Manatee Review

There were 81 multiracial students enrolled in Hardee County's only school district in the 2023-24 school year, an 11% increase over the 73 multiracial students in the previous school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Data showed that Hardee County welcomed a total of 4,725 students at the time. Among them, multiracial students comprised 1.7% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county. The most represented ethnicity was Hispanic, accounting for 62.4% of the students (2,950), followed by white students who made up 29.3% of the student population (1,386).

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
Hardee County School District	81	4,725	1.7%