- December 16, 2025
Matanzas will trim $92,000. Flagler Palm Coast will trim $134,602.
Matanzas High School Principal Chris Pryor issued an email to teachers a few weeks ago, notifying them that, due to state funding shortfalls, about $92,000 would need to be cut from the school’s current budget.
But he wasn’t the only administrator faced with state reductions.
At the end of last year, the Florida Department of Education notified the district that it would receive $37.30 less per student than it initially projected last summer. The notification was a product of the state’s third calculation, according to district Finance Director Tom Tant.
Tant explained that there are three state budget re-calculations annually, following its initial summer projection, after which the district sets its millage rate. That means there are three times during the year when schools must reorganize their budget plans, possibly being forced to find new places to cut.
“That’s why your budget is never your budget,” Tant said.
According to Pryor, though, the cuts seem a lot worse than they actually are.
“We were asked to shave almost $92,000 off our budget, and that’s not an usual thing this time of year,” he said. “It was one of those things you come to expect, and you sort of plan for it.”
Based on student population, Matanzas will cut $91,165 from its about $8 million total budget to make up the shortfall. Flagler Palm Coast High School, with a larger student body, will have to trim $134,602 from a budget of about $14 million. But according to Principal Jacob Oliva, his school is already on track to finish the year below budget — even more than its projected reduction.
“Our goal is to come in under budget every year,” he said. “It’s something that we monitor almost daily.”
Instead of accruing lump savings from one or two areas, Oliva says his campus has saved small amounts across the board. Energy costs are down — maybe due to the mild weather, he said. When athletic teams do well, they get to host home games, which reduce travel costs. Bids for musical instruments came in lower than usual. The substitute payroll has been “way under” budget, because teachers are taking less time off. Even the cost of copies and fertilizers are down.
“So we’re going to be fine, as far as programs and services for our students,” he said. “(None of that) will change.”
There’s a degree of luck involved in executing any budget plan, Oliva said, but a lot of the core savings have to do with prioritizing items of want and need.
“We’re really looking at needs,” he said. “And if we can put off those wants for a couple years, we’ll do that. … We’re meeting the needs of all of our programs. We’ve done very well this year as a school.”
Pryor and his staff have taken the same approach.
“We go through each of our line items and cut a little bit here and there,” he added, citing some of his school’s planned improvement projects that will be delayed. “We were going to buy outdoor furniture around the (sports) fields ... but we’re going put that off for a while.”
The school will also put off the purchase of extra text books.
But those are the only types of things that will be downsized at Matanzas, Pryor said. Services will remain. No jobs will be lost. “The students won’t even know it happened. The teachers won’t feel it,” he said.
“It’s been a big topic, the decline in funding,” Oliva added. “And it puts a lot more burden on the community. But it’s important to invest in education. The more we invest in the future of education, the more impact it’s going to have on economic growth.”
