Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna says the district is facing its greatest challenge since the Covid-19 pandemic. It comes in the form of an unexpected budget shortfall totaling more than $12 million.
Hanna told the school board about the situation during their Tuesday meeting. He says the federal government has frozen more than $6 million worth of support for the local district.
“We received word during an emergency meeting last week with superintendents across the state that the federal government has suspended for review a number of our federal entitlement programs, entitlement grants, which is another six million dollars," he said. "So, district-wide, we are looking -- between state and federal funding -- at a loss of between $12- and $13-million.”
Hanna says part of the shortfall also comes from more local students making use of the state’s voucher programs to attend private schools. And then there’s the cost of services -- such as security, food and transportation – which Hanna says continues to rise.
Hanna says the district will make cuts to classrooms only as a last resort, but he says that everything is on the table.
“There are going to be some hard decisions that are going to have to be made over the course of the next several weeks and several months to make up for the loss of revenue, both at the state and the federal level," he said. "The increase statewide to the BSA -- Base Student Allocation -- was less than one percent. But our costs for services have increased drastically."
The Florida Department of Education is scheduled to meet with the state’s school superintendents Thursday. Hanna hopes they’ll provide some guidance on how to move forward.
