Franklin County community outraged over school system $550,000 debt
Rhettley
Posts: 1,545 Officer
Sounds like somebody's hand has been in the cookie jar. How the heck does this happen? And the only solution they can come up with is to cut teacher pay and add furlough days... Another proud moment in Franklin County politics and their good ol boy system.
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/School-Money-Crisis-Worries-Franklin-County-Families-188353351.html
Eastpoint- One after another teachers, students, and concerned residents laid into Franklin County School Board members Thursday.
"The thrust of all that has to be fixed is on these shoulders right here," said one person.
"As a business owner, that's probably going to end up coming back to haunt me," added added another concerned speaker.
And each time there was roaring support from an audience outraged by the school district's nearly $550,000 in debt. The state requires school district's to maintain a minimum 2% fund balance, but the situation is so severe in Franklin County, the school board has declared a financial urgency with the state.
"This thing can't be too hard to figure out. I mean you as board members are ultimately responsible," another resident told school board members.
A big question on many people's minds is how did this happen? School district officials blame lower property values and a smaller-than-estimated student population.
"Do you as the superintendent take any responsibility for being so far in debt?" NewsChannel 7's Bryan Anderson asked Franklin County School District Superintendent Nina Marks.
"Absolutely because at the end of the day I'm the one that has to answer the questions," Marks responded.
To get out of debt, the district is considering some drastic proposals. Three out of five options would mean double digit teacher pay cuts. Furlough days and health insurance reductions are also on the table.
And time is running out. The teachers union has until next week to make some sort of concessions. If not, the district said it can only afford to pay teachers until May 1st.
"Right now all we wanted to do is get to the line," said Marks.
Both sides meet next Thursday in a public negotiation meeting. The budget deadline is June 30th.
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/School-Money-Crisis-Worries-Franklin-County-Families-188353351.html
Eastpoint- One after another teachers, students, and concerned residents laid into Franklin County School Board members Thursday.
"The thrust of all that has to be fixed is on these shoulders right here," said one person.
"As a business owner, that's probably going to end up coming back to haunt me," added added another concerned speaker.
And each time there was roaring support from an audience outraged by the school district's nearly $550,000 in debt. The state requires school district's to maintain a minimum 2% fund balance, but the situation is so severe in Franklin County, the school board has declared a financial urgency with the state.
"This thing can't be too hard to figure out. I mean you as board members are ultimately responsible," another resident told school board members.
A big question on many people's minds is how did this happen? School district officials blame lower property values and a smaller-than-estimated student population.
"Do you as the superintendent take any responsibility for being so far in debt?" NewsChannel 7's Bryan Anderson asked Franklin County School District Superintendent Nina Marks.
"Absolutely because at the end of the day I'm the one that has to answer the questions," Marks responded.
To get out of debt, the district is considering some drastic proposals. Three out of five options would mean double digit teacher pay cuts. Furlough days and health insurance reductions are also on the table.
And time is running out. The teachers union has until next week to make some sort of concessions. If not, the district said it can only afford to pay teachers until May 1st.
"Right now all we wanted to do is get to the line," said Marks.
Both sides meet next Thursday in a public negotiation meeting. The budget deadline is June 30th.
Replies
Seems more than others running the Budget.
Nuts to nails no one gets fired.
Signed: the MPA would have been a gravey train choice.
I wonder how many teachers in the county are looking elsewhere for employment next year? They'll be lucky to keep enough teachers to meet state regulations.
There are going to be tough deisions reached in all municipal governments. Perhaps up here they will have to cut back from a crew of 12 to a crew of 6 to patch a pot hole in the road. The era of wasteful spending by any government has to come to an end. Everywhere!
We took a 5% pay cut and 10 furlough days for couple of years... We got 5 of the days back this year. Who knows if/when we'll see the pay increase. With both Lora and I in the system, it hit us doubly hard.
I feel sorry for the Franklin County system and especially for the folks impacted by the cuts that are coming.
FYI - Most of the items mentioned earlier, i.e. parks and police cars are likely paid for with federal funds set aside for that type of purchase specifically. Most times, funding is earmarked for purchases and cannot be used to pay salaries and/or benefits. It is also possible that it's an entirely different pot of money altogether. Just because you see purchases taking place, it does not mean that the Franklin County BOE could have used any of that money for their purposes.
Finally, BOE is a seperate entity from the county...they don't share their monies with each other.
The popo had to have a new boat Im sure
both have it worng either way...
we need more patrol boats like Max needs more #'s
Real estate taxes can only do so much. As values fall so does the revenue. A real "catch 22" is the fact that as real estate taxes go upthe rise in real estate tax forces property values go down - in todays market, thus lowering the "take" governmental agencies receive from said taxes.
No "doom & gloom". Just the facts Jack!
CARMAN??
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Unless you happen to be in jail at the time.
Nina Marks is one of the most honorable people that you would ever want to know.
Illinoisfisherman is knowledgable of the situation. He is correct in what he says. Listen to him.
Familyfisher also knows what he's talking about! (Thanks to both you and your wife for your contribution above and beyond.....my wife and daughter are both in supervisory positions in education. I get a steady diet of the woes of the educational system, and it's sickening).
Don't forget eating school food as an adult...JS
Is the $550K a current budget shortfall, or a deficit for the coming school year? If current year then it is hitting the fan now, if next there's time to squabble--and it can all change as the budget is a "story" of what the next year will look like.
What percentage of the district budget does that amount to? In our rural central lower MI district with 565 students in K-12 it would be about 12% of budget, in a neighboring large district perhaps 3%. We still have a great deal of local control...no county-wide district arrangements...yet...it IS more expensive with admin redundancy.
What is the total # of staff district wide? How does admin staff compare to teaching/ESP census? How would layoffs affect student:teacher ratio?
Not familiar with NW FL teacher salaries, though Chris Sapp had told me they were low...$550K would be 6-10 teaching staff here (wages, benefits, taxes, retirement. We are the 2nd lowest paid on average in a 3 county area, even though our students are usually top-5 ranked locally on state test--so much for pay-for-performance...)
Commentary about public sector funding is spot-on! As a rural district with more dairy cows than people, tax $ are very limited and we rely on shrinking state per-pupil allowance. Our district, though highly successful, is being strangled by a state government that wants to privatize public education to save money. We are representative of a very small % of public schools--serving a small, fairly homogeneous (white, Catholic, German) community that places a high value on education. From the state's perspective it would be less expensive to pay a single person to "teach" 150+ on-line learners from their home computers than to maintain buildings and a staff at a ratio of 17:1 overall. Or to pay a for-profit company to hire staff to teach charter school students...where both the students' parents and their teachers may need public assistance to supplement their income to make ends meet.
Like FF, I'll be making the trip to the Gulf this Spring Break in a USED truck--2003 Ford--the first NEW vehicle I ever purchased. I went looking to replace it at year's end and I think the salesman thought I would have no problem affording a new one (because I was a teacher), but couldn't reach my price point. There are some places (like 20 miles form here) where teachers make $70-80K+ after 20 years and a MA or better degree...I'm not in one of those places, but I work with a pretty good student population and have more autonomy to do things like outdoor/conservation education that they would have more hassle trying to do. Not many of them taking kids on a charter fishing trip to finish the Great Lakes Fisheries unit! Would love the higher pay grade to make life a bit less financially stressful, but there aren't many mornings I'm not happy to go to work!
I hope Franklin Co. and all municipalities/schools/etc. get this figured out soon for the benefit of the workers, their families and those in the public they serve.
Actually BF, with the new Fed changes to the menu, the lunches are better than they used to be! Lots of fresh fruits, whole grains, etc. But $3/day gets expensive! I still bring leftovers from home.
tk
Didn't go into someone's pocket...the money was an illusion.
I would do Summers off better than anyone.
Don't ya hate it when business managers aren't really good in math!
We will be spending into a 9% fund balance this year, running out in just over 2 years if something doesn't change. How do you like my chances of "negotiating" a contract that our members will be happy with?
Goin' coastal in exactly 60 days!