The Monroe County School Board voted at Tuesday night’s meeting to approve two referendums for school funding. Voters will see the two items on their ballots in November.

“The renewal of these funding referendums are crucial to the continued operations of our schools,” said Board Chair Dr. Sue Woltanski. “Without the passage of these referendums, which have been in place for over 20 years, the quality of the education we currently provide to our students will most definitely suffer.”

At a public hearing held during the meeting, Board Members and Superintendent Axford discussed the two referendums which voters have supported consistently for over twenty years. One referendum, known as the 1/2 mill, allows the district to move funds from the capital fund to operational funding. This helps  pay for teacher salaries, as well as for School Resource Officers in every school. The other referendum, known as the 1/2 cent, is a sales tax paying for school building development, repairs and athletic complexes  throughout the Keys. Neither referendum requires any additional taxpayer contribution over and above what has been in place for decades.

The board talked about the crucial nature of both areas of funding to the daily operation of our schools and the need to continue funding our schools at the current level so students will not suffer from funding cuts in the classroom.

“We continue to struggle to attract employees at all levels due to the cost of living here in the Keys. And the costs of operating - including supplies, vendors, the cost of construction and maintenance - are so much higher in our County than elsewhere,” said Superintendent Axford. “We are proud of the educational opportunities we are able to provide our students and we don’t want those opportunities to suffer,” she said.

In other action, the board approved the budget for the 2024-25 school year and a measure to issue Tax Anticipation Notes to cover budgeted items during the first part of the school year, before property taxes are collected.

School budget years start on July 1st, but the major source of funding for Florida schools is property tax revenues which are primarily collected between November and January. Districts have to find funding for those first few months, and many do it through T.A.N.s. These can come in two basic forms, a bank loan which is then repaid when property tax revenue comes in; or in the form of a public offering. In a public offering, the public would purchase bonds for a particular period of time with the school district paying the money back with interest. Current higher interest rates on bank loans makes the public offering option a better one this year.

In the Superintendent’s report to the board, at last week’s meeting Superintendent Axford discussed the steep increase in the numbers of students and families registering in the district who don’t speak English. The term used in the educational environment for such students is “EL” or English Language learners. 

She said during the 2022-23 school year, the district had 1,908 such students, or 22.9% of the student population; in the 2023-24 school year that number went up to 2,339 or 28%. The challenge of such students is a time consuming one for both teachers and administrators who spend are charged with helping the parents and the students with communications and learning issues.

She told the board she attended the State’s Teacher of the Year Gala this past weekend and had the opportunity to discuss this with the Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz, Jr. She said he was sympathetic to the issue and his office will be looking at what they can do to help Monroe County with funding for the additional time and materials it takes to work with EL families.

School Safety and Security Director Alfredo Vasquez gave a report to the board about the new State law governing the safety and security of school facilities in Florida. Among other things, the new law requires schools to lock all doors and gates while students are in classrooms and to have a person at every door that is not locked. It also requires inspections of schools for compliance with the new safety law. 

Ruth Coleman, who is the Sports, Training and Competition Manager for Monroe County Special Olympics reported to the board about the success of the Special Olympics program which currently serves 801 people in the county, 454 of which are students in Monroe County schools. She was also surprised at the meeting as the board and Superintendent recognized her with a Community GEM Award. GEM, or Great Education Moments, are awards given to individuals and groups who deserve recognition for their contributions to education and the schools.

Director of Assessment and Accountability Melissa Alsobrooks reported to board members about school grades, which were released by the state recently. The School District itself moved up in state rankings from #36 last year to #26 this year and six schools in the district improved one letter grade:  Poinciana School, Key Largo School, Plantation Key School, May Sands Montessori School, Treasure Island School and Somerset Island Prep.

School Board Member John Dick was impressed with the improvement and said he believes the District will achieve “A” status in the near future.

“We are on track to be an ‘A’ district,” he said. “But people need to know the quality of our schools will most definitely suffer if we don’t pass the two school funding measures on the ballot in November. If we can’t pay our teachers a competitive salary then we won’t be able to keep our current teachers or attract new ones.”