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Lawmakers will be back at the Capitol in a little over two weeks to finish what they need to do and pass a state budget. But as Matt Galka tells us, a lot of people have been left hanging in the meantime.

Schools would typically be taking the time after legislative session to be crafting their own budgets for the next school year.  But the lack of state budget has left districts in limbo.

“The majority of schools are working on what you and I would probably call a continuation budget which means they’re starting assumption is “what if nothing changes” and “what if we have exactly the same budget that we had last year?” said Flordia School Boards Association Interim Executive Director Bill Graham.

If the assumption holds true, per pupil funding will be far from the record spending that was promised.

“It means that they probably start with less per student or their jargon per FTE because the enrollment increases during the current school year that ends June 30^th actually exceeded original forecasts,” said Graham.

The lack of a budget has also left critical social service agencies hanging as well.

Mike Watkins with the Child Welfare agency Big Bend Community Based care says he expects critical services like his will be fine, but they’ll still be scrambling at the end of June.

“The cost is that we’re probably going to get a budget at the 11^th hour and we will be working with the executive branch and the department of children and families to try to maximize the allocation the legislature passes. And we’re going to be doing this in the middle of the night,” he said.

Lawmakers start working on the budget on June 1^st. The budget is expected to be completed on June 20^th, That gives Governor Rick Scott 10 days to review it before the current year’s budget expires on July 1^st.