Despite Democratic legislators' Herculean efforts, the state Legislature will not return to Tallahassee for a special session on education funding.
That means Florida school districts will have to make do with what they got.
Good luck with that.
While some legislators touted this year's "historic" $101.50 per-student increase in funding, the overwhelming majority of this went toward specific programs. This year, new school security measures passed in the wake of the Parkland school shooting boosted overall education spending.
The Legislature, of course, had to act in the wake of the massacre; and these safety measures aren't the only reason schools are struggling to pay the bills.
But in fact, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act might be a case study in how the Sunshine State funds education — and doesn't.
Among other things, the act requires school districts to post a school safety officer in every public school. To help pay for this, the Legislature allocated $162 million — along with another $67 million for the "Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program," which allows school district employees to carry a gun on campus.
Here's the problem: The $162 million won't come close to covering the cost of a school safety officer in each of the state's 3,500 elementary, middle and high schools.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act becomes yet another underfunded mandate.
To be sure, state funding for "safe schools" has never covered the entire cost of existing school resource officers. Law-enforcement agencies foot much of the bill, and school districts dip into operating funds to make up the rest. Now the gap between what's available and what must be spent will grow.
For example: Last year, the Martin County School District took $230,307 from its operating fund to cover the cost of school resource officers. This year, that figure is projected to grow to $900,000 — a 290 percent increase.
Meanwhile, money set aside for the guardian program may not have that many takers. Many school districts have rejected the idea of arming school personnel; some have gotten creative, hiring their own security forces as "guardians" rather than arming existing school staff.
It's possible the entire $67 million won't be spent. If it isn't, strapped school districts can't tap it to pay for safe school officers. The money can only be spent on the guardian program.
That's typical of how Florida funds education: a significant amount of state funding comes with strings attached, mandating exactly how districts may spend it.
In this case, perhaps in many cases, it makes no sense.
As noted, new security costs weren't the only fiscal sledgehammer blows inflicted by the Legislature on local school districts this year.
The end result is low-level crisis. Many districts, including Martin County schools, are talking about tax increases. Others are contemplating bigger class sizes, ending courtesy busing or even eliminating gifted education programs.
There's no immediate solution. In terms of school security costs, a good start might be for the state to stop sequestering security dollars in separate silos.
It made no sense to create two programs where one would have sufficed. It's ridiculous to say these dollars can only be spent on this, and those must be spent on that, rather than putting all the dollars into a single pot districts can utilize to fund their security needs.
Give school districts greater flexibility to create safer schools, rather than mandating exactly how they do it.
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