Next year’s legislative session provides another opportunity to make Florida state even friendlier to private interests.

The charter-school lobby will fight for a share of the lucrative construction dollars allocated to traditional public schools, something it failed to accomplish last year.

Advocates may also try to change the law that says only local school districts can approve new charter schools, with the goal of letting non-profit organizations or a state commission authorize schools, too. Charter schools often complain they don’t get a fair shake from school districts, which would rather keep students — and the $6,000 in state funding attached to each one — in the traditional school system.

Another high priority: a bill known as the parent trigger, which would allow parents to convert low-performing traditional schools into charter schools.

Virtual school outfits are hoping to build on past successes. In 2011, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring all high-school students to take at least one online course. The bill also opened the door to full-time virtual schooling for elementary-aged kids, and allowed for the creation of virtual charter schools.

For-profit colleges, meanwhile, want to protect the $2.3 million in publicly funded scholarships available for their students.

By and large, Republican candidates and the Republican Party of Florida have been the beneficiaries of the education firms’ contributions. More than 90 percent of the dollars designated for political parties went to the GOP, The Herald analysis found. And Republican candidates took in about 85 percent of the contributions made to individuals.

Some checks went to Democrats. Hage, of Charter Schools USA, made contributions to Ron Saunders and Victoria Siplin, two Democratic supporters of school choice who lost their bids for state Senate in the August primary. He also made a $100,000 contribution to a political committee that supports some Democrats.

Hage admitted that wasn’t the norm. “The Democratic platforms typically don’t promote school choice,” he said.

Education company chiefs contend their dollars are needed to offset campaign contributions from the teachers’ unions, which have fought against the proliferation of virtual and charter schools, and have been longtime supporters of the Democratic Party.

The Florida Education Association spent about $1 million on statehouse races, including contributions to political campaigns and committees, Director of Public Policy Advocacy Jeff Wright said. It spent another $1 million to oppose a constitutional amendment that could allow private religious schools to receive state funding.

But Wright called that sum “an insignificant amount compared to what we’re up against.”

He noted that there are millions of dollars flowing through opaque political committees like the Florida Federation for Children, which spent more than $1 million this year on mailers, TV ads and other communications for candidates supporting voucher programs and charter schools, state records show. The committee does not disclose which candidates it backs.

Former state Rep. Ralph Arza, a Miami Republican who now lobbies for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, did not deny that charter schools and other education entities have become more involved in the legislative process.

“For a long time, if you were on an education committee, you would struggle to raise money,” he said. “That is changing.”

But Arza said contributions from education companies are still far less than those coming in from the healthcare and insurance industries.

“Does it guarantee anybody anything by making these donations? No,” he said.

State Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, seconded that.

“It’s not them trying to influence me,” said Bogdanoff, who is running in a tight race and received $6,500 in contributions from education companies. “It is them recognizing that my record is very supportive of school choice.”

Still, the contributions don’t sit well with Shaun Rogers, whose daughter attends Doctors Charter School in Miami Shores.

“I want as many dollars as possible going into the actual education of the children,” he said. “Making political contributions doesn’t seem like the best use of that money.”