Skyrocketing Budget

 Their spending has only gone up even with many less

students now enrolled! It is 36% higher than last year.

$900,000,000

$800,000,000

$700,000,000

$600,000,000 General Fund

Food Service
$500,000,000
Special Revenue Grants
$400,000,000
Debt Service
$300,000,000
Capital Funds
$200,000,000 Total

$100,000,000

$0
2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010

Numbers provided by Al Weidner at the school admin office. 2

This extra millage tax was not
supposed to be used for salaries.
 The original premise was that it was a temporary tax.

 It would fill in the gaps to improve schools.

 But instead it was used for recurring expenses.

3
Most school board members told
us they agreed.
In their own words from the League of Women Voters Guide
for the 2006 election.

Sarasota County School Board

District 1
Carol Todd, Ph.D.

“I do not, and will not support spending non-reoccurring

dollars or reserve funds for continued operating expenses.”

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=6065&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm
4
Most school board members told
us they agreed.
In their own words from the League of Women Voters Guide
for the 2006 election.

Sarasota County School Board

District 2
Caroline G. Zucker

“Policies and procedures must be put into place to ensure

that we do not spend non-recurring dollars on recurring
expenses.”

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=6065&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm
5
Most school board members told
us they agreed.
August 2006 newspaper interview.

Sarasota County School Board

District 4
Shirley Brown

“We also need to wean ourself of reliance on the

referendum dollars for recurring salary expenses”

“Election Matters” August 2006

6
So did they follow through? NO
 According to the school board in 2008/2009 a total of
$60,826,951 in referendum dollars was spent on
recurring expenses

 In 2009/2010 they will be spending $47,826,165 in

referendum dollars for recurring expenses.

Per Executive Budget Summary 2009 2010 which can be found at

http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1414
7
Updated Budget Data from School Admin

Provided by Al Weidner the Deputy Chief Finacial officer for the schools on January 5th via email
from weidnera@sarasota.k12.fl.us 8
How much is enough? – Last Year
 In 2008-2009 Sarasota County Schools actual
appropriations was a huge $13,882 per student
according to the updated figures provided to us by the
school admin office.

 According to the sheet total appropriations were

$574.54 million for the actual total student
enrollment of 41,389.

9
How much is enough?
 In 2009-2010 the Sarasota County Schools
appropriations budget is $18,875 per student
according to recap sheet school admin office sent us
this week.

 Charlotte County’s total appropriations budget is

$12,735* per student.

* Per 2009-2010 Charlotte County School budget http://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/Downloads/Budget/0910Budget.pdf

And Charlotte County Demographics http://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/AboutUs.cfm?PageID=Demographics
10
How does that compare to private school?
 The average tuition of ten popular private schools in
Sarasota county is $6884 (inclusive of registration and annual fees.)
Tuition Comparison
$20,000
$18,000
$16,000
$14,000
$12,000
$10,000
$8,000
$6,000
$4,000
$2,000
$0

11
Raw Data on School Tuition
Private School Price Review

Name Tuition Source

Heritage Christian Academy $4,786 Website
Suncoast Christian Academy $4,300 Called
Sarasota Christian School $8,325 Called
Venice Christian School $4,887 Website
Saint Martha School $6,170 Webite
Cardinal Mooney $7,875 Website Adopt a student form
Epiphan Cathedral School $6,475 Website
Incarnation Catholic School $6,330 Website
The Tabernacle Christian School $6,050 Website
New Gate School $13,640 Website

Out of Door Academy never could get through always a voicemail (941) 349-3223
Average $6,884

Where there were multiple price tiers for different grades we used the middle shool tier.
These were prices for 1 student. Most had discounts for 2 or more.
We included annual fees and registration cost if provided by schools
This may not be a complete list of all schools but enough to get a good indication 12
The school systems says we should
only count the general fund when
calculating per student costs.
 That is an invalid premise.

 Do you not count your mortgage payment when working

on you household budget?

 Accountants would tell you to at least amortize the

expenses over 30 years. We have 42 schools, if we only
rebuild 1 to 2 a year at the price they are spending this type
of budget will continue every year in perpetuity.
13
 Does more money help?
FCAT
The answer is NO.

Florida Department of
Education statistics on 10th
graders’ FCAT scores show
Charlotte county has gone up
in Reading, Math, and Writing
while Sarasota has dropped in
Reading and Writing since the
tax increase was first passed
in 2002. Charlotte does this
without a the extra tax.

Keep in mind Charlotte

County’s budget is also $12K
per student not $19K and they
are equal or better than
Sarasota in Math and Writing.

Data obtained through http://fcat.fldoe.org/results/default.asp

14
Employee Bonuses
 According to a spreadsheet provided by the school admin office about
$9.6 million or about 20% of the entire annual millage tax!
Top 5 Bonuses

LARGO 14,926.03
MILLINGTON 14,926.03
PARRETT 14,926.03
DUBIN 13,804.56
KATZ 13,804.56

The top 43 individuals were paid over ½ million dollars in bonuses.

15
Contact Mitsi Corcoran at Mitsi_Corcoran@sarasota.k12.fl.us for a copy of the entire spreadsheet.
The problem with the bonus?
 It had absolutely nothing to do with employee
performance.

 It was simply based on how long they have been

employed by Sarasota County Schools.

 Does that make you a better employee?

“Longevity payments are added to the regular salary amount and are based upon years of instructional and
classified service in the Sarasota County School District.”

http://webap2.sarasota.k12.fl.us/vacancies/SalarySchedules/014.pdf
16
Can bad employees get fired?
 If you can’t let poor employees go, you cannot hire better
employees with the lure of higher salaries.

 So can we let them go? Not usually, according to a HT quote

from Executive Director of the Teachers Union on November 9,
2010

 Barry Dubin, executive director of the Sarasota

Classified/Teachers Association, said tenured teachers are
almost never fired because the union works to find alternatives.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091110/ARTICLE/911101069?Title=Manatee-moves-to-fire-tenured-teacher

17
Can really bad teachers get fired?
 Not according to another HT article and an apparently
lopsided teachers contract.

 An arbitrator ordered the suspension last month after

finding that while allegations █ █* hit, kicked and
otherwise abused her students, the district could not fire
her because it did not discipline her for previous incidents.

 The district is now waiting for the state Department of

Education to determine whether █ █ can keep her
certificate. If the department has not made a decision by
the time █ █ suspension is up she will go back to work,
pulling in an $80,000 salary.
*The teachers name has been redacted.
http://schoolmatters.blogs.heraldtribune.com/10135/sarasota-school-board-set-to-suspend-venice-teacher/
18
Is it time to hire direct and end the union
interference that can block quality education?
 The district tried to fire this teacher stating the following
 “The students who we in █ █ s class are among the most profoundly disabled students in
the school district. They could neither defend nor even speak for themselves. █ █
betrayed the trust placed in her to teach and care for them in a kind, loving, and
professional manner. Instead, she displayed repeated callous and rough behavior. The
District’s Superintendent had just cause to discharge: █ █ was “burned out” and could no
longer be entrusted with the custodianship of her students”

 The teachers union fought to keep this persons job and won.

 The arbitrators report contained the following…

 “Normally, hitting a student in this manner would be grounds for termination of a
teacher’s employment, because it would normally constitute misconduct in office so
serious as to impair the teachers’ effectiveness in the school system. In this case the
mitigating factor is █ █ ’s 18 year of service to the District, in a job that would grind most
educators down, must be taken into account.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/assets/pdf/SH1806091.PDF 19
No amount of money will improve
education if you can’t terminate bad
employees.
 We have many great teachers in this county.

 We can’t hire more like them if we can’t remove the bad ones to
make room for better ones.

 We have seen that even in extreme cases with alleged abuse we

haven’t been able to terminate them.

 We need to either rewrite or terminate the union contracts to fix

this so we can get the quality education we are paying for.
20
And don’t forget School Board Pay
 You will note from the budget below that salary and
benefits for a school board member…
 $339,626 which is $52,103 each plus $79,111 for an assistant!

21
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1414
Special election costs

Plus the School Board is purchasing their own ballots. Why???

22
Where is the money going?

 A large portion of the annual budget is being used to

level our current schools and rebuild extravagant new
smaller schools.

 We can’t afford to do this in our current economy.

 Even the Florida Legislature thinks we are spending

too much on our schools.

23
What does the State of Florida think the
maximum cost of construction of schools
should be?
 TITLE XLVIII Chapter 1013.64 sets the maximum
schools should spend per station if expecting help
from the state under PECO.

 6. Upon construction, the total cost per student

station, including change orders, must not exceed the
cost per student station as provided in subsection (6).

 For Jan 2010 that amount is $27,282 per station.

*http://edr.state.fl.us/conferences/peco/station.htm 24
Venice High School

 $91 million to rebuild

 Currently 70% occupied
 New school will be 27% smaller based on student capacity.
 Cost of $45,614 per student station!
 Remember that state has calculated it should cost no more
than $27,282 per station

*Facts and figures obtained from school board 5 year capital work plan
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894

25
Booker High School

 $58 million to rebuild

 Currently 54% occupied
 New school will be 43% smaller based on student capacity.
 Cost of $47,300 per student station!
 Remember that state has calculated it should cost no more
than $27,282 per station

*Facts and figures obtained from school board 5 year capital work plan
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894

26
SCTI
 $54 million to rebuild/renovate
 Currently 18% occupied by high school students!
 New school will be 32% smaller based on student capacity.
 Cost of $43,269 per student station!
 When complete school board estimates that even by 2014 it
will still only be 24% full with high school students.
 Remember that state has calculated it should cost no more
than $27,282 per station
 About 650 students attend half time which equates to 325 full
time equivalents.

*Facts and figures obtained from school board 5 year capital work plan
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894

27
Our Schools are Half Empty
 Maybe we should lease the space to charter or private schools?

Total

*Facts and figures obtained from school board 5 year capital work plan
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894
Pages 11 and 12
28
Why can’t we vote down the
school bonds?
 The Florida Constitution Article VII Section 12
requires bonds to be approved by a vote of the electors.

 Sarasota County in 1990 invented a scheme called a

certificate of participation to bypass this vote.

 Our current school board members are ALSO

directors of a separate non-profit shell corporation
that leases new schools back to the school district. 29
Certificates of Participation (COPs)
School board
Shell corp leases
signs a lease
buildings back to
agreement with
school board
shell corp.

Superintendent School board sells

promises to put bonds called COPs
line in the budget to pay to build
to pay the lease. school

30
Sarasota County Lawsuit
 Because this was a blatant attempt to avoid a vote by
the people a suit was filed against Sarasota County.

 It went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.

 In a narrow vote it was deemed technically legal.

NO. 74,979
STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant,
vs .
SCHOOL BOARD OF SARASOTA COUNTY,
Appellee.

31
Dissenting Supreme Court Judges Opinion

 “Today the Court approves form over substance. The

financial schemes employed in these cases are the
equivalent to the issuance of bonds and pledging ad
valorem taxes to support them. Thus, I totally disagree
that the bonds in question can be approved without a
referendum from the owners of freeholds as required
by article VII, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. I
believe it pure sophistry to say that "these obligations
are not supported by the pledge of ad valorem
taxation.";

Entire ruling can be found at http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/74979/op-74979.pdf 32

Martin County Funding Workshop
 Unfortunately other counties are now copying Sarasota.

 In the minutes for a Martin County funding workshop you

can read the following…

 “Bob Nabors gave the legal background and provided an

analysis of the Florida case law upholding the issuance by
school districts of Certificates of Participation (COP) and
lease purchase financings without elector approval by
referendum under the Florida Constitution. COPs have
now become the most utilized structure for financing
educational facilities in Florida.”
35
*Minutes can be found at http://www.sbmc.org/_docs/2005/Exploration-of-Financing-Alternative-8205-Workshop-min.pdf
Is the election even fair?
 The largest employer in Sarasota County has placed
language on pay stubs and other salary schedules that
tells teachers and employees they will get a pay cut if
the millage is not passed by June 29, 2010.

 Is this not effectively buying their vote?

 It is a perverse incentive to get them to be cheerleaders

for a yes vote based on their own pay, not to better
education.
36
Breaking News
 School Board OKs new arts center at rebuilt
Venice High
 The School Board signed off on its agreement with the
city of Venice to go ahead with the $12.8 million project
 Venice is contributing $7.5million in tax dollars
 Committee said new performing arts center will be like
“heaven”
 Charlotte tried and it failed. "The community wanted
shows like that, but the ticket prices were just too high
to support that kind of entertainment," said Whitney
Swift, director of the Charlotte arts center. "We're not a
community that can support a $65 ticket."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100106/ARTICLE/1061038
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100113/ARTICLE/1131032 37
It is time to send a message
 There are limits to what we tax payers can afford.

 Find other ways to improve schooling. Such as ending

or modifying restrictive union contracts.

 Research what other municipalities with better schools

and less funding are doing. Look outside of Florida.

 VOTE NO on the tax increase!

38