They joined forced to make their voices loud and clear.

“We’re all delivering one message: let’s do more,” said Hillsborough County Superintendent Jeff Eakins.

Superintendents from Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk and Manatee Counties call on Gov. Rick Scott to demand lawmakers return to the Florida Capitol to ask for more money for public schools.

“If the budget remains where it is, we’ll be forced to make significant cuts,” said Jacqueline Byrd, superintendent in Polk County.

The governor proposed an increase in student funding of $152.

But, most of that money heads to school security in wake of the Parkland shooting.

That means the base student allocation is increasing by just pennies.

“That means the final amount of flexible funding for schools is increasing by just 47 cents per student.  47 cents!” Eakins said.

The superintendents want the governor to veto the education portion of the budget.

That would force a special session with lawmakers.

“We can no longer sit back and let the Legislature disregard the needs for public school students,” said Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning

The superintendents urge parents and taxpayers to call and email the governor.

They explained that the state is looking at a budget surplus and can certainly afford to spend more money on students.

“Our total budget increased by $5 billion and out of that $3 billion is being put into reserve funds.  That’s being done on the backs of our students and our teachers,” said Dr. Diana Green, superintendent in Manatee County.

The allocations go toward teacher pay, equipment and school supplies.

A representative for Gov. Scott said his number one priority is to make schools safer:

“In this year’s budget, K-12 public schools are provided hundreds of millions of dollars and the flexibility needed to make each school safer while still increasing Florida’s per-pupil funding to a record high. Since Governor Scott has taken office, total operational funding for Florida schools is up 27 percent, while the amount of flexible funding to school districts has grown by 21 percent. Student enrollment has only grown seven percent in the same amount of time.”

– McKinley Lewis, Deputy Communications Director