WCSB Special Referendum 5/17/2011

Just a reminder. If you wish to hear what Superintendent Anderson has to say on this subject, a TEA Party Patriot's meeting will be addressed by her this evening at 6:00 P.M. at the Coastal Branch Library. ALL are invited to attend and ask questions. Maybe she can shed some light on the stadium issue as well.

I applaud the Superintendent for appearing before us mad tea party folks. 🙂

I don't think I can be called a pawn of the politicians by any stretch. In fact, I tend to support the vote um all out and start over approach. But, your anger is hurting your cause more than it is helping. If you want to influence people, take the advise and start a new thread outlining your issue. Many people will listen but you have to be reasonable.
As far as the school board, Mark Davis is one of the few local politicians I have any regard for. I believe he would listen to your concerns.
Back to the subject of this thread. Voting YES is a no-brainer. Taxes are not raised, money is only transfered from one line item to another. The sad thing is that this must be voted on at all, the school board should have the ability to make this decision on their own.
A parting thought: I would like to hear the facts on this 6 million dollar stadium rumor.

Not a rumour. Mark took me out and showed me what all they were going to do. Will be really nice when they get through.

Just a reminder. Supt. Anderson will be making a presentation at the TEA Party Patriot's meeting tonight at the Coastal Branch Library. The meeting is at 6:00 p.m. and ALL are invited. There will be a question and answer period.

Not a rumour. Mark took me out and showed me what all they were going to do. Will be really nice when they get through.

Can you give us some details such as what, where and when? For 6 million dollars it should be awe inspiring.

Last day of early voting is tomorrow- this is so important for the Walton County students, teachers, staff, and our community in general.

Thank you in advance from a mom who knows how important art, music, and a well-rounded education has been to both our graduating senior and 3rd grader. Honestly, I never imagined having to fight for stuff that we always considered a "normal" and key component of public school education.

I just hope we don't find ourselves having to fight for public school education in general...in some places, that possibility seems to be on the horizon.

Last day of early voting is tomorrow- this is so important for the Walton County students, teachers, staff, and our community in general.

Thank you in advance from a mom who knows how important art, music, and a well-rounded education has been to both our graduating senior and 3rd grader. Honestly, I never imagined having to fight for stuff that we always considered a "normal" and key component of public school education.

I took a big tour of Bay Elementary School last week. While I was impressed with many apsects of the school campus and classrooms, I was really surprised to learn what little extracurricular activities are available to the students. 35 minutes of art per week and 35 minutes of music per week. I asked why these items are so minimal and the response was that the academic instruction required by law took up the entire school day and left little time for extracurricular. I still have research to do. I know Bay is an excellent school from all I've heard for years and years - I am trying to digest what I've learned so far. I seek a well-rounded education for my child. Of course, as in all situations, its the parents job to round out education at home as they see fit. Maybe its a case of "the school can't do it all". Time is limited within the school day, and I do not wish for a longer day or a longer school year! But, at this point I am concerned about the "well rounded education" part.

I'm reviewing the Sunshine Standards for Grade 4 and they are detailed and quite comprehensive in Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science.

I understand that there is a political action committee pushing this effort. I'd like some information on that. Who is on the committee and who gave money to it. I haven't seen any ads promoting it, but I haven't checked todays paper. Someone mentioned the Superintendent speaking to the tea party. How did that go?

it would appear that anyone who doesn't support this effort is an unwanted annoyance and is guilty of stalking and harassment. There are many things i don't support and it would seem that this thread be left to those who wish to preach to the choir. I often engage in debate with people on other forums and on facebook. If anyone wishes to file a complaint against me, either civil or criminal, i do believe i've made it easy.

ita!

Please vote yes on the referendum. Bob is right. It is tax neutral. We are asking the voters to allow us to transfer a .5 mill from the capital outlay budget to the operating budget. As you know, the capital outlay budget is a budget where we can levy up to 2.0 mills for construction and maintenance of buildings. We have to ask the voters permission for the transfer every four years. This is the third time we have asked. When we first received permission from the voters to do this, we simultaneously reduced the capital outlay millage by the one half mill so there would not be a tax increase. In fact, since that time, we lowered the capital outlay millage again. So, this is not a tax increase. Just a transfer from one pot of money to the other.

This money will go to the operations budget which is the budget from which we pay teachers, buy materials, pay utilities, etc. We used the transferred money to initially raise teachers' salaries substantially so we could compete for good teachers with surrounding counties. We are there now. We now need the money to maintain those salaries given the State is continuing to shrink our operating budget. This half mill money is essential to maintain our current level of service.

Why has the board done what appears to be a lousy job of budgeting? If you knew you would need additional operating outlays and fewer capital outlays why didn't you request the appropriate millage rates initially?

I voted saturday - was #203 at the annex.

A couple of questions. Can you still vote at your regular polling place? Is it routine on this forum to vilify someone who may not agree with the majority of those posting here?

All precints will be open tomorrow.

Lousy Job

Why has the board done what appears to be a lousy job of budgeting? If you knew you would need additional operating outlays and fewer capital outlays why didn't you request the appropriate millage rates initially?

You are preaching to the choir. Remember I am the "tax and spend" democrat on the board. :roll: This year we have the local option millage as high as it will go and that it is the only millage we set that has any effect on the operations budget. The operations budget is based almost exclusively on the State's FEFP (Florida Education Funding Plan) per student allocation. We have a difficult time projecting for more than the current budget year because that per student allocation changes every year and those changes can be substantial. If we would have left the local option millage at the maximum rate during the property value run up, we would be awash (a bit of an exaggeration) in money on the operations side. But, even I thought that was fiscally irresponsible.

Frankly, considering that we have weathered this huge economic downturn and significant reductions in state funding, without having to cut out large programs or make large layoffs, is a testament to some pretty good budget planning. We essentially saved for this rainy day.

Were we perfect? Heck no. We have some salaries and positions that need re-examining and we are doing so during this budget cycle. On the capital side, we thought the construction of the new ECMS would solve any potential student growth on south Walton for several years. But, we didn't anticipate the exceptional rate of student number increase in south Walton, but, we are working to fix that problem. Even with the half mill transfer out of the capital budget, we will be able to fix that problem.

We have complete control of the capital outlay budget and we are authorized to levy up to 2.0 mills. The legislature allows us to transfer a portion of that millage to the operations side, but, the voters must approve that transfer and if approved we must seek re-approval every four years. This vote, this year, is the third time we have asked for approval.

It is possible that if the per pupil allocations had stayed at the 2006-07 levels, we would not have to ask for this transfer. But, alas, those allocations diminished.

Mark you are the 6.3 million dollar athletic field guy - that one is your puppy !

Is it true you are buying Apple iPads for all students ? Are you going to buy two for each - one to keep at home and one to be used at school ? Isn't that what you do with textbooks ?

I still say vote "Yes" - should not punish students for sins of the legislature. We fund schools in the wrong way.

You are preaching to the choir. Remember I am the "tax and spend" democrat on the board. :roll:

Sorry, I haven't interacted with your on SoWal, and it sounded from your first post like you were a memeber of the local school board, so I addressed you directly in my response.

This year we have the local option millage as high as it will go and that it is the only millage we set that has any effect on the operations budget. The operations budget is based almost exclusively on the State's FEFP (Florida Education Funding Plan) per student allocation. We have a difficult time projecting for more than the current budget year because that per student allocation changes every year and those changes can be substantial. If we would have left the local option millage at the maximum rate during the property value run up, we would be awash (a bit of an exaggeration) in money on the operations side. But, even I thought that was fiscally irresponsible.

Hypothetical question - what prevents Walton County from setting the operations millage to zero. Would we still receive funds back from the state for operations?

Frankly, considering that we have weathered this huge economic downturn and significant reductions in state funding, without having to cut out large programs or make large layoffs, is a testament to some pretty good budget planning. We essentially saved for this rainy day.

Were we perfect? Heck no. We have some salaries and positions that need re-examining and we are doing so during this budget cycle. On the capital side, we thought the construction of the new ECMS would solve any potential student growth on south Walton for several years. But, we didn't anticipate the exceptional rate of student number increase in south Walton, but, we are working to fix that problem. Even with the half mill transfer out of the capital budget, we will be able to fix that problem.

We have complete control of the capital outlay budget and we are authorized to levy up to 2.0 mills. The legislature allows us to transfer a portion of that millage to the operations side, but, the voters must approve that transfer and if approved we must seek re-approval every four years. This vote, this year, is the third time we have asked for approval.

It is possible that if the per pupil allocations had stayed at the 2006-07 levels, we would not have to ask for this transfer. But, alas, those allocations diminished.

How much can we redirect? Now I'm starting to see this as a unique way for Walton County to invest locally in our own school system every year without the state meddling in our operations budget.

At one time Walton County was funding over 90% of the budget because of such low student census numbers. Now that we have students, I doubt we could afford to do this, but it was discussed in the past.

Calm down everybody. It'll pass.

A couple of questions. Can you still vote at your regular polling place? Is it routine on this forum to vilify someone who may not agree with the majority of those posting here?

Yes and speaking from experience, absolutely, be careful about having your own opinion cause if it is to far to the right, you are toast.