found himself almost wishing he was of middle school age and could go back to school again. 

“People move to Seminole County because of our schools,” Searles said. “As goes the health of our schools goes the health of our county. They are a crucial component.”

Even with federal money release, budget constraints continue

Florida school districts get an increased reimbursement rate from the state for the students who take AP and other advanced courses.

Florida lawmakers considered dropping that reimbursement rate, which would have cut $17 million in Seminole County alone.

Last year, 7,522 students took 16,874 Advanced Placement, or AP, exams with a pass rate of 73%. There were also 2,435 students who took dual enrollment, and more than 80 students who graduated with a two-year college degree. 

You can download Beamon’s presentation to the Seminole Chamber below. 

Seminole County Public Schools met last week to begin talking about legislative priorities to lobby for. Beamon said those reimbursement rates were top of mind. 

“[There has been] a lot of conversation about whether the proposed cuts for our accelerated programs is something we should expect to see for next year,” Beamon said. “We obviously would not want that to happen.”

Beamon said one of the big issues affecting the district is chronic absenteeism, or students missing more than 15 days in a year. Across the county, Beamon said chronic absenteeism has only dropped by 1 percent in the last three years. 

“As a district we’re relatively stagnant on this metric, despite all of our efforts,” Beamon said. “It will take persistent effort to really make an impact.”

But, she added, efforts to address absenteeism seem to affect a school’s overall performance. That includes Tuskawilla Middle School, which went from an overall B score to an A score, while dropping chronic absenteeism by 5.2 percent.

“Look at some of our schools that had the most success on the chronic absentee issue this past year, and you’ll see a trend of accelerating school performance.”

County still has thousands of homeless students

SCPS ended the last school year with 3,611 students who were counted as homeless under the federal McKinney-Vento Act. Most – 2,561 – are sharing housing because of an eviction or other hardship, but 535 were living in hotels or motels and another 111 were in shelters. 

“And that includes more than 400 unaccompanied homeless students,” Beamon said. “So those are students that have absolutely no parental support.”

Rankings and renovations

On the good-news side, rankings improved for several Winter Springs schools. Indian Trails Middle School in Winter Springs earned its first A grade since 2019, and Tuskawilla Elementary School earned its first A since 2015. 

Winter Springs High School’s fire academy is starting this year at Winter Springs High School. And Oviedo High School is this year launching an Agriculture Biotechnology program and an Industrial Biotechnology Program. 

“And both, we believe, will be powerful connectors of students to their passions,” Beamon said. “We’re excited about that.”

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Abe Aboraya is a Report for America Corps Member