WCSB Special Referendum 5/17/2011

The Superintendent was quoted as making the iPad comment during her presentation to the Tea Party. I was not there (not a member) but more than one person contacted me about that. I believe that the statement was that students would not read from books anymore - they were now accustomed to computer screens.

The stadium is your baby and I understand ADA requirements must be addressed, but give me a break Mark 6.3 or even 2.1 is in stark contrast to other capital needs. How many buses do we still have that are not air conditioned and how many would 2.1 million buy?

Priorities seem a little out of whack.

I still say vote "Yes" tomorrow.

Go figure.

Its complicated !

(1) If the district school tax is not provided in the General Appropriations Act or the substantive bill implementing the General Appropriations Act, each district school board desiring to participate in the state allocation of funds for current operation as prescribed by s. 1011.62(12) shall levy on the taxable value for school purposes of the district, exclusive of millage voted under the provisions of s. 9(b) or s. 12, Art. VII of the State Constitution, a millage rate not to exceed the amount certified by the commissioner as the minimum millage rate necessary to provide the district required local effort for the current year, pursuant to s. 1011.62(4)(a)1. In addition to the required local effort millage levy, each district school board may levy a nonvoted current operating discretionary millage. The Legislature shall prescribe annually in the appropriations act the maximum amount of millage a district may levy.
(2) In addition to the maximum millage levy as provided in subsection (1), each school board may levy not more than 1.5 mills against the taxable value for school purposes for district schools, including charter schools at the discretion of the school board, to fund:
(a) New construction and remodeling projects, as set forth in s. 1013.64(3)(b) and (6)(b) and included in the district’s educational plant survey pursuant to s. 1013.31, without regard to prioritization, sites and site improvement or expansion to new sites, existing sites, auxiliary facilities, athletic facilities, or ancillary facilities.
(b) Maintenance, renovation, and repair of existing school plants or of leased facilities to correct deficiencies pursuant to s. 1013.15(2).
(c) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of school buses.
(d) The purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of new and replacement equipment; computer hardware, including electronic hardware and other hardware devices necessary for gaining access to or enhancing the use of electronic content and resources or to facilitate the access to and the use of a school district’s electronic learning management system pursuant to s. 1006.281, excluding software other than the operating system necessary to operate the hardware or device; and enterprise resource software applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are used to support districtwide administration or state-mandated reporting requirements.
(e) Payments for educational facilities and sites due under a lease-purchase agreement entered into by a district school board pursuant to s. 1003.02(1)(f) or s. 1013.15(2), not exceeding, in the aggregate, an amount equal to three-fourths of the proceeds from the millage levied by a district school board pursuant to this subsection. For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the three-fourths limit is waived for lease-purchase agreements entered into before June 30, 2009, by a district school board pursuant to this paragraph.
(f) Payment of loans approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and 1011.15.
(g) Payment of costs directly related to complying with state and federal environmental statutes, rules, and regulations governing school facilities.
(h) Payment of costs of leasing relocatable educational facilities, of renting or leasing educational facilities and sites pursuant to s. 1013.15(2), or of renting or leasing buildings or space within existing buildings pursuant to s. 1013.15(4).
(i) Payment of the cost of school buses when a school district contracts with a private entity to provide student transportation services if the district meets the requirements of this paragraph.

The Superintendent was quoted as making the iPad comment during her presentation to the Tea Party. I was not there (not a member) but more than one person contacted me about that. I believe that the statement was that students would not read from books anymore - they were now accustomed to computer screens.

The stadium is your baby and I understand ADA requirements must be addressed, but give me a break Mark 6.3 or even 2.1 is in stark contrast to other capital needs. How many buses do we still have that are not air conditioned and how many would 2.1 million buy?

Priorities seem a little out of whack.

I still say vote "Yes" tomorrow.

Go figure.

Thanks Bob for the yes vote. We can discuss those capital needs at length. I will tell you that I will not vote to undertake that project until I know our classroom needs can be met. I really believe we can. Believe it or not, I am not a big fan of air-conditioned buses. There are some issues with them. But, we have voted to buy them as we replace our current fleet each year. Thanks again....

And I'm no fan of 6.3 million dollar football stadiums. LOL

There must be a need for air Mark the bus that comes by my house daily at about 45 mph says he is trying to keep the bus cool. Live on a dead end street that has Slow kids at play 25mph signs.

Must have been a top fuel driver in another life. Lol

At the risk of irking the regulars I'd like for a board member to answer the question as to why the associate teacher proposal was killed. This would have brought on new teachers to help meet the class size amendment and as I understand it the salary would have been much less than regular teacher salaries without the costly benefits. It seems that this would have solved some of the problems that the board blames on the 2002 Class size amendment which finally kicked in.

Don't forget to vote 'yes' today. What time do the polls close?

I consider myself a TEA Party member and I am for the reduction of taxes at every level. We must use common sense with regard to our broken tax system. In this case, that means voting YES on the millage transfer.

Polls are open until 7.

To the adminstrators of this board, blah, blah...inane comments...blah, blah...give a blah... are. So there it is folks.

Not wanting to quote all the drivel, I must ask what does the above statement have to do with the context of this thread, which you have totally derailed? You obviously have an axe to grind, but the horse left the stable long ago. No one gives a $hit. Don't whine about your misfortune on a BB, run for a seat on the school board if you want to make a difference.

btw...

Referendum
(Total Precincts: 34; Reported Precincts: 19 [55.8%]) Total: 2,587
YES 2,101 (81.21%)
NO 486 (18.78%)

Well, I guess this thread is dead. It passed overwhelmingly. The only sad part is that because of the system we have to vote on a transfer at all.

And I'm no fan of 6.3 million dollar football stadiums. LOL

There must be a need for air Mark the bus that comes by my house daily at about 45 mph says he is trying to keep the bus cool. Live on a dead end street that has Slow kids at play 25mph signs.

Must have been a top fuel driver in another life. Lol

At first glance I thought spending 6 million dollars on a football field for high school was crazy, but ADA and Title 9 are federal laws and non-compliance would be even more expensive. What we need to do is fight to repeal these intrusive laws that force local governments into such spending.
I am glad the ballot initiative passed but think it is crazy to require such a vote. The local school board should have complete control over the tax rate for the local district up to a limit. Just like the county commission. It is stupid for Tallahassee to dictate the local millage rate and how the money can be spent.
If Mark Davis is a tax and spend democrat maybe we need more tax and spend democrats.

ADA and Title 9 are both pretty good laws IMO.

At first glance I thought spending 6 million dollars on a football field for high school was crazy, but ADA and Title 9 are federal laws and non-compliance would be even more expensive. What we need to do is fight to repeal these intrusive laws that force local governments into such spending.
I am glad the ballot initiative passed but think it is crazy to require such a vote. The local school board should have complete control over the tax rate for the local district up to a limit. Just like the county commission. It is stupid for Tallahassee to dictate the local millage rate and how the money can be spent.
If Mark Davis is a tax and spend democrat maybe we need more tax and spend democrats.

ADA and Title 9 serve a purpose so I would not want to see them totally repealed.

I believe the millage thing was set up to keep districts from spending all their dollars in operational, ignoring buildings, then trying to go to the legislature to get additional capital dollars.