Sarasota School Millage Property Tax Presentation

8/14/2019 Sarasota School Millage Property Tax Presentation

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Skyrocketing Budget Their spending has only gone up even with many less

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

2

$0

$100,000,000

$200,000,000

$300,000,000

$400,000,000

$500,000,000

$600,000,000

$700,000,000

$800,000,000

$900,000,000

2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010

General Fund

Food Service

Special Revenue Grants

Debt Service

Capital Funds

Total

Numbers provided by Al Weidner at the school admin office.


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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.

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Most school board members told

us they agreed.

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Sarasota County School BoardDistrict 1Carol Todd, Ph.D.

I do not, and will not support spending non-reoccurringdollars or reserve funds for continued operating expenses.

In their own words from the League of Women Voters Guidefor the 2006 election.

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=6065&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm


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us they agreed.

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Sarasota County School BoardDistrict 2Caroline G. Zucker

Policies and procedures must be put into place to ensurethat we do not spend non-recurring dollars on recurringexpenses.

In their own words from the League of Women Voters Guidefor the 2006 election.

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=6065&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm


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us they agreed.

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Sarasota County School BoardDistrict 4Shirley Brown

We also need to wean ourself of reliance on thereferendum dollars for recurring salary expenses

August 2006 newspaper interview.

Election Matters August 2006


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So did they follow through?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 inreferendum dollars for recurring expenses.

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Per Executive Budget Summary 2009 2010 which can be found at

http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1414

NO


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Updated Budget Data from School Admin

8Provided by Al Weidner the Deputy Chief Finacial officer for the schools on January 5thvia emailfrom [email protected]


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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 theschool admin office.

According to the sheet total appropriations were

$574.54 million for the actual total studentenrollment of41,389.

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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 usthis week.

Charlotte Countys total appropriations budget is

$12,735* per student.

* Per 2009-2010 Charlotte County School budget http://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/Downloads/Budget/0910Budget.pdfAnd Charlotte County Demographics http://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/AboutUs.cfm?PageID=Demographics

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http://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/Downloads/Budget/0910Budget.pdfhttp://www.yourcharlotteschools.net/Downloads/Budget/0910Budget.pdf


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How does that compare to private school?

The average tuition of ten popular private schools inSarasota county is $6884 (inclusive of registration and annual fees.)

$0$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

$16,000$18,000

$20,000

Tuition Comparison

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Raw Data on School TuitionPrivate School Price ReviewName Tuition Source

Heritage Christian Academy $4,786 Website

Suncoast Christian Academy $4,300 Called

Sarasota Christian School $8,325CalledVenice Christian School $4,887Website

Saint Martha School $6,170Webite

Cardinal Mooney $7,875Website Adopt a student form

Epiphan Cathedral School $6,475Website

Incarnation Catholic School $6,330 Website

The Tabernacle Christian School $6,050Website

New Gate School $13,640Website

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


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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 workingon you household budget?

Accountants would tell you to at least amortize theexpenses over 30 years. We have 42 schools, if we onlyrebuild 1 to 2 a year at the price they are spending this typeof budget will continue every year in perpetuity.

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Does more money help?The answer is NO.

Florida Department ofEducation statistics on 10th

graders FCAT scores show

Charlotte county has gone upin Reading, Math, and Writingwhile Sarasota has dropped inReading and Writing since thetax increase was first passedin 2002. Charlotte does thiswithout a the extra tax.

Keep in mind CharlotteCountys budget is also $12Kper student not $19K and theyare equal or better thanSarasota in Math and Writing.

FCAT

Data obtained through http://fcat.fldoe.org/results/default.asp14


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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!

15Contact Mitsi Corcoran at [email protected] for a copy of the entire spreadsheet.

LARGO 14,926.03

MILLINGTON 14,926.03

PARRETT 14,926.03

DUBIN 13,804.56

KATZ 13,804.56

Top 5 Bonuses

The top 43 individuals were paid over million dollars in bonuses.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The problem with the bonus? It had absolutely nothing to do with employee

performance.

It was simply based on how long they have beenemployed by Sarasota County Schools.

Does that make you a better employee?

16http://webap2.sarasota.k12.fl.us/vacancies/SalarySchedules/014.pdf

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


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Can bad employees get fired? If you cant 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 quotefrom Executive Director of the Teachers Union on November 9,2010

Barry Dubin, executive director of the SarasotaClassified/Teachers Association, said tenured teachers are

almost never fired because the union works to find alternatives.

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


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Can reallybad teachers get fired? Not according to another HT article and an apparently

lopsided teachers contract.

An arbitrator ordered the suspension last month afterfinding that while allegations * hit, kicked andotherwise abused her students, the district could not fireher because it did not discipline her for previous incidents.

The district is now waiting for the state Department ofEducation to determine whether can keep hercertificate. If the department has not made a decision bythe time suspension is up she will go back to work,pulling in an $80,000 salary.

18http://schoolmatters.blogs.heraldtribune.com/10135/sarasota-school-board-set-to-suspend-venice-teacher/

*The teachers name has been redacted.


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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 inthe 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. TheDistricts Superintendent had just cause to discharge: was burned out and could nolonger 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 ateachers employment, because it would normally constitute misconduct in office soserious as to impair the teachers effectiveness in the school system. In this case themitigating factor is s 18 year of service to the District, in a job that would grind mosteducators down, must be taken into account.

19http://www.heraldtribune.com/assets/pdf/SH1806091.PDF


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No amount of money will improve

education if you cant terminate bademployees. We have many great teachers in this county.

We cant hire more like them if we cant remove the bad ones tomake room for better ones.

We have seen that even in extreme cases with alleged abuse wehavent been able to terminate them.

We need to either rewrite or terminate the union contracts to fixthis so we can get the quality education we are paying for.

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And dont forget School Board PayYou 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!

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


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Special election costs

22Plus the School Board is purchasing their own ballots. Why???


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Where is the money going?

A large portion of the annual budget is being used tolevel our current schools and rebuild extravagant newsmaller schools.

We cant afford to do this in our current economy.

Even the Florida Legislature thinks we are spendingtoo much on our schools.

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What does the State of Florida think the

maximum cost of construction of schoolsshould be?

TITLE XLVIII Chapter 1013.64 sets the maximum

schools should spend per station if expecting helpfrom the state under PECO.

6. Upon construction, the total cost per student

station, including change orders, must not exceed thecost 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


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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 planhttp://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894

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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



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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% fullwith high school students. Remember that state has calculated it should cost no more


About 650 students attend half time which equates to 325 fulltime equivalents.


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

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Pages 11 and 12

Total
http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=15894


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Why cant 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 areALSOdirectors of a separate non-profit shell corporation

that leases new schools back to the school district. 29


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Certificates of Participation (COPs)School boardsigns a lease

agreement with

shell corp.

Shell corp leasesbuildings back to

school board

School board sellsbonds called COPs

to pay to buildschool

Superintendentpromises to put

line in the budgetto pay the lease.

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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. 74,979STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant,vs .SCHOOL BOARD OF SARASOTA COUNTY,Appellee.

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Dissenting Supreme Court Judges Opinion

Today the Court approves form over substance. Thefinancial schemes employed in these cases are the

equivalent to the issuance of bonds and pledging advalorem taxes to support them. Thus, I totally disagreethat the bonds in question can be approved without areferendum from the owners of freeholds as required

by article VII, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. Ibelieve it pure sophistry to say that "these obligationsare not supported by the pledge of ad valoremtaxation.";

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


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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 ananalysis of the Florida case law upholding the issuance by

school districts of Certificates of Participation (COP) andlease purchase financingswithout elector approvalbyreferendum under the Florida Constitution. COPs havenow become the most utilized structure for financingeducational facilities in Florida.

*Minutes can be found at http://www.sbmc.org/_docs/2005/Exploration-of-Financing-Alternative-8205-Workshop-min.pdf35


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Is the election even fair?

The largest employer in Sarasota County has placedlanguage on pay stubs and other salary schedules thattells 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 cheerleadersfor a yes vote based on their own pay, not to bettereducation.

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Breaking News School Board OKs new arts center at rebuilt

Venice High

The School Board signed off on its agreement with thecity 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 highto support that kind of entertainment," said WhitneySwift, director of the Charlotte arts center. "We're not acommunity that can support a $65 ticket."

37http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100113/ARTICLE/1131032http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100106/ARTICLE/1061038


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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 endingor 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!

Sarasota School Millage Property Tax Presentation

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