- Leon County Schools said they are worried about their financial future.
- Top three concerns include inflation, reduced projected enrollment numbers, and federal funding uncertainty.
- Watch the video to hear from the Superintendent and how the District plans to navigate these hurdles.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Leon County Schools said they're concerned about their budget next year. The district said they're grappling with 3 main issues including inflation, reduced projected enrollment numbers, and federal funding uncertainty.
"Locally, we are predicted to lose around 500 students to the private and scholarship program, which equates to around four million dollars for Leon County alone," said District Superintendent, Rocky Hanna.
Declining enrollment numbers with students opting for Florida's Universal Voucher program instead of their public schools are among the concerns Superintendent Rocky Hanna is facing.
"Once you start opening mom-and-pop private schools co-mingling with public schools within a community, something has to give because then no one does it well because we're all operating at 50-60% capacity," said Hanna.
Projected to lose that revenue, the Superintendent said these impacts will be compounded by inflation.
"Our costs and contracts with the Sheriff's Office are going to increase by 4 or 5 thousand dollars; the cost or contract we have with school nurses will increase by 4 or 5 thousand dollars," said Hanna.
Now, the Superintendent is calling on the legislature to review their budgets to further support public schools.
With state budget discussions in full swing, both the House and the Senate budget proposals both currently contain increases for the amount of money the state allows for each public school student.
The Superintendent, however, believes this is not enough to cope with increasing costs of services.
While staff budgets are in place for next year, the Superintendent says beyond that, cuts will have to be made.
"I will cut as many positions as I can at the district level without compromising services; then, next, we'll go to those support positions, the additional guidance counselors, the additional social workers," said Hanna.
Worse case scenario, Hanna said, will be increasing classroom sizes.
Educator Scott Mazur, President of Leon Classroom Teacher's Association, said he strong public school system requires investment and he hopes a model can be devised that will not impact any student, regardless of what type of schooling they choose.
"Can we find a way to then invest in the children all the way across the board, whether you're in a charter school, private school, or a public school," said Mazur.
The Superintendent says he wanted to speak up to share the information with parents and students. He is also asking families to contact their representatives to support public school funding.
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