East Panhandle News

There were 40 multiracial students enrolled in Lafayette County's only school district in the 2023-24 school year, an 8.1% increase over the 37 multiracial students in the previous school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Data showed that Lafayette County welcomed a total of 1,133 students at the time. Among them, multiracial students comprised 3.5% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the county. The most represented ethnicity was white, accounting for 67.7% of the students (767), followed by Hispanic students who made up 21.2% of the student population (240).

Gov. DeSantis has approved an education budget of over $28 billion for the 2024-25 school year. The new budget includes more than $1 billion earmarked exclusively for teacher salaries to better address the teacher shortage the state faces.

According to the National Education Association (NEA), Florida ranks 50th in the U.S. in terms of teacher salaries, only ahead of West Virginia.

District	No. of multiracial Students	Total District Enrollment	% of Total Enrollment
Lafayette School District	40	1,133	3.5%