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ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
Also, a lot of children who were infants when the Florida Prepaid College Plans first became wildly popular in the early 1990's are now in, or will soon enter, the state university system. These educations are also funded at a much lower rate, like the Bright Futures scholarships.
 

mdd88jd

Beach Lover
May 26, 2008
155
210
Thanks JDARG for attending the meeting last night. I have several comments and observations as a school board member and one of the five folks who will have to make these decisions.

(1) This is really frustrating. We started this school budget year with a 12.0 million dollar budgeted fund balance (budgeted savings account). We must keep at least a 2.5% fund balance. We have absorbed, approximately, a 20% cut in funding since the beginning of this school year through the anticipated funds we are to receive for the 2009-2010 school year. In order to reach that level of funding and have the 2.5% fund balance, we must cut out of our budget for this year (i.e. to start next year) 8.0 million dollars. That is a lot of money.

(2) Just to give you some real numbers, our budget started out with 68 million in revenue for this year. We anticipate starting out with 52 million in revenue next year. It could be 54 million, but, you get the picture.

(3) 85% of that budget is in salaries. Thus, to get to the point where we meet that 54 million dollar revenue stream, we would have to cut or lay off a significant number of positions. The administration's suggestion (i.e., the Superintendent) is to lay off 56 teachers, 26 educational support persons, cut 10% out of the coaching supplements, cut athletic contests by 30%, etc. We asked the administration to look at some other ideas, i.e., a general rollback of salaries by 3% and some other ideas to try to avoid as many layoffs as possible.

(4) As Jenny said, we are gathering all the information for one more workshop and then we will have to make a decision in late March.

(5) The board did decide to authorize the schools to start planning for a seven period day at the high schools (vs. a four by four block schedue). Jenny and disagree to some extent on the need for 4x4, but, it is basically done at this point is my guess.

(6) The numbers and cuts are in the operations side of the budget. Our capital budget is still fairly healthy. We are hoping, after the completion of the new Walton High School, that we can actually start construction of the new Emerald Coast High School. Constructions costs are cheaper now and we have the money (that is not transferable to the operations side) available to actually finish that building. Maybe that constrution could help the local economy. No real decision on going forward with that construction has been made.

(7) Carlene's numbers are right as they relate to Florida's spending per child as it relates to other states. The new numbers, for 2008-2009 will put us at the bottom, 50th..... It is despicable that States like Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama spend more per pupil than Florida. And, money does make a difference. The last time I check, New Jersey spends the most per child and they had the highest average SAT scores in the country. Although, DC seems to be an exception, the more you spend, the better your results.

(8) Two years ago, Florida was dead last in the country in per pupil spending on higher education. Again, shameful.

(9) The stimulus money could help depending on how the state distributes the money throught general state budget. It is true that much of the stimulus money is tied to Title 1, IDEA and school construction. However, if the state receives other funds to flesh out the budget, the other monies could be diverted back to education. To Governor Crist's credit, his current budget proposal for 2009-2010 appears to do just that. I understand that his current budget proposal would get us back to where we were when we started the 2008-2009 school year. For some reason, the Superintendent and her staff are very pessimistic that such will actually happen and are asking us to prepare for the worst. Frankly, I am not convinced that the Feds will approve the waiver, but, hopefully they will.

Thanks guys.....
 
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GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
mdd88jd, thanks for the post. The situation certainly seems dire...

on #6, what is the reason for the construction decison not being made yet?

I think Governor Crist is doing his best--after all, he did veto the Legislative cut of the education money and unlike some of the other GOP govs, he is willing to take the money.

It's a shame that we Floridians have allowed the school situation to get into this condition. Our children deserve better.

:angry:
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
Good point Beachmouse about how Bright Futures is artificially keeping tuition levels low. At the same time, taking it away from the upper-income folks would be a double whammy: not only would their child not get the financial help that has been promised for years, but tuition is bound to rise very rapidly once fewer people start getting scholarships from the state.

Perhaps a sliding scale is in order based on income, but have everyone who meets the academic standards get something, no matter what the income level. Otherwise I'm sure we would have some good students falling through the funding cracks -- and a heck of a lot of angry parents.


Why not start making Bright Futures scholarships more targeted for certain fields? If the State of Florida is going to go after the biotech industry, then provide scholarships to those that make the grades that want to go into the biotech field if that is where the greatest need for employment lies.


As for the per student funding being so low, I would think someone needs to again come up with a targeted dollar amount that is needed to fund the system. Just saying we want more so we will not be last may not accomplish a whole lot. Number 49 may just be funding a dollar more than us and the next 40 states may be tied. At some point in time, we need to decide what sort of education system we want, how much we want to pay people, and then figure out how much money it is going to take. Then tackling the funding issue, imho, would be an easier sell to the public.
 

mdd88jd

Beach Lover
May 26, 2008
155
210
mdd88jd, thanks for the post. The situation certainly seems dire...

on #6, what is the reason for the construction decison not being made yet?

I think Governor Crist is doing his best--after all, he did veto the Legislative cut of the education money and unlike some of the other GOP govs, he is willing to take the money.

It's a shame that we Floridians have allowed the school situation to get into this condition. Our children deserve better.

:angry:
We are just waiting on the estimated construction costs from the architect to make sure we can build it without seriously affecting the capital budget. Really think it will go foward.

I agree with your assessment of Governor Crist. I think he is trying. His sister is the principal at a high school in south Florida. Maybe she has his ear.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
and he was the Commissioner of Education, so he has always had a good understanding of the need for improvement.
 

Rollin' Tide

Beach Comber
Oct 6, 2008
18
4
(6) The numbers and cuts are in the operations side of the budget. Our capital budget is still fairly healthy. We are hoping, after the completion of the new Walton High School, that we can actually start construction of the new Emerald Coast High School. Constructions costs are cheaper now and we have the money (that is not transferable to the operations side) available to actually finish that building. Maybe that constrution could help the local economy. No real decision on going forward with that construction has been made.


Where might this new high school be built? I thought that the newest school would be another middle school down here south of the bay.:dunno:
 

Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
Mark
What would the average increase cost local Taxpayers if it was made up here? I know, people don't want to see taxes increased, but you have to ask yourself. Second, so Crist vetoed the Legistlators cuts in education but is still looking for tax cuts next year. Where do we think its going to come from?
 
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