- April 25, 2024
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The Flagler County School District will ask voters for a 0.5 millage levy to fund existing programs, to increase security in schools and to reinstate the 45 minutes of instructional time that was cut from middle and high schools two years ago.
If passed, the referendum will continue the 0.25 mill set to expire June 30 and increase the tax by 0.25 mills.
The Flagler County School Board voted 4-1 to ask for 0.5 mill tax. Its recommendation must be approved by the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners before it is placed on a special ballot this spring.
The tax currently in place generates about $1.6 million annually for the district. Extending and increasing the tax would double that revenue.
“A ‘no’ vote tonight means continuing our plans to cut $1.6 million annually from our already struggling budget,” said Janet Valentine, superintendent of the Flagler County School District, just before the board voted.
The owner of an average home in Flagler County — one worth $121,000 — would pay about $23.99 each year if the tax were passed, Valentine said. That equates to $1.99 each month.
At a School Board meeting last week, there was discussion about asking voters only to continue the 0.25 mill, rather than increasing it. Valentine said voting against the increase equates to voting against keeping school resource officers in classrooms, lengthening the school day and increasing mental health resources.
The board did not question whether these additional security and academic measures were needed.
“You make a pledge to do the best you can for your children, and this is a very difficult and controversial decision,” School Board member John Fischer said. “But I have to look at it as the best thing for our children and for the community.”
Colleen Conklin, who also sits on the board, said the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a “game-changer” for the district’s budget, because it spurred the district to evaluate the safety of each school.
Valentine said all the additional costs of security recommended from this evaluation would cost $2.8 million, with some one-time costs and others recurring.
She also noted that the district has undergone widespread cuts in programs and staff since 2007. The School Board’s budget for the 2007-2008 school year was $230.5 million; this year, it is $147.9 million.
School Board member Andy Dance cast the dissenting vote for the tax, noting just before he voted that he was not voting against the security, mental health or academic programs, but instead that he thought the risk of voting to increase the tax and losing it altogether was too great. He would have supported asking voters to extend the 0.25 mill tax.
Other board members criticized Dance’s position, saying that his dissent might discourage voters from supporting the resolution to increase the tax.
But Dance said now that the 0.5 millage rate has been decided upon, he will support it wholly when he talks to community members about the upcoming election.
“No, we have to pass the tax,” Dance said. “The downside if it doesn’t pass is just too unthinkable.”
Citing the push from parents to increase security, members said they were hopeful that the community would support the tax as a necessity for the district.
“I don’t think our schools are safe enough today — I don’t think that at all,” School Board member Sue Dickinson said. “It’s not a matter of if something happens, it’s a matter of when. We have to do what we can to protect our children while they’re in our hands.”
