The Flagler County School board would have to pay initial annual costs of over $150,000 to nearly $600,000 for any of three options to have armed staffers or guards on its nine campuses, in addition to the $1 million it is paying annually to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Flagler County School Board
Flagler District Pays $6 Million for 685 Students to Attend Private Schools, Many Out of County, or Homeschooled
A new state law requires the Flagler County school district this year to pay just over $6 million to underwrite the private-school education of 685 students, including at parochial and out-of-county schools. The money also goes to families home-schooling their children.
Flagler Schools Just Barely Set New Enrollment Record, Matanzas High Exceeds 2,000 Students
While the Flagler County school district set an enrollment record for the first time in 13 years, it is still not the substantial growth that the district has been speaking of for the past year and a half, or the sort of growth that might have been expected to parallel the ongoing building boom in Palm Coast and the rest of the county.
Flagler School Board Won’t Arm Civilians or Staffers This Year as Questions and Divisions Persist
The state gave the Sheriff’s Office only seven days to complete an application required to tap into training grants for arming civilians on campuses, and the Flagler County School Board still has a series of unanswered questions. Election re-alignments also add another level of uncertainty about whether there’s a real desire to go the route of armed civilians in schools.
Swords Sheathed, County, Cities and District Resolve Clash Over Developers’ Dues for School Construction
This morning’s meeting of the so-called ILA (or inter-local agreement) Oversight Committee, gathering elected officials from the school district and other local governments, was distinctly more relaxed as a year-long clash over what some developers must pay, and when, to ensure school capacity for new students, was over.
70% of Flagler County Students Fail Civic Literacy Test, 63% Fail Across Florida in Exam’s 1st Year
Just 30 percent of Flagler County students know the purpose of a constitution, understand the separation of powers, the concept of the rule of law, the reasons colonists rebelled against Britain, the Supreme Court ruling that ratified Jim Crow or what FDR meant by a New Deal. Students in a U.S. government course are required to take the new exam that covers everything from landmark Supreme Court cases to influential documents in American history to basic principles about how government functions.
Flagler Schools’ Budget Is Millions Short from 10 Years Ago as District Is Forced to Shift Tax Dollars to Private Schools
Historically lower taxes it has no control over, a state funding formula that cheats it of 5 cents of every dollar it sends the state, and a state-required $6 million transfer to pay for private education vouchers have again left the Flagler County school district scrambling to balance its budget. But it’s been an annual erosion of local dollars, entirely at the expense of public education.
Less Than Half of Flagler’s 10th Graders Pass English, Worst in 11 Years; FPC Down 9 Points, to 45%
On the heels of a year and a half of a dysfunctional school board riven by ideological battles, only 49 percent of Flagler County’s 10th graders last school year were reading English at grade level, the lowest proportion in over a decade and a decline from 53 percent in 2021. Flagler’s 10th grade reading scores have declined every year since 2018.
Flagler Voters’ Message to Poison Peddlers
Flagler voters made damn sure that white nationalists, bigots and liars like Joe Mullins, Jill Woolbright and Janet McDonald had a short and embarrassing shelf life. If Flagler is solidly conservative, it remains sanely, moderately so for now, even for a one-party county with just three Democrats among 33 elected officials on six government boards.
6th Grade Switch to Middle School Suddenly Makes 10 Year Old Ineligible for Bus Ride, Forcing 2-Mile Walk
When the Flagler County School Board switched 6th graders to middle school starting this month, it meant the same 6th graders who would have previously been eligible for bus rides to school no longer are, creating a dilemma–and a safety concern–for the parent of a 10-year-old child in Palm Coast’s B-Section.