If Flagler County School Board members aren’t panicking over next year’s budget, they’re either putting on a good act or not fully grasping the breadth of the rapidly changing financial landscape and disappearing dollars that district staff outlined for them at a meeting Tuesday.
Large parts of the budget are cloaked in smoke and mirrors–not because district staff is playing with the numbers, but because the federal and state governments are requiring the district to bank on dollars it will never see, or dollars that may never materialize, even though the dollars have to be included in the budget.
More than $17 million, or 10 percent of the $163 million general fund budget, appears as a line item in that budget. But the district will never see a dime of it. The state is awarding those tax dollars to families to subsidize private and parochial education at public expense under the guise of “choice,” while requiring districts to include the allocation in their budgets.
The $17 million figure represents more of a siphoning of dollars the district should have had than an allocation, reducing its actual general fund budget to $146 million. The $17 million accounts for all Flagler County students receiving state “vouchers” to attend private schools or subsidies for home-schooling. That includes private-school students who may never have enrolled in public schools. But it now includes an increasing number of students who are de-enrolling from public school to go to private school.
This year’s sum going to vouchers in Flagler schools’ budget is 67 percent higher than last year ($10.2 million).
The district is expecting a net loss of several hundred students when school resumes next month, and with it a loss of state dollars.
“In preparing for the 25-26 fiscal year budget, we knew things were going to be tight based on our FTE forecast that had us projected going down 140 students on top of what we did lose in 24-25,” Patti Wormeck, who heads the district’s finance department, said.
The fewer the number of students, the fewer teachers and other staffing positions the district can pay for. For now, the district is accounting for lost position not by firing employees but by letting attrition do the work. “The schools worked very hard with district staff to make sure that that did happen, so we feel pretty good about those numbers,” Wormeck said.
The losses may yet be steeper. “While we do have registrations for new students, we typically lose a few 100 kids the first 10 days of school for those who do not show up,” she said. That’s because the district goes on the previous year’s enrollment, as long as parents haven’t unenrolled their child.
In anticipation for the losses, all departments reduced budgets by up to 4 percent “to ensure the budget impact is felt districtwide,” Wormeck said.
The district has cut back on professional development, which means less training for existing staff. The focus right now is preservation of staff, Superintendent LaShakia Moore said.
Then there’s the federal smoke and mirrors.
In March the president, who a majority of the school board supports unquestioningly (and one of whom the president nominated to serve in his administration), signed an executive order abolishing the federal Department of Education and its workforce of 4,100. Half that workforce has already been dismissed. Though the federal government funds only about 10 percent of local schools’ budgets, the money pays for services for the most vulnerable students, such as Title I, which helps students from low-income families, and subsidies for school breakfast and lunch programs. The Flagler County school district received $21.2 million in federal dollars last year. It is expecting to receive $17.8 million this year. But some of that money is on hold, creating uncertainty locally.
“Currently we are experiencing a withholding period on Title II, Title III and Title IV,” Tammy Yorke, coordinator of federal programs at Flagler schools, said.
Title II funding supports staff professional development. Title III funds English education for migrants. Title IV funds social and emotional learning, STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), safety and other initiatives.
Together, the four funds add up to $800,000 for Flagler schools. The state is allowing the district to use unspent funds from last year to fund those programs this year. But that’s just a temporary fix, and it’s only $250,000.
“So we’ll be looking at what staffing might be in place that we need to maintain salaries for, or what critical resources to support students in the schools would be purchased out of those grants, and those would be our top priorities,” Yorke said. Meanwhile, the district is hoping additional federal funds are released. “So it’s going to be kind of a juggling we’re hopeful, and we’re waiting.”
“We don’t want to negatively impact our staff at this point,” Moore told the School Board. “If the dollars are not released, and if we are not given a different direction about our ability to cover some of those items in general, then we will have to come before you and address what we will do with our staffing, how this impacts our staffing.”
Moore said there’s no clear legal direction from the state on whether the district can use general fund dollars to cover federal programs once those programs run out of federal dollars. “What we do know, though, is that the general fund cannot absorb all of what is done in federal dollars,” Moore said. “That’s not just a Flagler thing. That is across the state. We cannot absorb all of those positions into the general fund.”
The superintendent said she was hoping that the funds will be released soon. There was no discussion about next year, by which time the federal Education Department may be non-existent.
Beyond the financial hit, Yorke said the loss of the programs would have severe consequences for students. “Those opportunities for our students are invaluable,” Yorke said. “The things they get to experience and the opportunities that they have really lend themselves well to really growing academics over the summer and getting kids engaged in excitement about learning. And so those are the things that we would really be saddened if we couldn’t continue to support. So we’re always looking at how we can enhance and go above and beyond. And that would be one of the major issues that we would have, is a lot of those, you know, really above and beyond and innovative things that we do would be lost with the loss of these dollars.”
“You’re absolutely right with the above and beyond portions. I think that’s what makes us stand out in a lot of different ways, for sure,” Bard member Derek Barrs–the Trump appointee–said.
Barrs inexplicably went on to almost shift the blame on the district: “That’s the risk that we all take when we take grand dollars. We know that when we get them,” he said, though those dollars’ availability or purpose or value to students, as Yorke had just described, have not been in question for decades. “So they’re great, but they can change, and your whole budgetary process can be thrown upside down with it. So I think that’s the understanding of the communication piece that I know that we have to communicate with staff, and I know that you’ll be doing that. But that’s the risk that we take of taking any kind of grants.”
“I think the difference here is that these are long-standing supplemental grants. The term grant is almost a misnomer,” Board member Janie Ruddy said. Moore more accurately referred to the money as an entitlement. Ruddy described the direct impacts of federal dollars she saw in action when she was a teacher, as when a student of hers was able to learn English thanks to Title III.
“Those are the real stories that are happening,” Ruddy continued, “and it would be a disgrace to, let’s say, just have that child sit in the corner saying, well, good luck, I guess, what are we going to do here? And so those are the real stories, the real impact, which I think I’m nervous of having a negative influence on the progress we’ve made here.”
Board members Will Furry and Christy Chong, who ran with the governor’s endorsement and align themselves with the president, stayed mum.
The president’s administration has placed about a dozen districts in Florida under review as it studies how those districts are spending federal dollars. Flagler County is not among those 12.
Dismantled like unemployment says
Haha voted for a conman and got conned! Republicans dismantled education and enrich themselves with the funds. Now you need new funds to fund existing schools hahaha! Other developed nations off free college we can’t even educate elementary kids anymore ! Sounds great?! Remember Floriduh is 48th out of 50 in teachers pay too, West Virginia teachers make about the same lol! Fact check everything a republican says and you’ll see it’s mostly just lies and partial biased truths.
Katie Johnson says
So republicans thought they could siphon money from public schools to give to private religious / racist schools and there not be consequences? No the plan was to screw over children just like their leader does ! Meanwhile racist Ron and his political donors are making millions from building and operating a concentration camp!
The GOP is a terrorist organization full stop. If there’s a type of terror you fancy you can bet they are doing it and likely in control of it all ,like the billionaire pedophile islands or human trafficking operations in general!
Merrill Shapiro says
In recent years, Moms for Liberty has taken a great interest in how our Flagler County Public Schools are operated. Surely, Moms for Liberty can solve some of these problems. Don’t you think?
Jim says
The people that will be hurt by this are the staff of the school system and the students. The school board will not suffer at all. The state governor and legislature will not suffer. The president and the Congress will not suffer (well, we’ll see in the 2026 elections….).
And, currently, the school system (and state) have no way to determine if a family is getting voucher money while still enrolling in the school system. Why wouldn’t this be something the state government would want to do?
I feel for those that will be impacted. Our educational system is being dismantled rapidly. In a few years, the country will see the impact as we fall far behind China and virtually everyone else. How short sighted we have become.
And thank you Mr. Barrs for your belated “warning” about accepting grant monies from the government. You, sir, have 20-20 vision in the rear view mirror. Since you’re leaving, you won’t have to be part of the solution to this problem so try not to impart any more “help” on the way out the door….
Deborah Coffey says
Republicanism and MAGAworld…how to completely destroy a beautiful country.
Can only hope says
Why is everything a Republican/Democrat issue ?
Can’t we at some point look at an issue from a common sense standpoint?
I think the bigger issue is why are parents looking for other places to educate their kids. Maybe the education department should sit down with some of these parents and find out. There is a logical answer and it’s not being asked I don’t think .
Steve says
Fake Christian Hypocrite Schools to brainwash the kids and funnel money to their buddies who run them. P2025 in the works.
JimboXYZ says
Spend the funding/money more efficiently. This is more about the inflation of education than it is anything else. See what happens when Bidenomics affects education. Those that think this is Trump ? Think again, this trend was happening under Biden-Harris. 2021 the dire projections were that with growth that the Flagler County Schools would all be over capacity. Turns out that model of budget & spreadsheets was inaccurate. You know, we wouldn’t be in this predicament if Biden-Harris inflation economy model wasn’t the fraud & abuse of the last 5 years ? Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was the smoke & mirrors of fraud & abuse. Reversing that when the solution was tax & spend is nearly impossible, but it involves budget cuts, right sizing, because those charging for education aren’t taking pay cuts, staffing cuts. Education K-12 is on the individual, the voucher system in & of itself is fraud & abuse overcharge for the perception of a better education. I doubt the education quality, public vs voucher school is any better K-12. Prove me wrong. The test scores are “law of diminishing returns”, like it is for anything else in life.
Throwing more money at something that falls on the bell curve of human race intelligence for learning K-12 reaches optimal returns for anything. Get the costs of education in order. Here’s an example of an Ivy League University that is supposed to be, elite for education. This educated nobody, was nothing more than protests & it ended up costing taxpayers in wasted resources. Society didn’t benefit from that funding for any quality of life improvement. So Columbia can go without funding for the smoke & mirrors of an Ivy League education that isn’t any better than a State University. I bet UF/FSU/UCF are more productive with any research funding than the entirety of the Ivy League. Education in the USA is a network of nepotism/cronyism as a system of alumni, just like it is for anything else. Look at the mess the Ivy League has created ? The evidence is in the economy that keeps falling short for every budget ever created.
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-trump-deal-00eef5dca9f003e593d2cb151f5cce17
Laurel says
“I love the poorly educated”
– Donald J Trump
Cali says
Not quite understanding “how” the district is “losing funds” with vouchers, charter school or homeschool. When the state pays X per enrolled public-school pupil. If you take the X amount and multiply it by the number of pupils enrolled at district schools you get what the district should have. The state pays Q per home schooled kid, the homeschool family doesn’t’ get the entire per pupil amount so when you do the math Q multiplied by the number of homeschoolers, shouldn’t matter as the district isn’t entitled to those funds. When it comes to vouchers for private or faith-based schools, the number of students requesting a voucher from the district multiplied by X (state per pupil rate) those funds are sent to the schools those children are attending–the district isn’t entitled to those funds. As for the Charter schools, same thing, multiply the number of kids in the charter school by X (state per pupil rate) and those funds are sent to the Charter school, again the district isn’t entitled to those funds.
If the district is only entitled to funds for the number of pupils that are being educated in their schools, how can they be “losing funds” It seems simple, but I feel as if I am missing or overlooking something with per pupil funding from the state.
Bummed Out says
Maybe the district needs to take a look at cutting some fat at the top. Go watch the movie Office Space. What do some of the administrators making 3 figures in the district “actually do”? I have to work a second job as a teacher just to keep my family afloat. Meanwhile, I pay more for my insurance every year and my coverage gets worse. I can’t even put my family on my insurance because it would basically cost me one of my two meager paychecks I get a month. I take pride in teaching the children here in Flagler County, but it’s getting harder every year. As a 20 year veteran teacher, I barely make more than a rookie.
Henry says
Liberals are dripping with contempt for school choice families who are willingly choosing to leave and raise our children according to our values. You people really want to hurt us. Why is that?
Surely not my fault says
Once again, democrats are clueless that decisions made in schools have consequences. Here’s a simple solution. Since more parents are choosing vouchers, clean up the messes you’ve created. No more bs flags, no more bs liberalism, no more garbage in curriculum. The public school systems are full of garbage. Now you’ll see how your past games hurt you!
jacey jones says
Funny all these people who graduated school barely able to read and write suddenly being more educationally experienced than well-trained teachers, eh? WHERE did those parents get THEIR education – what state? We are seeing a dismantling of our nation, of every single program that makes us actually GREAT. Starving school children will start to fail, as the school lunch money program is being dismantled. My kids were able to do well in school despite my poverty because of the 1/2 lunch program (yes I worked full time). One with a masters now teaches new nurses in a large hospital, one is a engineer, but was in AP classes since 2nd grade because he was taught to read at the age of 4. Now the powers that be took away the ability to write and read in cursive a decade or so ago, which is an atrocity! Bring that back. Bring back latin in high school. All of our founding fathers could read and speak latin, french, greek, and read the old books in those languages, which is where they got the idea for the United States. Republicans are taking us backwards, back to what happened 100 years ago!!!! Learn your history, before that is wiped away by republicans too.