SUPPORT FOR 3DE SCHOOLS APPROVED IN FLORIDA STATE BUDGET

Author: Olivier Millour
Community Involvement
Published: Thursday, 13 Jun 2024

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3DE students from Chamberlain, Dunedin, Hillsborough, St. Petersburg, Gibbs, and Tenoroc High Schools at ReliaQuests downtown headquarters for their Best of the Bay competition

Image caption: 3DE students from Chamberlain, Dunedin, Hillsborough, St. Petersburg, Gibbs, and Tenoroc High Schools at ReliaQuests downtown headquarters for their Best of the Bay competition

[JUNE 13, 2024] – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the final state budget yesterday (June 12th), approving an appropriation of $2,952,477 to the Junior Achievement of Florida Foundation in support of 3DE, Junior Achievement’s instructional model for high school. This funding will be divided among JA areas throughout Florida to sustain operations of existing 3DE Schools and support 3DE’s expansion to additional schools in 2025-26.

"This investment in 3DE by Junior Achievement is an investment into the betterment of our students, educators, and our collective workforce throughout Florida” states Pam Muma, Chair of the Junior Achievement of Florida Foundation Board of Directors. “Grounded in connecting what students learn in the classroom to the real-world through our long-standing partnerships with local business communities, 3DE transforms the traditional high school approach to be more relevant, engaging, and true to the future of work. This will benefit thousands of students’ lives and strengthen the bonds in our communities. We are grateful to our legislative champions, Governor DeSantis, and the state of Florida for their support of our mission and look forward to continuing to re-engineer our educational landscape with 3DE for years to come.”

The inclusion of the “Workforce Development in High School Classrooms by Junior Achievement” appropriations bill was made possible in large part to the championing of sponsors Florida Senator Jarrid “Jay” Collins of District 14, and Florida House of Representatives Member Karen Gonzalez-Pittman of District 65 and in conjunction with the advocacy efforts of The Southern Group.

This one-time capital stimulus validates the success of outcomes that the 3DE instructional model by Junior Achievement has been able to replicate year-over-year. This includes significant reductions in chronic absenteeism among FL 3DE students (-18.2%) and outperformance in reading (+19.7%) and math (+27%) proficiencies, with 86% of 3DE students seeing the relevance of school and 100% of Principals recommending the model.

3DE by Junior Achievement is set to serve nearly 5,000 high school students across 19 3DE Schools in 8 school districts next school year, with more than 100 school district teachers trained in the 3DE model, close to 90 business partners with real-world curriculum and engagements, and over 1000 business volunteers that support and mentor 3DE students.

Source: Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Fiscal Year 2024-2025 “Focus on Florida’s Future” Budget (flgov.com)