TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. – The new school security law passed in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting is expected to add to money problems for local school districts.
In Hillsborough, the district is on track to start the next school year with a $16 million deficit.
School board member April Griffin held a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to give parents and even staff members an opportunity to ask questions about the district’s financial troubles and to get a better understanding of how they might be solved, she said.
Unfortunately, there’s no clear fix and any solution right will involve continued cuts to staffing and programs.
However, during the meeting several people expressed interest in a voter-led referendum campaign to try to fill the hole.
The added costs from new safety mandates come as the district was already facing down a battle over teacher salaries. Currently pay is frozen while contract negotiations between the union and district remain at an impasse.
The district has also been plagued by aging air conditioning units which continue to break and require costly repairs and replacements. The district is also mulling how to pay for new school construction, including a replacement for Lee Elementary after it burned down during Hurricane Irma.
On top of that, $10 million will have to be spent putting a school resource officer in every school despite the state only offering $6.5 million to Hillsborough to meet the mandate.
Earlier Wednesday Gov. Rick Scott expressed his optimism about districts adhering to the increased security protocols and being able to pay for it, adding that districts will have enough money due to “record” funding from Tallahassee.
“That's laughable,” Griffin said in response to Scott’s comments. “Costs of everything have gone up: cost of gas, cost of food, cost of electricity. We're operating where we were at a decade ago. No, we do not have more than enough."
Melissa Erikson, an education advocate and founder of the Alliance for Public Schools, told the crowd at Wednesday evening’s meeting to stop blaming the school board or lawmakers in Tallahassee for the funding woes, and to instead take matters into their own hands by supporting a referendum.
"We're not going to sell enough gift wrap or run carnivals or auctions or that kind of thing to fill the hole that has been created in funding for public schools, so let's go after the legally allowable ways to tax or raise funds,” Erikson told 10News.
Just this week, voters in Manatee and Sarasota approved a referendum to pay for teacher salaries.
Voters in Hillsborough just might get a shot to decide something similar, and potentially as soon as this August.
“It’s a perfect storm for us to have that conversation,” said school board member Cindy Stuart. “I fully support the idea that we would look at a referendum. The community has to understand where the money is going to come from, because it’s not coming from Tallahassee.”
The question is, will there be support? Erikson acknowledges the challenges of asking voters to approve a tax increase when trust in the district is low, but says it has to start somewhere.
“We have to have the conversation about what we’re doing, about what every individual who is pointing fingers at someone else and saying, ‘Do something for my child.’ What are you personally doing, what are you willing to do?” Erikson said.
Griffin said Wednesday evening’s town hall is the first of many more she plans to hold throughout the county.
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