A small group of Florida school boards have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lobbying in Washington, D.C. — unusual given that the money could be used to pay teachers, bus drivers, maintenance workers and other employees.
Hiring outside firms to lobby in the Florida Legislature is relatively common for public school districts, but federal government lobbying among them is almost unseen.
Of the 67 districts in Florida, only nine have hired lobbyists to work for them in D.C. over the last 15 years. And three of those have just started paying lobbyists within the last couple of years.
The Florida Trident collected quarterly reports from the Congressional lobbying database dating back to 2010 and added up the estimated yearly amounts. The analysis found that those districts have spent roughly $2.5 million on federal lobbying.
For example, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has spent close to $1 million on lobbying efforts in Washington since 2017. Broward’s school district has spent at least $840,000 since 2014 and Hillsborough’s school board, almost $300,000 since 2019.
While the Congressional data show there’s plenty of lobbying going around in city and county commissions, sheriff’s offices, health systems, colleges, universities, foundations, port authorities and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, there’s been little discussion about school boards – until now.
The issue came up recently in Southwest Florida, where Lee County’s school board members voted to award a one-year, $180,000 contract to Ballard Partners – a top lobbying firm with roots in Tallahassee – to advocate for more federal funding for the district.
The firm registered as a Congressional lobbyist for the district on March 5 and has received its first quarterly payment of $20,000, according to its lobbying registration form.
At the school board meeting in March, the decision to hire Ballard drew public criticism.
“Forget about lobbyists,” said Robert Rioux, a carpenter for the Lee school district who begged board members for higher wages during the meeting. “We need your help. People are leaving, whether it’s a bus driver or construction worker.”
Former school board candidate India Palencia also criticized the decision, arguing the money could be better spent elsewhere.
“Teachers here are among the worst paid in the nation,” Palencia added. “We could put that money toward ensuring teachers are properly compensated.”
Florida’s average teacher salary – $53,098 – ranks at the bottom in the nation at 50th, data from the National Education Association show. In Lee County, the average salary for teachers is $56,596, according to the state Department of Education’s data from last school year.
Both the state and district averages are lower than the national average, which is $69,597.
Average pay for other K-12 employees in Florida is also among the lowest in the nation. For instance, school bus drivers earn $33,190, while the national average salary for those workers is $46,660, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show.
‘We don’t want to be forgotten.’
Among districts that work with D.C. lobbyists, officials defend the spending as a means to securing federal funding that goes beyond what they would normally receive.
“We want to maximize our funding and opportunities and protect the interests of our students and teachers and community for years to come,” said Lee County School Board Member Melisa Giovannelli in an interview with the Trident.
Giovannelli, who’s been pushing district leaders to hire a federal lobbyist for the last couple of years, said she’s hopeful that working with one will help the district get more federal aid for school buildings.
“We’re a growing county,” she explained. Enrollment data from the district shows an increase of about 2,000 students last school year from the previous academic year. “That’s a new school a year. We’re not able to keep up with that.”
Additionally, the district still hasn’t replaced three school buildings that were destroyed during Hurricane Ian, she said. “When Milton came in, it took out the schools that we finally got back up, and they didn’t even make it a year,” she added. “We don’t want to be forgotten.”
And she’s hopeful that working with Ballard will help them navigate any potential changes to federal programs for schools under President Donald Trump’s administration.
What we pay for lobbyists
Meanwhile, Ballard Partners has also been lobbying in Washington, D.C., for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the largest school district in Florida.
The firm has been receiving $120,000 annually from the district for the last several years, totaling $940,000 since 2017, based on the Trident analysis. The Trident reached out to the district’s school board members and superintendent to discuss its federal lobbying work with Ballard. Most of the officials didn’t respond to emails or return calls, while a few declined to be interviewed.
The most recent Congressional lobbying report includes no specifics about the district’s federal policy priorities, but states the lobbyist’s goals are to “monitor elementary and secondary policy measures that affect large public-school districts as it relates to authorization and funding.”
Broward County Public Schools had contracted with the Alcalde & Fay firm for more than a decade, until last year when its contract expired and the district began a bid process to hire new state and federal lobbyists, lobbying registration forms and school district records show.
The district approved a three-year contract for $234,000 – or $78,000 annually – with the Southern Group of Florida for state and federal lobbying, school district records show.
But it’s unclear how much of that is being spent in D.C.
The latest Broward disclosure report in 2024, which would still be with Alcalde & Fay, shows the firm advocated for issues such as school safety, at-risk youths and legislation to address DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program), which relates to protecting young immigrants brought to the United States as children.
John Sullivan, the district’s chief communications and legislative affairs officer, explained to the Trident that the district’s investment in federal lobbying over the years has paid off in the form of millions of dollars in Congressional earmarked funding that goes directly to the Broward school district.
“When you factor in what we pay for lobbyists and what they’ve been able to bring back in specific earmarks,” Sullivan said, “it’s above and beyond what we pay them.”
This year, for instance, the district has received $2 million in federal funding for its Youth Empowerment and Safety Initiative, which seeks to reduce youth crime by providing mentorship, job preparedness and anti-gang education through the local police department.
Sullivan said he doesn’t believe the district would’ve secured the funding on its own, without the help of an outside lobbyist.
“Their relationships are more in-depth than district officials,” he said. “They are monitoring it on a daily basis, where we wouldn’t, per se, have that ability.”
Billions of federal dollars, too
Still, most districts don’t pay lobbyists in Washington to pursue those opportunities.
Instead they focus their efforts on the state, with at least more than a couple dozen school boards hiring lobbyists to work in Tallahassee.
Alachua County Public Schools, which covers Gainesville, is one of those districts, though it shares its state lobbying expenses with two other local school districts, explained Jackie Johnson, the district’s director of communications.
“A lot of what happens during and even after and even before the legislative session has an enormous impact on schools,” she said. “It’s important that school districts should be represented in that process.”
Most of the funding school districts receive comes from state and local coffers, while federal revenues make up the smallest share of local school district budgets.
Of the $43 billion in revenues that went into Florida’s public schools in the 2023 fiscal year, local and state amounts totaled $36 billion and federal contributions added up to $7 billion, according to an April report by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Money isn’t the only thing districts rely on the state Legislature to provide. “They also have a lot of power over everything from curriculum to security to transportation,” Johnson said, “just about every aspect of our operations.”
That’s why the district focuses its lobbying spending at the state level, instead of in Washington, she explained.
For their D.C. advocacy efforts, the districts rely on K-12 education organizations, such as the Florida School Boards Association, Johnson added.
The association pays a federal lobbyist less than $5,000 per year to advocate for issues that affect districts across the state, Congressional lobbying disclosure data show.
Andrea Messina, the association’s chief executive officer, explained they’re concerned about a host of issues affecting students, such as mental health services, childhood nutrition and broadband connectivity.
“We have a person on the ground in D.C. that works with us,” Messina said. “We go up there once a year as an association representing the state of Florida and we advocate for our federal position.”
‘The opportunities out there are abundant.’
The school-related federal lobbying efforts come as Trump seeks to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, which is in charge of distributing funding for programs that help K-12 schools in low-income communities and students with disabilities.
But actually closing the department and returning its functions to the states would require an act of Congress, giving school districts more time before they would see any changes, Messina explained.
For instance, federally-funded programs, such as Title I for low-income schools, aren’t going anywhere yet. “These things are codified in multiple places in law,” Messina said. “These are not issues that we expect are going to go away. They’re just going to be reorganized, repurposed.”
Still, school boards are keeping a close eye on the latest information coming from Washington. “They want to make sure that the funding and the support for those vulnerable students isn’t compromised.”
“If the dollars do come to the state in some block grant form, certainly professional educators in the school districts – superintendents, decision makers, board members – would like to have some ability to have some input into how those dollars might be spent.”
The association’s lobbyist Terrence C. Wolfe, who also contracts with four school districts, explained that a lobbyist like himself can help “make sure that any changes at the Department of Education are heard by school districts.”
Wolfe, president of New Century Government Affairs, works for school districts in Suwannee, Hernando, Charlotte and Monroe counties — four relatively small districts.
“Superintendents and school board members and other district personnel are busy running the operations to educate people,” Wolfe said. “I can dedicate time and arrange for proper meetings and site visits [with members of Congress].”
That’s a possibility, depending on how much control states would have over how the dollars are spent.
Part of his job includes regularly updating members of Congress about the needs and priorities of the school districts he represents. “Members of Congress get probably thousands of emails every day,” he said. “We’re making sure that lawmakers are aware of the things that are going on in the district.”
Wolfe said he also educates school district officials about policies that would affect them and where their representatives stand on a particular issue.
In addition to funding for school buildings and youth crime reduction, districts have other special opportunities at the federal level.
He recounted how he worked with members of Congress to help bring the sale price down on a piece of property the Monroe County’s school district wanted to buy from the U.S. Department of Education for workforce housing.
The deal saved the district “millions of dollars,” he added, and is expected to help the district hire high-quality teachers.
“The opportunities out there are abundant.”
More info on lobbying and money
Here’s more information on federal lobbying activities by Florida school boards from Congressional lobbying data and spending estimates going back to 2010:
Broward public schools
The district in South Florida paid Alcalde & Fay $80,000 annually for federal lobbying services from 2014-2023. Last year, the amount was reduced to $40,000 and the lobbying disclosure report showed the contract ended June 30. Now, the district has hired Southern Group of Florida for state and federal lobbying.
Hillsborough public schools
The district in the Tampa Bay area worked with Shumaker Advisors Florida, LLC, from 2019 to the fall of 2024. During that time, the firm was paid $245,000 and lobbying issues included K-12 education and public schools on military installations.
GrayRobinson, P.A. came on board in September 2024, representing the district on issues related to education policy, appropriations and workforce issues, as well as “environmental issues related to resilience against the impact of storms.” The firm is now receiving quarterly payments totaling $43,750 to date.
Monroe public schools
The district includes the Florida Keys and has had several federal lobbying firms over the years since the mid-2000s. The latest firm representing the district is New Century Government Affairs, owned by Terrence C. Wolfe who registered on behalf of the district on Nov. 1, 2022. So far, the Wolfe’s firm has been paid $110,000.
Palm Beach public schools
The district in South Florida contracted for federal lobbying for several years in the 2000s. In 2010 and 2011, the district used Alcalde & Fay and paid quarterly amounts adding up to $90,000. The district ended its federal lobbying efforts on Feb. 28, 2011.
Hernando, Suwannee and Charlotte public schools
The trio of small school districts began contracting with Wolfe’s firm within the last few years.
In 2024, Hernando, in west Central Florida, began focusing its lobbying efforts on “issues relating to K-12 education, including appropriations related to workforce shortages,” and has paid Wolfe a total of $30,000 thus far.
Suwannee, in North Florida, has been working with Wolfe since 2023 – relating to advocacy on K-12 education issues – and has paid Wolfe $90,000. Charlotte, situated in Southwest Florida, contracted with Wolfe in 2024, and has paid him a total of $50,000. (On lobbying issues, Charlotte’s registration report showed the same lobbying issues as Hernando’s.)
Lobbying registration forms show Hernando and Suwannee districts are paying a consulting firm, KEY Innovative Solutions, to work with the lobbyist on their behalf. All three districts have spent a total of $170,000.
Valerie Crowder is an award-winning freelance journalist and founder of The Panhandle Press. Her work has appeared on NPR and public radio stations across Florida, as well as in The New York Times and the Florida Trident.
Diane Rado is the executive editor of the Florida Trident. She is an award-winning journalist who has covered government, education, policy and politics for over 30 years. She has been reporting, writing and editing stories at the Chicago Tribune, St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) Times, Dallas Morning News, The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal and recently, the Florida Phoenix, where she was Editor-in-Chief up through May 2024.