East Panhandle News

There were 1,044 Black students enrolled in Madison County's only school district in the 2023-24 school year, a 7.5% decrease from the 1,129 Black students in the previous school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Data showed that Madison County welcomed a total of 2,300 students at the time. Among them, Black students comprised 45.4% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the county. They were followed by white students with a count of 986 (42.9%), and Hispanic students, totaling 185, or 8% of the student population.

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 Black Students	Total District Enrollment	% of Total Enrollment
Madison County School District	1,044	2,300	45.4%