NC Florida News

There were 685 multiracial students enrolled in Columbia County's only school district in the 2023-24 school year, a 2.2% increase over the 670 multiracial students in the previous school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Data showed that Columbia County welcomed a total of 9,785 students at the time. Among them, multiracial students comprised 7% of the student body to be the third least represented ethnicity in the county. The most represented ethnicity was white, accounting for 59.8% of the students (5,849), followed by Black students who made up 22.1% of the student population (2,160).

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
Columbia County School District	685	9,785	7%