Florida law requires local governments to advertise what it calls “Truth in Millage” budgets before they are approved, outlining how taxpayers are taxed and where their money goes. Truth is a relative term, even for state law.
As Flagler County School Board member Colleen Conklin studied the budget the board is approving in a pair of meetings this month, she noticed a gaping absence: $10 million the district receives from the state only for the money to be redistributed to families as vouchers or payments, footing the bill for private schools and home schooling.
That surging amount of money comes out of what would otherwise have been appropriated to the district. It explains in part why the district’s enrollment is not increasing, and why the dollars the district has for its own uses have been relatively stagnant. (See: “Flagler Schools’ Budget Is Millions Short from 10 Years Ago as District Is Forced to Shift Tax Dollars to Private Schools.”)
What’s not explained is why the district and its finance department have not detailed those figures to the public–or even to the School Board.
“If we’re advertising our budget to the community and the public, I find it odd that that $10 million dollars is not transparent, and at least a line item in the budget,” Conklin said.
All students are eligible for so-called Family Empowerment Scholarships, to spend on private school, parochial school or home-school education. Paul Renner, the Palm Coast Republican and Speaker of the House, last year championed the bill that expanded the program to universal eligibility, after it had been restricted and capped. The bill also made home schooling eligible for the public dollars. The average award for a single student taking public money for private ends last year was $7,950, according to the Department of Education. Parents could also have up to $750 per student to use for transportation. The program was expected to encourage an exodus from traditional public schools. The numbers support the expectation, at least when they are not masked by district budgets.
The Flagler County school district, according to Conklin, gets $10 million for that (the figure isn’t precise because to this day the district has not revealed it). Patty Wormeck, who heads the district’s finance department, said the money is incorporated in the budget, though she didn’t sound sure.
“Where is that expense shown in the budget?” Conklin asked during last week’s budget meeting, the first of two. The second is scheduled for Tuesday.
“I believe it’s all wrapped up in the instructional piece. But I think maybe what we can do is put a footnote, if that would suffice,” Wormeck said.
Wormeck’s reference to one of the most impactful elements of the budget as a “footnote” was surprising, if also indicative of the district’s inexplicable indifference to the program’s impact.
Conklin noted that the budget presentation had an entire separate page devoted to a $95,000 scholarship fund, out of which the board awards a single $500 scholarship per year. But it has no such page for the $10 million the district is losing to private-school and homeschool enrollment–not even on the district’s internal document that was distributed to board members, and made available to the public.
“Can we have a separate page that shows the dollars in and dollars out? Because if not, it’s not transparent to the community,” Conklin said. “It looks like we’re $10 million richer than we are, and we’re not. I don’t know how everybody else feels about it. But to me, when we’re advertising for transparency, that should be transparent.”
Wormeck said that can be done in an internal document. It cannot be done on the state’s document as officially presented for advertisement–the so-called Truth in Millage document. “On this first document here, we can make it transparent,” Wormeck said of the internal document. “On the second agenda item, we cannot.”
“It just doesn’t make sense to me that it’s such a large amount of money, that it’s not transparent,” Conklin said. “It’s not clear to the public. It’s their tax dollars. So I don’t understand why they haven’t updated the documents yet.” She added: “How are we supposed to advertise and being transparent with our budget if we’re not telling the community where that 10 million is going?”
But other districts do make that clear, as even the board’s own attorney told board members. “What I typically see is that districts will take it upon themselves, not necessarily in the advertised format that’s imposed on us by Tallahassee, but to round out that information with PowerPoints and and slides from the district level to help tell the story a little more accurately,” the board attorney said. He must have been familiar with neighboring districts’ budget books and procedures, which differ sharply from Flagler’s duskier approach.
When the finance department of the Volusia County school district presents this years budget, it does so with a 134-page document made available for public inspection, as opposed to Flagler’s abbreviated, half-dozen pages of numbers without a single explanation. Volusia details the $11.6 million supplement for vouchers the county is getting on top of its regular allocation, a $3.3 million increase over last year, it details the total amount of dollars going to the private scholarships ($58.5 million), and it details the actual number of students in that category (6,800), none of which Flagler has ever done, denying the public and school board members a true picture of the district’s finances or the measure of an explanation as to why the district’s enrollment continues to be flat for the 17th straight year.
The Volusia documents show, for example, in the budget book and a powerpoint for board members less inclined to study budgets, that the district expects a surge of more than 2,000 students participating in the voucher program compared to the last school year–and a decline of over 600 students going to traditional and charter schools, when the figures are weighted.
Volusia isn’t an exception. St. Johns County schools’ 51-page budget document also line-items the surge in dollars going to Family Empowerment Scholarships (from $25.5 million to $42.7 million), provides explanations about the scholarships’ impact on the budget, and differentiates its numbers when scholarship students are not included.
It’s not clear why the school district’s finance department chooses not to be so transparent–unless asked by a School Board member. Conklin is leaving her school board seat in November after 24 years as a board member. The two senior members of the board by then, Will Furry and Christy Chong, will have each served two years. They are ardent supporters of “choice,” including the siphoning of public money to private schooling, so they would not be inclined to raise alarms about invisible funds in the budget. They have shown little interest in studying the budget beyond the basic information provided by Wormeck, except when micromanaging easily graspable items they happen to oppose, and have little bearing on the district’s core operations. Furry thought it a “reasonable request” to include voucher dollars in the distributed budget.
Wormeck promised for Tuesday’s meeting a powerpoint that would include the relevant numbers. As of Monday afternoon, neither that nor other documents had been made available to the public on the district’s “Board Docs” where agendas and supporting materials are posted.
On a somewhat more transparent note, the district ended the last year with a reserve of $7.4 million, but will start the new fiscal year with $2 million more, at $9.5 million thanks to Covid-era aid, technically called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER. “We took ESSER funds and were able to be creative and utilize them to backfill different positions that were required post-pandemic,” Wormeck said. “That helps out tremendously with getting our fund balance up.” Wormeck called it “phenomenal” that the district had to use just $200,000 of its reserves to balance the budget. “That’s kind of the best result we’ve had in quite a long time.” Of course, Wormeck did not mention the origin of the money–the Biden administration–to a board with a couple of members who could have myocardial infarctions if they were to acknowledge it.
The district has $5.3 million left in such federal aid. A caution: “2024-25 is going to be a very crucial year in maintaining that fund balance,” Wormeck said. “We have been able to use ESSER grant funds to help that fund balance throughout the past couple years. With those dollars going away as of September, it really comes down to just the general fund at this point.” In other words, the board without that federal aid is on its own.
Chris Conklin says
God bless the school district when conklin and massero down. the rest are useless or unprepared. go to sleep with dogs you wake up with fleas. vote for those who care about the kids and not there own agenda.
The Sour Kraut says
Why the He11 are we paying kids to not go to public schools? Want your child to go to a private school? Pau for it yourself!
Greg says
Because public schools are failing to teach the kids.
Jim says
This comment nails it. I’m all for choice – send your kid to private school or homeschool them – that’s you right and choice.
The public school system is set up to assure all children have access to education through the 12th grade. All of us should want and demand that kids in public schools get absolutely the best education we can provide them with our tax dollars. Kids are always the future in society and we should all want them as well prepared as possible when the graduate.
Those that choose to not use the public system can do so but it should be at their cost. Why should MY tax dollars go to someone’s private school? I don’t get a say in their curriculum, their social positions or anything else. And if I’m not paying for the school, I shouldn’t have a say. But since I am paying for private schooling, I should have a say in that school’s policies, teaching methods, etc. And we all should see their graduation rates and performance on standardized testing (since we’re paying for it).
There’s a serious problem in our system when anyone thinks they should get tax dollars and have no requirement to meet education goals and provide open explanation of what exactly that school is teaching. (Hence, why it’s “private”).
And don’t tell me it’s for those that can’t afford private school – they changed that part of the law as well. All I’m seeing is another “conservation” (right wingnut) effort to fund a private agenda with public monies.
AWAKE doesn't mean WOKE - Wake UP People! says
Jim – you NAILED IT! These are OUR tax dollars. The hypocrisy of the Republican Party is maddening to me. They preach about accountability and transparency, but they are full of shit. These dollars are UNACCOUNTED for. I don’t care what anyone tells you. None of us can go to any of the private schools and demand that they show us how every one of those dollars is being spent.
This is the biggest scam, and the Republicans are claiming it’s all about parent choice – again, bullshit. It’s about dismantling public education purely for the money and silly make-believe culture wars. If that wasn’t the case, why are there so many state legislators who have their hands in this money pot? If it’s not about money, why did most of our private schools raise tuition as soon as the vouchers became available to everyone? I was directly told it was to keep out the rift-raft. Oh, how Christian of you all! WAKE UP, PEOPLE – You are being scammed. These are YOUR tax dollars!
Linda Morgan says
While reading this story, I became sick in my stomach. Thank you Colleen for your hard work. I always felt that our children were in good hands with you on the School Board, and that you were the “Voice of Reason”. Is this really what it comes down to? It appears to be, at the least, unethical and a poor accounting of a budget. A person in the business world would be fired.
JimboXYZ says
Budget reporting failures, accountancy issues that have always plagued the establishment of CPA’s. Any auditing process of that funding ever happen ? Material omissions are quite common in this world.
Jim says
Wow. So thoughtful and helpful to this discussion.
Joe D says
Taxpayers should be OUTRAGED that all that State grant money that goes to private and home schools ( $8000/ student REGARDLESS of family income….even Billionaires). Little or no annual testing requirements to ensure those students are maintaining standardized scores for their grade level, like other States require, to prove the “alternative” teaching programs are meeting requirements.
Just wait until this siphoning of public school money results in Florida high school students not passing national College entrance exams (regardless of the school program)
Imagine if a family had 3 children they were going to “home school.” $24,000 tax free State money (equivalent to approximately $24,480 taxable income). There is no State accounting how that money is spent for home schools…in 3-4 years we could see students falling 2-3 years behind grade level.
Of course, an uneducated population seems to be what Governor DeSantis and our current ELECTED legislature prefers….a voter group that accepts what they are told, and asks FEW if ANY questions. How SAD for Florida students.
Nancy N. says
To be clear, homeschooling parents using the state scholarships don’t just receive the scholarship money in a lump sum as income, and there is accountability to how it is spent. Students homeschooling on the PEP scholarship are required to do testing annually. (Students on the state’s special needs scholarship are exempt from this requirement.) The scholarships are administered by funding organizations that operate somewhat similar to health insurance companies, reimbursing expenses for a student after they are incurred. There are extensive guidelines about what is and is not an allowable homeschooling expense that can be reimbursed and proper documentation is required to receive reimbursement of an expense.
Olivia says
Parents who homeschool in Florida are subject to Florida education laws. Furthermore, the money given to homeschool families is in the form of an education account where the purchases are restricted and fully accounted for. There’s a clear list on what you can and cannot use the money for. The public schools aren’t safe and aren’t teaching children what they need to know.
Sherry says
Thank you Joe D! Right On!
Phishing Funds says
Any update on the “missing” $720,000 from the bogus vendor bank account scheme?
Tired of it says
Thank Republicans, They have been the ones pushing for vouchers for private schools. Slowly eroding the funds for public schools.
Ask yourself why your tax dollars should go to fund private schools.
Maverick says
Seems like Florida state, local and school governments are run azz backwards. I’ve never seen such disarray.
The dude says
Flagler County Schools desperately needs that $10m
Also, the private schools in Flagler are just as shitty as the public schools, maybe worse. I know, we explored that option.
Nancy N. says
It’s a big assumption to claim that if the scholarship didn’t exist that the school district would be getting these funds and not have to pay them back out. These funds are the per-pupil funds for students on the scholarship. (Remember, that is why students coming to school on count days are so important – the district gets paid by the state per pupil.) The district would not necessarily be receiving these funds in the absence of the scholarship existing. Many of these students, like mine, would be homeschooled or in private school with or without the scholarship’s existence. For those students, the district would never receive the funds from the state. They would not be included in the count.
When is enough - enough says
I understand what you are saying. However, while there is no guarantee the funds would be used to raise the base student allocation – it proves the point that they do have the funds to actually do it. Florida ranks 50th in overall student funding. The 10 million could be used for more innovative programming, retaining and attracting the highest qualified teachers, on and on. Homeschooling is different – they have more requirements and expectations than the private schools. The earlier voucher programs around those with special needs and with some requirements like having to have even attended a public school prior to attaining one, but some parameters in place. Right now it is wide open. I could be a billionaire who sent my child to private school their entire lives and now I can get a scholarship to offset their tuition. It’s a scam. It’s not creating competition, it’s creating an lucuritve industry on the backs of public education and our kids.
Sylvia says
This is completely expected when the chairman of the schoolboard has less of an education than many of the kids graduating from the district.
If they weren’t so concerned wasting money on witch-hunts, needless firings and personal vendettas maybe they would know where the money went.
Flagler families deserve so much better.
A fly on the wall says
This is downright neglect, dishonest, and a insubordination. The School Board broke the law. Transparent my ass.
All but Colleen and Cheryl, who are leaving, should be held accountable, including prosecution if necessary.
And Fury, a word of advice, if ya go around talking shit about how bad your teachers suck, do it somewhere besides
the country club bar. You never know who is listening.
Endless dark money says
This was all the gop plan, can’t have more racism and hate without ignorance . Defunding schools is part of their “solutions”. More guns, less assistance programs, more hate. Get the freedum of not having a choice again. Vote repulicon.
vance hoffman says
Can’t blame parents for not liking public schools they under perform and some violent students roaming around. Thanks to Jimmy Carter he ruin schools we’ve gone from top 3 to bottom 30 in education. Name one program the government has made that works and isn’t over budget. I’ll wait..
Laura says
One might sure question if any of these commenters are aware of the actual process or if they just think the state cuts checks because you have a kid or perhaps they are just trying to create a partisan distraction.
Facts: A family might be “awarded” up to a certain dollar amount but actual receipt of funds is a process. Standardized testing, submission of an educational plan, qualified receipts only, etc, etc are all part of the many requirements to access allowable funds. Kids take a FL virtual school class? A certain amount of money is automatically deducted to reimburse that program which many many public FL schools utilize for their online courses. Kiddos take a music class with the local school district? Again, some of these child’s “allowable” funds is automatically deducted and sent to their local district to “pay” for their place in that elective class.
In summary: The law is built off the premise that funds are attached to the child vs the school. With our global society, high local mobility (especially after COVID) this program provides uninterrupted and unique opportunities for Florida family’s who want options for their child & meet the program requirements AND submit appropriate documentation by required deadlines.
T. Price says
Are we just going to skip over the fact that of a $95k budget for scholarships, only a single $500 scholarship is awarded per year?
Did I misread that?
Nancy N. says
Not a budget (which in this case would be an amount to be spent annually) but a FUND, the pot of money that the scholarships come out of and which has to last in perpetuity theoretically.
TMS says
The questions and comments I am reading regarding transparency of education dollars are relevant and compelling… but let us pause for a moment. We can all agree that every community is interested in the education of its children, and it is up to the State of Florida to provide that education. As a parent, community member and educator, I believe that every parent should be able to choose the best education option for their child; be it homeschool, public school, charter school… or a blend, that is a parent decision.
How these options are funded and why is the real issue. Is the funding a plan to bring about equity or is the funding a plan to pit community members against each other, distracting us from embracing home rule when choosing our school board members… local voice local choice. How we as community members choose to educate our children, should not become the wedge that divides us and allows for outside interests, party politics and ambitious politicians to drive the education policies in our county.
Ask yourselves fellow voters, why would someone running for a local school board need the endorsement of our governor and campaign commercials. The Why is where our focus should be as a community.
We can squabble about who is getting educated where and with what money after we elect a functional school board committed to a policy focused on student success and equitable education. Please look beyond the endorsements and the D and R.