An opinion column by longtime Leon County school board member Alva Smith in the Tallahassee Democrat earlier this month laid out the problems ahead for Leon County Schools.
She cited changes that she says need to happen now as the district’s enrollment keeps creeping downward. She noted that the district’s finances are struggling, with operating reserves down to the minimum allowable amount required by state law.
She wrote that the district’s operational costs must come down and at least some of those savings should go toward employee and teacher raises.
Smith acknowledged that this is a necessary pivot because the state’s school choice voucher program is resulting in less funding for traditional public schools.
The money that used to go to traditional schools now follows the student. That means it goes to private schools, to public charter schools (which are not run by the district), or to homeschooling costs.
Smith brought up the prospect of Leon County possibly having to close some schools. That’s not a new thing in Leon. Smith pointed out during a recent meeting that the district has closed three schools in the past 20 years.
Bellevue Middle School was the last to close in 2010. That was due to budget cuts and the school being under enrolled. Brevard Elementary closed in 2007 due to declining enrollment. Wesson Elementary was also closed in 2007 for various reasons including low academic performance and the need to consolidate schools. These schools were located on the south and west sides in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Smith’s column was published, then the school board met to discuss the agenda for the next day’s school board meeting. Smith brought handouts full of data, and she explained her reasoning for the column she wrote. Salaries were a big part of the discussion.
“We have not kept up at the rate of other districts,” Smith said. “We’re not keeping up with giving our teachers what they need.”
She compared Leon to neighboring Okaloosa County, where a similar number of students are served at fewer schools with teachers there making an average of $6,000 more.
Leon recently offered teachers a raise of about $40 a month based on additional money provided by the state, but members of the Leon Classroom Teachers Association voted to reject the offer as not being sufficient.
Smith went on to explain that enrollment numbers in the district have hovered around the 32-thousand mark for the last 15 years. But a couple of charter schools have grown significantly. They are the Tallahassee School of Math & Science, and both campuses of the School of Arts and Sciences. If you take away the enrollment of those charter schools, she says the overall district enrollment is down.
Smith says a dozen of the district’s 51 schools are operating below capacity, and here’s where the state’s Schools of Hope program gets interesting. This program allows high-performing charter school companies to operate in areas that have low-performing schools. The state is taking that a step further to include those schools that are not operating at full capacity.
Smith says six approved Schools of Hope providers have started sending letters to districts requesting to co-locate within existing schools.
“One of these ‘Schools of Hope’ can request to co-locate in your district with that (under capacity) school, and you must accept them. They also don’t pay rent,” Smith told board members. “So, as we look at our under capacity schools and the fact of possible consolidation, we have two choices. We can talk about it…and we can decide on our own terms what goes on with our schools, or the state can decide for us. That’s basically what we’re looking at.”
On Speaking Of, we talk more about the situation in Leon County, and we hear from Patrice Iatarola, associate professor of Education Policy and Evaluation at Florida State University.
“I’ve seen school closures of my own elementary school, of my cousin’s elementary school that was ultimately razed for new housing. Closing schools, it feels like there’s a spiritual dead space around it,” Iatarola says.
She says the impact is felt by kids academically and socially, and it’s also hard economically on a community.
“It may increase student absenteeism, especially when you’re starting to deal with some of the transportation issues that they might have to face going to a new school outside of their neighborhood,” Iatarola says. “It’s also about the receiving school and preparing them that you’re going to be having these kids and they may or may not look different, perform different…and how do you as a school be sensitive to different needs.”
She says steps should be taken during the planning phase of a school closure to engage the community and be transparent about the decision-making and the timeline.
Click LISTEN above to hear the full segment of Speaking Of.
