Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
0:00 Thank you.
5:30 So first of all, just to go through where we are with the
5:33 milestones for the new middle
5:34 school, the board had previously approved contracts for design
5:38 and for construction management.
5:39 So both of those are under contract.
5:42 The design is being actively worked right now.
5:45 We’ve had numerous meetings with our stakeholders in terms of
5:48 what the building will look like,
5:50 what types of classrooms we’ll have in those types of things.
5:53 And so we’ve been working through all of them.
5:54 So we’ve been working through all of the stakeholder engagement
5:56 with our secondary leading and learning
5:58 folks.
5:59 We’ve also been doing some extensive engagement with the Brevard
6:02 County emergency management
6:03 folks.
6:04 They, there’s a requirement for the school board to build to
6:09 enhance hurricane protection standards,
6:13 and we’ve been working through that with them.
6:15 You’ll see on your agenda tonight a partial exemption.
6:18 We’ve negotiated what they need versus the full gamut of EHPA
6:24 standards.
6:25 And so I feel very confident that we are both meeting the needs
6:29 of the Brevard County emergency
6:30 management folks, as well as trying to minimize the cost to the
6:33 school district.
6:35 So I feel like that’s a great partnership and we’ve done very
6:37 well with them and appreciate
6:38 their cooperation with us.
6:40 So we’re working through completion of the design documents
6:43 through the fall.
6:44 And then on the board agenda in December will be a guaranteed
6:48 maximum price proposal for
6:49 early works.
6:50 And that is significant because we need to get started on the
6:54 site work and also order long
6:56 lead time material and equipment, things like mechanical
6:59 equipment, chillers, those kinds of things,
7:02 as well as big electrical transformers and things that have been
7:05 taking a long, long time.
7:07 So it’s important that we get those under contract.
7:10 And so in order to get those under contract, no later than
7:14 December, want to make sure that
7:16 we’re still on track for the financing piece of the middle
7:19 school so that those two things
7:20 can happen concurrently.
7:22 So the construction proposal for the middle school will be for
7:27 the board in early spring and
7:30 anticipate doing the full construction contract probably in
7:34 March.
7:34 But the key start date that we need to keep in mind is the
7:38 December early works contract for
7:41 the middle school.
7:45 So we have been refining the construction cost estimate.
7:48 One of the advantages of having the construction manager under
7:51 contract.
7:52 concurrently with the designer is that they can work hand in
7:54 hand.
7:55 And so we get fairly regular updates on the construction costs.
7:59 This is a schematic estimate for the middle school.
8:01 It is not based on full construction documents yet, but this is
8:06 a pretty good number and we’ve
8:08 vetted it pretty carefully and feel very confident that this is
8:11 about where we’re going to land
8:14 when we bring the full construction contract to the board in the
8:16 future.
8:17 The furniture, fixture, and equipment estimate is about $2
8:20 million.
8:21 And so we’re estimating a total of about $51 million.
8:25 But we’ve also included some wiggle room for cost escalation.
8:31 So our construction manager gave us a couple different
8:33 parameters around cost escalation.
8:36 And so for the purpose of estimating cost where we are today and
8:40 kind of figuring out how we might fund the project,
8:45 we’re looking at about a $55 million project for the purpose of
8:48 estimating.
8:49 Fully expect that the total will be less than that.
8:52 But that’s the number that we’re using for the purposes of where
8:55 we are today.
8:56 The early works GMP that the board will see in December estimate
8:59 that will be about $10 to $11 million.
9:02 And we can cover that with the impact fees that we’ve already
9:04 collected.
9:05 So we basically have that in the bank and can handle the early
9:08 works GMP in December.
9:10 So as we briefed you in, I believe it was March, we talked about
9:16 the subtleties of how we have to contract for the middle school
9:21 or any capital projects.
9:23 So when we contract, we have to have the resources available to
9:27 write a purchase order for the full amount.
9:30 So if we don’t have the cash available, we cannot write a
9:32 purchase order for $55 million.
9:35 We need to be able to support that.
9:37 And so in looking through our cash flow, which I’ll demonstrate
9:40 in a few minutes,
9:42 we will not have the cash flow available in March to be able to
9:45 contract for the full amount of the middle school cost.
9:50 From a cash flow perspective, as I mentioned previously, we have
9:55 the pay application process.
9:58 So the contractor builds parts of the school, we get billed
10:01 every month.
10:02 So we have a cash flow of money going out.
10:05 And then we also have educational impact fees coming in at the
10:08 same time.
10:09 So in terms of our cash flow, we estimate that our peak deficit
10:12 will probably be somewhere around $15 million.
10:16 Might be less, might be a little bit more.
10:18 But assuming all other things remain constant that we’re
10:22 thinking about now,
10:24 from a cash flow perspective, we estimate that that’s probably
10:27 about the peak deficit that we’ll see through the life of the
10:30 program,
10:31 where our need to pay the bills exceeds the accrued educational
10:37 impact fees at any given time.
10:41 So this slide gives you kind of a sense of where we are with our
10:44 educational impact fees and the anticipated expenditures.
10:51 We will be contracting for the VR classroom addition project.
10:54 That is also on the board agenda tonight.
10:56 And then we anticipate receiving impact fees from the June 30th
11:01 collection.
11:03 Those should be coming in shortly.
11:04 They’ve been through the entire process and have been approved
11:07 by the county commission.
11:09 And then we repeat that process quarterly.
11:11 And for the purposes of estimating, we’re using $4 million per
11:15 quarter that would be recommended to allocate for this project.
11:21 So using that as a cash flow and you work through the timing of
11:26 the impact fee collections versus the timing of our contracting
11:31 for the middle school,
11:32 you can see at the bottom of the slide, we estimate that there’s
11:35 probably somewhere in the $23 million range that will need some
11:39 short term financing.
11:41 Now, keep in mind, impact fee revenues can vary, costs can vary.
11:46 So this number can go up or down, but it gives you a sense of
11:49 about where we are in terms of financing needs.
11:52 So in looking at the funding framework, we’ve been working very
11:57 closely with the finance department and Ford and Associates,
12:01 our financial advisors, Mr. Ford is here today and he’s going to
12:04 explain the details of this a lot better than I will.
12:08 But one of the parameters under which we work is the cost per
12:13 student station limits that the state has imposed upon us in
12:18 statute.
12:19 And there are only two exceptions to meeting that cost per
12:22 student station requirement.
12:25 And those are projects that are funded 100% with impact fees or
12:28 projects that are subject to a lease purchase agreement.
12:32 And I’m going to ask Mr. Ford if he could comment a little bit
12:34 in more detail on that.
12:36 And then we’ll talk a little bit about our map on the cost per
12:38 student station.
12:40 Certainly.
12:41 The cost per student station limits in Florida, thank you for
12:43 having me by the way.
12:44 Cost per student station limits have been around for quite a
12:46 long time, but they really got teeth with a change in law in
12:50 2017.
12:51 And that was the point at which this section of the law was
12:54 changed that prohibits the use of funds from any source to pay
12:59 for any portion of a facility that goes above those limits.
13:02 Problematically, the cost per student station limits were never
13:06 perfect, but they have utterly failed to keep pace with the cost
13:09 of construction, especially over the last two year period.
13:13 So it’s very problematic for a lot of school districts.
13:15 And the exceptions to that rule were schools that were
13:20 contracted for architectural and engineering services before, I
13:23 think it was July 1st, 2017.
13:25 It’s no longer applicable.
13:26 They added the exception later for schools that can be funded
13:29 100% with impact fees.
13:32 It does say in the law, completely funded or totally funded.
13:36 I can’t remember the exact vernacular, but it is clear that it’s
13:39 100%.
13:40 And the final exception is schools that are financed through a
13:43 lease purchase agreement.
13:45 And that leads us to certificates of participation, which are
13:48 lease purchase financings.
13:51 They also happen to be the most common form of financing for
13:53 Florida school districts.
13:55 So that’s where they come in the picture.
13:59 This has caused a lot of school districts to use COPs in place
14:04 of other forms of financing,
14:07 say sales tax revenue bonds or general obligation bonds, both of
14:10 which would be backed by an additional voter approved tax.
14:14 Whereas COPs are typically paid from local capital outlay taxes
14:22 that are already in place in every district in the state,
14:25 as well as other sources of revenues as applicable to the
14:27 particular district.
14:29 Sue, do you want me to take the page seven?
14:35 So the next slide shows you our calculations relative to the
14:38 cost per student station limitations based on the cost that we
14:43 have today using those estimates.
14:45 So the limitations imposed in the Florida DOE cost per student
14:49 station requirement is $29,950 per student station.
14:54 We have a thousand two student stations planned in the middle
14:56 school that generates about a $30 million limit for our
15:02 construction.
15:04 And so you can see based on our estimates that we are not close.
15:08 And this is not a function of we’re building an extraordinarily
15:10 expensive school.
15:12 This is a function of this is what construction costs are today.
15:15 And so it’s not something that we can value engineer our way out
15:19 of.
15:20 And as Mr. Ford said, other school districts are experiencing
15:23 the exact same thing where this is just not a realistic
15:26 limitation.
15:27 However, that puts us in a position where we have no choice but
15:32 to use certificates of participation other than to just wait
15:37 until we have accumulated sufficient educational impact fees.
15:40 Those are basically the two choices.
15:45 So, John, if you could talk a little bit about the certificates
15:48 of participation and the bank loans.
15:50 Sure.
15:51 Going a little bit deeper into COPs, and Brevard Schools already
15:54 has COPs outstanding, so you may be somewhat familiar with them.
15:58 These are, again, lease purchase instruments.
16:01 You pay for the facility over time and there is no specific
16:03 pledge of a particular revenue, like a sales tax revenue bond.
16:07 Again, these are subject to annual appropriation by the school
16:10 board.
16:11 Every year as part of your budget, the school board will vote to
16:13 appropriate funds to continue making lease payments on your
16:16 existing and any new COPs.
16:19 And it’s done on an all-or-one basis, meaning that the school
16:22 board must appropriate for payments on all of the COPs or on
16:25 none of them.
16:26 They’re all tied together and that gives them considerably
16:29 greater credit strength than if they were singular.
16:32 Again, usually paid from local capital outlay millage.
16:36 They can also be paid from other revenue sources as legal sales
16:40 taxes, impact fees.
16:42 We’ve even seen operating funds used in a couple of transactions
16:45 over the past couple of decades, but that’s very rare.
16:49 COPs can be issued for a term of up to 30 years in the state of
16:52 Florida.
16:53 You cannot go anywhere beyond that.
16:55 And they’re typically issued either via negotiated public
16:58 offering or through a direct loan from a commercial bank, the
17:01 latter of which is what we’re discussing here today.
17:06 This does meet the exception for that third cost per student
17:10 station branch.
17:12 And here I think we’ve been looking for a – that’s about it –
17:20 going to bank loans.
17:23 Bank loans is the method by which you would issue the debt.
17:25 It does not affect the security structure.
17:27 That’s the same.
17:28 So when you go through a public offering, your staff would put
17:31 together a very large prospectus.
17:34 They would go through the rating process.
17:36 They would hire a disclosure counsel.
17:38 They would hire one or more underwriters.
17:40 The underwriters would have their own counsels.
17:42 And the process would take probably 120 days, assuming it moved,
17:47 you know, relatively efficiently.
17:50 A bank loan is a simpler process.
17:52 It would be, I believe, competitively bid.
17:56 Banks from all over the state and elsewhere would be allowed to
17:59 submit terms, conditions, and pricing for making the loan to Brevard
18:03 Schools.
18:04 In addition, banks have widely different views of prepayment
18:08 provisions and what they might be willing to offer.
18:12 So some banks might say you cannot prepay this debt over time.
18:16 Others would say you can prepay it at any time without penalty.
18:19 And there’s obviously a very large spectrum of possibility in
18:22 between those two positions.
18:25 For this debt, we would be looking for and hoping to get a loan
18:28 that allowed for more rapid and less expensive prepayment.
18:33 So that’s a priority for Brevard.
18:35 Bank loans would limit you to a shorter term of financing.
18:39 Probably in the 10 to 12, maybe 15-year category, but we’ve been
18:42 talking shorter here, 5 to 10 years.
18:45 So, prepare to take any questions on COPs or bank loans, if you
18:51 have any.
18:53 Any board member have any questions for Mr. Ford on COPs or bank
18:54 loans?
18:55 Mr. – I’m sorry.
18:56 Go ahead.
18:57 I was going to say, is that – we had this conversation last
19:00 time around, you talked about, you know, borrow as little as
19:04 possible, pay as quickly as possible.
19:05 But when you – as you’re working with other school districts
19:07 around the state, is that – are you seeing those kinds of terms
19:12 that we’ve talked about as our priority in any other districts?
19:15 Yes.
19:16 Okay.
19:17 And it’s fairly consistent from bank to bank.
19:20 Certain banks will propose – there’s one bank that’s always
19:23 going to propose with a very rigid prepayment provision.
19:27 They’re not going to deviate from it.
19:28 There’s others that will give you more flexibility.
19:30 And there’s one that always just says, hey, you can prepay this
19:32 at any time, you know, without penalty.
19:35 It’s just as part of their practice.
19:37 And their internal machinations allow them to do that or prohibit
19:40 them from doing that, whatever the case may be.
19:43 Okay.
19:44 Thank you.
19:45 Mr. Ford, could you speak to the issue of cost per student
19:49 station with regard to the direction that was given at the state
19:53 level for that to be reanalyzed, recalculated?
19:56 Because I think that’s an important point as well.
19:59 There is a section of the law that says that the Department of
20:02 Education will – and I cannot remember the exact verbiage –
20:05 but essentially reassess cost per student station limits as of
20:09 January 1st of 2020, I believe is the date, and revise and republish
20:13 at that time.
20:15 To my knowledge, that has not occurred yet, and that may be why
20:18 it’s unreflective of the cost that we’ve seen over the last
20:21 couple of years.
20:23 Although it’s entirely possible that had they done that by
20:25 January 1st of 2020, it would remain unreflective of the
20:28 somewhat extraordinary circumstances we’ve had since then.
20:31 Super.
20:32 Thank you.
20:33 Anything else from anyone?
20:35 Thank you, Mr. Ford.
20:37 Thank you.
20:38 The next slide just gives you the range of the estimated
20:41 interest rate, the estimated interest cost, the annual debt
20:45 service cost, kind of the framework of the parameters of those
20:49 things that we’re looking to finance under.
20:53 So using – estimating 30 million as kind of just a ballpark
20:57 number if we were to borrow 30 million, looking at about 3.5%
21:02 interest rate, and these are the numbers that show what that
21:07 would generate in terms of interest costs for a 5-year and a 10-year
21:09 loan.
21:10 It doesn’t take into account our ability to prepay and how that
21:13 might affect the interest costs.
21:15 I just wanted to give you a sense of this is kind of the –
21:18 these are the parameters under which we would be considering
21:23 borrowing for the middle school.
21:26 The bottom line is after we’ve worked with our finance
21:28 department and worked with Mr. Ford’s office, we are
21:31 recommending that we go forward with the bank loan with the prepayment
21:34 options.
21:35 So as we’re proceeding with that, we would be developing a
21:38 request for qualifications, request for proposals that reflects
21:43 those parameters.
21:45 So in summary, I think there’s two options for the middle school.
21:50 The same two options that we looked at back in March, and those
21:53 are the short-term financing option and opening the middle
21:56 school in August of 2024.
21:59 And then the pay-as-you-go option that would move it out to at
22:02 least August of 2025, if not August of 2026.
22:06 And there’s risks on both sides of those options.
22:11 With pay-as-you-go, we certainly have the risk of construction
22:14 cost escalation.
22:15 You have the benefit of no interest cost, but potentially we
22:18 would lose student enrollment under that option.
22:21 So we’re still recommending that we proceed and use the short-term
22:25 financing method to get us under construction with middle school
22:29 starting in December with the early works GMP.
22:36 The timing of the project for opening in August of 2024, this is
22:41 more or less a compilation of what I believe to be the board
22:45 actions will be surrounding the middle school over the next
22:48 several months.
22:49 So in December, we will have the early works GMP, and then we
22:52 will need, in order to approve that early works GMP, a firm
22:57 commitment on the financing.
22:58 I’m absolutely not comfortable going forward with the investment
23:01 in early works without having the commitment to contract for the
23:05 remainder of the project.
23:07 So that’s the time during which we will need to make a definite
23:10 decision on the financing.
23:13 In talking with Mr. Ford, there’s a number of different vehicles
23:16 to do that.
23:17 So we’ll be looking at the best way to bring that structure to
23:21 the board and get the board’s consideration of the financing
23:26 approval in December.
23:28 In January, I would anticipate coming to the board in workshop
23:32 session to talk about the attendance boundary changes that would
23:36 go with the new middle school.
23:38 We’re going to need to start thinking about that.
23:40 In facilities planning, we’ve done a fair amount of work looking
23:43 at that already.
23:45 But until we are ready to go, we really don’t want to get too
23:48 far into that discussion.
23:51 So I would anticipate early in the year we’ll start talking
23:53 about the middle school boundaries.
23:56 In February, we would anticipate, again, final approval of the
24:00 financing if we need that for whatever structure we’ve chosen.
24:04 And then start the information agenda process for the attendance
24:07 boundary changes.
24:09 In March, we would be approving the construction contract and
24:12 scheduling the public hearing around the attendance boundary
24:15 changes.
24:16 And then in April, approving the boundary changes.
24:19 So the other thing that this does is gives the public an
24:22 opportunity to participate in the boundary change process in a
24:26 time period that is not during the holidays.
24:29 Our typical process, just by virtue of the fact that we have to
24:32 have it done, is through the fall.
24:35 And for something that is this complicated, I think we’re much
24:38 better off to have that timeframe in the spring where the public
24:41 can really engage.
24:43 And we’re not worried about who’s out of town for Thanksgiving
24:45 and other holidays.
24:47 So I think that works better from that perspective as well.
24:50 And then if you’d like, we can take any questions on the middle
24:55 school, and then I just want to run through the boundary changes
24:59 real quickly proposed for this coming school year.
25:02 Mr. Susan.
25:03 Thank you, Madam Chair.
25:05 If I could, I know this is kind of shift gears, but I wanted to
25:09 go through, there’s some things that we’re not talking about
25:11 here that are pertinent to the reason for exploring finance.
25:18 And I may ask Jonathan to come up because we’ve spoken about
25:20 this along with a lot of the other construction contractors.
25:24 But currently right now, just so you guys know, construction
25:28 costs this year alone are inwards of 10% to 14% inflated, right?
25:33 They’re going to inflate the prices by 10% to 14%, which if we
25:36 did not make the decision to do the financing, would increase
25:40 this between $5 and $7 million just to build next year.
25:44 Does that make sense to you?
25:45 Mm-hmm.
25:46 Which far exceeds the interest that would be on top of this loan.
25:50 The other thing that is on top of this is we are sending 10
25:54 buses over the causeways to fill Delora Middle School’s for the
25:59 attendance at Delora Middle School.
26:01 When Arby and I did the numbers back in the day, that was the
26:03 transportation director, the amount of revenue that it cost to
26:06 run those 10 buses, because they’re starting in one place,
26:10 driving back, picking up, and driving back over the top,
26:13 was inwards of close to a half million dollars in fuel and
26:15 everything else throughout the year.
26:18 The diesel fuel alone this year has inflated by 44%.
26:23 And that’s right now.
26:24 That’s not like what it did a couple weeks ago and then started
26:26 coming down a little bit.
26:28 So if you’re starting to put the cost factors of one year’s
26:31 worth of waiting versus the amount that it would cost to offset
26:35 going out to revenue, it far exceeds it.
26:38 And the other opportunity is, I mean, like, aluminum shapes,
26:41 which makes up a lot of the strapping inside of a lot of the
26:43 concrete and stuff like that, that’s up 18%.
26:48 Copper’s up 16%.
26:49 So you’re seeing inflated numbers coming across.
26:52 And then I wanted to speak to, is there anything that I need to
26:55 add to that?
26:56 Did I do a good job?
26:58 Okay.
26:59 Anything I’m saying is kind of weird.
27:01 But then I also pulled up ABC Associated Builders and Contractors.
27:05 And they have, like, red hot alerts right now that are going out
27:09 every month talking about the increase of construction costs on
27:12 inflation right now and what that’s doing to the industry.
27:16 One of the good things is, is that when I spoke to the realtors
27:19 and some of the other groups that are involved in new
27:21 construction, whether that’s, you know, locally in the
27:26 commercial market or residential, there’s no indicator that Brevard
27:30 will slow down, meaning that our impact fee money will continue
27:32 to come in.
27:33 So there’s the fear of us not bringing in impact money.
27:37 That’s not even on the horizon for anything.
27:40 The cost of construction, along with the cost of running those
27:44 buses, is becoming extremely costly.
27:47 Plus, the last piece, which I wanted to say, is that the amount
27:50 of manpower that we could save, because we’re getting a
27:54 presentation later on on bus routes and how many we’ve been able
27:57 to consolidate and all that stuff,
27:59 being able to reduce our fleet by 10 bus runs over causeway frees
28:02 up significantly.
28:04 Not only 10 bus rides, but we all know that we’ve got buses
28:06 right now going, then coming back and going.
28:10 If you look at the length of that bus ride, that’s like three
28:12 bus rides for somebody that’s within a normal school zone.
28:15 So it’s a very positive thing in other ways.
28:17 Sometimes we don’t get into the numbers.
28:19 So did I miss anything there?
28:21 And then there’s the fact that, which is great, is we’ll be
28:24 competing with charters and we’ll be bringing in more revenue
28:27 because we’ll have more FTEs attending.
28:30 So it’s good all the way around.
28:32 So if anybody wants to make an argument against bringing in
28:34 money versus how much revenue it will produce, there you have it.
28:39 Thank you, Sue.
28:40 Just to follow up on that, I know you guys were being
28:43 conservative with the impact fees at estimating the 4 million,
28:47 but I mean, it’s been pretty, pretty high over the last.
28:51 And I know we don’t, you don’t necessarily designate the total,
28:55 all of the impact fees towards one project, because we are still
28:58 stashing things away for the South End Elementary School.
29:01 We’ve needed to be, you know, we will have paid off the Viera
29:04 addition at that time.
29:06 But what typically are we actually stashing away for this?
29:11 Have we been over the last several quarters for this particular
29:15 project?
29:16 It’s been running between three and a half and five.
29:19 The last quarter was at six, but that was because we had reallocated
29:22 some money that fell to the bottom line on a previous project.
29:26 And similar things could happen, if we can get out of the Viera
29:29 addition for less than $10 million, anything that’s left from
29:33 that could be put towards the payment on the debt or just
29:36 towards the cash flow of it, correct?
29:39 Yes, Sam.
29:40 No, I’m in agreement with you, Mr. Sousa, and I think this is
29:43 the time not knowing what the future is going to hold.
29:46 You know, honestly, could we get it done in six months?
29:49 You know, can’t do that because then we could have some of those
29:52 savings and that impact sooner.
29:54 But I think, you know, as much as I don’t like the idea of us
29:57 taking on any debt, any more debt, taking on this type of debt
30:02 that we know we’ve got the income coming in regularly, we know
30:06 we can pay it off.
30:07 We’re going to try to contract it, be able to pay it off early.
30:10 This isn’t one of the debts that we see that we’ve had in the
30:14 past.
30:15 Right, this isn’t going out and taking on, which we had spoken
30:19 about previously about what occurred earlier before any of ours,
30:24 is that they went out and just decided to go out to take bonds
30:26 out and everything else for extensions of 30, 40 years in
30:29 massive amounts.
30:31 This is, and I’ve had a conversation with Sue about this, this
30:33 is something that we can pay off earlier and get it done and
30:36 actually come out ahead in revenue and savings rather than that.
30:40 And we’ve done that in previous where we’ve re-signed all of our,
30:44 because of different interest rates and stuff like that with our
30:46 bonds recently over the last couple of years to get better
30:48 leverage as far as that goes.
30:50 So, thank you.
30:51 Anything else on middle school before we move to boundary?
30:57 And Ms. Hand, do you need anything from the board today on this?
31:02 No, ma’am.
31:03 I think our recommendation and our intent is to just continue
31:05 carrying on and we’ll bring additional information and actions
31:09 back to the board in December.
31:11 Madam Chair, if I may, I’d just like to ask for clarification,
31:14 because a lot of work has to happen moving forward in
31:17 preparation for December.
31:18 Is there board consensus to follow for us to continue with my
31:21 recommendation to continue to pursue opening 24 and school year
31:26 August of 24 with the understanding that we would have to
31:31 finance some of that construction or the parameters that Sue has
31:34 presented?
31:35 Just want to get complete board consensus.
31:38 Absolutely.
31:39 Thank you.
31:41 So, the attendance boundary portion of the presentation is very
31:45 light.
31:46 I just wanted to remind everyone that we did adopt attendance
31:50 boundary changes for school year 23-24 back in January.
31:55 So, we gave folks two years notice and those are boundary
31:58 changes Apollo to Imperial, Heritage to Bayside, and Delora and
32:01 Sunlight to Cocoa Beach.
32:03 So, those have already been done and we implemented the
32:07 processes that were approved as part of that action back in
32:11 January.
32:13 For this year’s cycle, we basically have two cleanup changes
32:17 proposed in the Vieira area and those are, one is O’Galley to
32:21 Vieira High School and this affects six lots in the southern tip
32:25 of Pangaea.
32:28 In fact, back when we drew boundaries, back when we drew
32:29 boundaries, there was nothing there.
32:31 So, there were kind of straight lines and now they’re going
32:32 through potential, you know, living rooms.
32:35 So, we didn’t want to create the situation where, you know,
32:38 somebody who’s in bedroom A has got to go to Vieira and bedroom
32:41 B goes to O’Galley.
32:43 So, we’re proposing to move the southern tip of that subdivision
32:49 into Vieira High School.
32:53 There will likely be other boundary changes coming up in the
32:55 future, but we will look at those in the context of the middle
32:59 school boundary changes.
33:01 And then the second one affects no students.
33:04 These are just, again, clean up lines to avoid going through the
33:08 middle of subdivisions.
33:10 Both of the subdivisions affected are 55 and older, so there’s
33:13 no students.
33:14 It just wants, we just want to make it a cleaner line.
33:17 So, as we go forward doing middle school boundaries, this line
33:20 makes some sense.
33:21 So, those are the two that we will be putting forward through
33:24 the entire process.
33:26 So, you’ll see those again on the information agenda and then
33:28 scheduling the public hearing in December and the action in
33:31 January.
33:32 And I believe that’s all.
33:34 Thank you, Ms. Han.
33:35 Anyone have anything else?
33:36 All right.
33:37 Thank you so much.
33:38 Thank you very much.
33:39 The last topic for our workshop today is a millage update that
33:43 will be presented by Dr. Mullins.
33:47 Thank you, Mr. Ford.
33:48 Yes.
33:49 Thank you, Mr. Ford.
33:50 You’re welcome to stay.
33:55 Thank you so much.
34:00 You didn’t have to get up so eagerly, Mr. Ford.
34:05 You could have like, you know.
34:10 Well, good afternoon.
34:12 I appreciate the opportunity just to provide the board and our
34:14 community an update on the progress
34:16 toward the steps forward in the anticipated millage ballot item
34:22 presented to our community on November 8th.
34:26 I want to start by really highlighting and celebrating the
34:30 amazing men and women across our organization that are really
34:34 ultimately responsible for the greatness we’ve been able to
34:38 achieve as a district.
34:40 The opportunities we’ve been able to provide our students, the
34:43 continued graduation rate growth we’ve seen across our schools
34:47 and across all of our subgroups.
34:50 The sustainable acceleration opportunities we’ve provided our
34:55 students graduating well over 80% of our high school seniors
34:59 every year with advanced credentials in addition to their high
35:02 school diploma.
35:04 So, but the reality is, is behind that success are people who
35:09 are elevating and raising up our kids to have the opportunities,
35:14 one, but not just have the opportunity, but to achieve within
35:18 that opportunity.
35:20 And this gives us a really nice glimpse of the men and women
35:23 across our organization.
35:25 It takes all of us working together and coming together to
35:27 support our kids and make that happen.
35:30 And I would highlight that Brevard Public Schools continues to
35:34 have one of the highest, most experienced teaching staff in the
35:39 state.
35:40 And I would offer and state confidently that that experience
35:46 yields greatness.
35:49 And we’re very pleased, proud, and blessed to have experienced,
35:54 talented master educators working in front of our students.
36:00 This gives you kind of a personal face and glimpse of some of
36:04 our celebrated heroes, some of our celebrated educators in Brevard.
36:10 We’re going to bring a couple of them to our board meeting this
36:12 evening and celebrate them formally in public.
36:15 Our amazing principal, Blair Lovelace, who took her, I’m going
36:20 to steal some of the show tonight, but that’s all right.
36:22 We can’t celebrate it enough.
36:24 So proud of Blair and her team at Coquina Elementary School.
36:28 When she became the principal there a few years ago, they had,
36:31 they had earned a D as a school.
36:33 And even through COVID rose above the challenges and earned a B
36:37 last year as a school.
36:39 So very proud of her and very excited to submit her as a
36:41 candidate to the state as principal of the year.
36:45 I’m going to speak it into existence.
36:48 I suspect she will be a candidate as a state of Florida
36:52 principal leader finalist when the state gets done evaluating
36:57 because she has done a tremendous job.
36:59 But also our teacher of the year last year, Alex Wicker, if you
37:02 want to go see some amazing science instruction with seventh
37:05 graders.
37:06 She left as a forest ranger teaching random folks about the
37:13 wonderful parks and forest preserves we have to investing in
37:19 seventh graders to learn science.
37:22 And she’s just a dynamic educator.
37:24 And we certainly celebrate Deputy, or excuse me, Officer
37:28 Jennifer Imperato at Ocean Breeze.
37:32 Seldom a kid gets into school every morning without her greeting
37:35 and connecting with them.
37:37 And the relationship she has with our kids across Ocean Breeze
37:40 is just amazing.
37:42 And also Kelly Gergen will celebrate her this evening as
37:45 Assistant Principal of the Year.
37:48 She received that award shortly before she was selected to
37:53 become the leader of our Gardendale Day School for our students
37:58 with most severe disabilities.
38:00 And is just doing an admirable job of loving on serving and
38:03 raising up our students at Gardendale.
38:07 So ultimately, as we’ve faced, or we’ve realized that it’s the
38:14 people that help our kids that we need to keep in mind every day.
38:21 That led me to ultimately the recommendation now a few months
38:24 ago to put before our community an ad valorem tax for the
38:30 compensation challenges that we face.
38:33 You know, an amazing – we’ve been fortunate.
38:36 Our state leaders, our governor, initiated increasing our
38:40 beginning teacher salary wage three years ago.
38:44 And has helped fund that along the way.
38:47 And we’ve made incredible strides in raising the beginning
38:50 teacher salary for our teachers.
38:53 You can see here that this year, tonight, the school board will
38:57 be approving the compensation schedule for our teachers.
39:02 And our new beginning teacher salary would be $48,725 for this
39:10 school year.
39:12 But the challenge that that has brought to us is there has not
39:16 been funding to tackle the realities of wage compression.
39:22 In other words, our teachers who are above beginning teacher
39:26 salary are – that beginning teacher salary is bumping up
39:30 against their salary.
39:33 And when I talk about the what, the what, the why, the how’s –
39:35 is we have master teachers, 15-year teachers who are serving in
39:40 one classroom in our school right next door to a brand new
39:42 teacher.
39:45 Doing that 15-year experience, teachers doing a great job of
39:48 establishing routines and systems within the classroom and
39:52 really embarking on rich ELA and math and science and history
39:55 learning within the classroom.
39:57 And our – as to be expected, our beginning teacher is
40:00 struggling and likely leaning on that experienced teacher right
40:04 next door.
40:05 But what only separates them in salary at this point is several
40:08 hundred dollars.
40:10 And we’ve attempted to tackle that as a district, but we can’t
40:14 keep up with the rate that has occurred and that legislation
40:18 kind of challenges along the way.
40:20 And then also impacting or making wage compression a reality is
40:25 the minimum wage increase to $15.
40:29 We know that in 2020, the voters of Florida approved raising our
40:34 minimum wage as a state to $15 an hour over time by 2026.
40:39 But our legislature this last session accelerated that for
40:42 government and public school systems.
40:45 So we were required, mandated to go to –
40:47 the $15 an hour minimum wage by October 1st and their
40:51 legislature provided an
40:52 increase in the BSA or boot based student allocation to be able
40:57 to build
40:57 that into our budget but again the revenue wasn’t there to
41:01 tackle everyone
41:02 above $15 an hour and so now we have employee groups that are
41:08 were delineated
41:12 by pay based on responsibility and supervisory duties that are
41:16 now at the
41:17 same at the same exact hourly pay rate and to be able to address
41:21 and tackle
41:22 that requires significant additional revenue the board’s aware
41:27 that we
41:28 conducted a study of wage compression through a third party Carr
41:33 Riggs and
41:33 Ingram and as they studied that across the district it became
41:37 evident very
41:38 quickly that we were not facing a millions of dollars of a
41:42 process to
41:43 correct wage compression it was a tens of millions of dollars
41:46 of of an impact for for salaries to be able to do that
41:52 this slide depicts where our average teacher pay is for Florida
42:00 and where it
42:00 ranks across the nation we have had significant improvements in
42:04 our
42:04 beginning teacher salary when compared against other states
42:08 across the United
42:10 States but our average teacher pay has moved very little because
42:13 it’s all been
42:14 increased from the bottom and the top has not increased and so
42:20 as we gave
42:21 consideration to the this this recommendation several months ago
42:27 now it first came through the lens of our strategic plan
42:31 alignment priorities and bringing forward what we want for our
42:36 students what we want for our staff what we want for our
42:40 community and the return on investment for
42:43 for their public schools and if you dive in and look closely at
42:48 the strategic plans particularly goal one academic excellence I
42:48 would draw remind the board and draw our community’s attention
42:48 to objective to a or excuse me a to to ensure every student is
42:48 taught by certified skilled teachers who hold high expectations
42:48 for all learners and it takes time to become skilled and an
42:48 expert in the craft who are able to consistently
42:48 hold our kids to high expectations for all the kids to high
42:51 expectations and that’s why we’ve been able to excel as a
42:53 district and we want to be able to
42:55 and we want to be able to retain those master teachers that i
43:04 have already mentioned second goal two to exceptional kids to
43:05 high expectations and that’s why we’ve been able to excel as a
43:06 district and we want to be able to retain those master teachers
43:10 that i have already mentioned
43:13 second goal two to exceptional workforce our objective e3 to
43:16 retain a diverse pool of candidates for all classification of
43:19 positions within brevard public schools and objective e4 develop
43:19 and provide long-term compensation and benefit package benefit
43:19 excuse me benefits package and benefits for all employees and we
43:19 want to be able to retain those master teachers and we want to
43:19 be able to retain those master teachers that i have already
43:19 mentioned
43:19 that i have already mentioned second goal two to exceptional
43:25 workforce our objective e3 to retain a diverse pool of
43:29 candidates for all classification of positions within brevard
43:32 public schools and objective e4 develop and provide long-term
43:36 compensation and benefit packet benefit excuse me benefits
43:41 package and benefits for all employees
43:43 we know that in today’s workforce market retention is the first
43:48 strategy to um recruitment and or the best strategy to
43:55 recruitment and to retain our employees in this ever increasing
43:58 competitive workforce market uh it has become evident that we
44:03 have got to be more competitive with the compensation
44:06 particularly of our most expertise and experienced employees
44:11 just to emphasize as you know brevard public schools has one of
44:14 the most experienced teacher workforces in florida who
44:17 consistently provide high quality learning opportunities for our
44:21 kids
44:21 however the national regional and local labor shortages are
44:25 affecting our ability to serve students as critical
44:28 instructional and operational positions remain unfilled
44:31 funding is needed to increase teacher and staff compensation to
44:35 continue to recruit but also retain a high qualified workforce
44:39 which ultimately benefits our kids
44:41 and continues to continue to give our community a great return
44:45 on investment
44:47 so just to highlight the process uh back uh the school board
44:52 approved the resolution on april 26th to put before our
44:57 community uh a ballot item for raising a one mil uh property tax
45:03 for the operating budget to be dedicated to compensation
45:07 benefits student uh achievement program
45:09 uh achievement program enrichment as well as some classroom
45:13 technology enhancements
45:15 that uh resolution had to go through the county commission as a
45:19 validation that we had met all of the statutory requirements uh
45:23 that are part of bringing forth a ad valorem millage ballot item
45:29 and that was approved on may 19th and has moved forward to the
45:33 supervisor of elections
45:35 just for clarification initial revenue is not expected until
45:39 november december of 2023
45:41 so if on november 8th the voters do approve the ad valorem uh
45:46 millage
45:47 it would not go into effect until the next tax rule which would
45:52 be november of 2023
45:53 included in the resolution before the board as a reminder to our
45:58 community
45:59 our commitment to a citizens oversight committee uh which i will
46:03 talk about a little bit more in a few minutes
46:05 but also acknowledging that charter schools qualify for their
46:10 proportional allocation of this millage if it is passed by our
46:16 community
46:17 we presented previously and we’ll get into uh quite a bit more
46:21 detail here in a moment but just the big picture what does the
46:25 allocation of the millage revenue look like
46:27 the anticipated revenue to brevard public schools is projected
46:32 to be 54 million dollars after the charter school allocation
46:37 and the breakdown of the distribution is as follows as you can
46:41 see 80 percent is devoted and dedicated to compensation and or
46:45 benefits for teachers and all employee groups
46:47 you can see that that’s approximately 43 million dollars
46:51 that is an exclusive of school board superintendent and general
46:56 counsel just to provide clarification
46:58 all employee groups do not include board superintendent or
47:02 general counsel
47:04 student program development access expansion and or support
47:08 support uh makes up 16 percent of the allocation
47:12 or approximately 8.6 million dollars i’ll show a little bit more
47:17 closely what that breakdown looks like
47:18 and technology at about 2.1 million dollars for the advancement
47:24 of our classroom of the future initiative
47:26 right now that’s very slow slow going and we wanted to
47:31 prioritize the experiences that our students receive in the
47:35 classroom
47:35 but also it is a recruitment and a retention tool for our
47:39 teachers in the classroom as well
47:40 as we’re able to provide them state-of-the-art technology to
47:44 enhance the instructional delivery for their students
47:48 so here you see the plan or the allocation of brevard public
47:53 schools millage revenue
47:55 again the largest bucket being compensation and benefits at 80
47:59 percent of the overall allocation
48:01 35.9 million dollars would be specifically dedicated to
48:06 compensation and benefits for budgeted salary positions
48:09 that would be broken down further by percentage of the employee
48:15 groups that make up the budgeted salaries for the district
48:19 by that i mean we have three employee groups that’s our teacher
48:23 employee group
48:23 our hourly or our certified employee group and then the non-bargaining
48:28 predominantly administrative employee group
48:31 the 35.9 million dollars would be distributed proportionally to
48:35 those employee groups based on the percent of salary
48:38 that that group makes up in our current budget for the district
48:43 then you can see we also have 10.5 percent of that bucket set
48:50 aside for supplements
48:52 so what are supplements those are extra duty assignments that
48:56 teachers or other staff or community members take on
49:00 throughout our schools and across the district things like
49:04 department chair
49:05 social media manager football coach basketball coach volleyball
49:14 coach
49:15 certain clubs and club sponsors receive supplements for those
49:22 extra assignments as well
49:24 through our study and evaluation of our supplement schedule
49:27 it is very clear that we are well below the market value or the
49:32 market compensation for those physicians
49:34 and this would allow us to make a significant improvement in our
49:38 supplement compensation for those duties
49:42 personal story when i was a high school varsity soccer coach
49:47 i could have made a much better hourly wage at the time i spent
49:54 with my athletes
49:56 which was an invaluable experience i wouldn’t have traded it for
49:59 anything
49:59 but i would have made would have made more money doing any other
50:03 minimum wage job in the community
50:05 and i know all of our coaches commit a tremendous amount of
50:10 their extra personal time
50:11 and we want to do everything we can to compensate them as well
50:14 and then also recognizing the challenges we have with
50:18 recruitment and retention
50:20 we have set aside approximately 2.8 million dollars for specific
50:26 employment incentives for recruitment and retention
50:28 then moving into student programs that 16 percent bucket
50:33 approximately 5.2 million dollars is dedicated to programs such
50:38 as CTE performing arts
50:40 these would be additional dollars for those programs to further
50:49 them and enrich them on behalf of our students
50:52 as well as school-based additional staffing opportunities
50:57 looking at early childhood as well as student support services
51:02 and evaluating what our needs are for our keep for our schools
51:06 uh when we’re present or hope
51:08 hopefully when we are presented with the revenue to be able to
51:12 do this for our schools and our kids
51:14 and then again you can see the 100 100 of the technology bucket
51:18 is for the classrooms of the future initiative
51:22 um and we’ll post on our website more specifically what the
51:26 classrooms of the future initiative looks like
51:28 uh russell cheatham and his team have done a great job of
51:32 remaining current in practice instructional practice
51:34 out there in the world of the ever-changing world of technology
51:38 and have really put together a great great plan for uh phasing
51:44 in our classrooms of the future initiative
51:46 the problem is is right now it’s on a many-year implementation
51:50 schedule this would uh significantly accelerate that
51:54 implementation
51:55 with the allocation of a little over two million dollars a year
52:00 for at least the next four years
52:02 i want to spend a few minutes talking about a citizens financial
52:05 oversight committee this is not a new uh concept for brevard
52:09 public schools
52:10 we committed to an independent citizens oversight committee when
52:14 the community uh favorably uh approved the sales surtax
52:18 initiative
52:19 and that uh current structure has been in place now for about
52:23 eight years uh and has been very successful
52:25 we um we have consistently received positive audit outcomes from
52:32 these audits twice a year of the sales surtax initiative
52:35 that audit is done independent of brevard public schools it’s
52:39 presented to the independent citizens oversight committee
52:41 and then ultimately presented to the audit committee uh that the
52:46 board has a rep has representation on
52:49 and we we love to see green checks from the audits and on every
52:54 uh semi-annual audit for sales surtax there’s the potential of
52:58 three green checks
52:59 and we have consistently over the last eight years received
53:03 those three green checks uh through every audit
53:07 and according to that the icoc provides the board an annual
53:11 update on their experience and validation of expenditures for
53:16 committed uh priorities
53:17 or what has been presented and committed to the community as
53:21 well as the board and every year the icoc committee has come to
53:25 the board and given a very favorable report uh to the management
53:30 the oversight and the expenditures as part of the sales surtax
53:32 initiative
53:33 i take the time to say that because one we’re we’re not
53:38 strangers to this level of accountability
53:41 and we welcome it and we actually we absolutely will make it a
53:45 part of this initiative if our community commits to this with us
53:49 and the citizens oversight committee which will be separate a
53:53 separate entity for strictly the millage initiative will have
53:58 the same reporting structure
53:59 the mission will be will be to provide oversight to ensure
54:03 proper fiscal stewardship of operating funds provided by the one
54:07 mill increase in the operating at valora millage
54:09 membership will be similar to that of the sale surtax icoc
54:15 comprised of no less than seven and no more than eleven members
54:17 meetings will be held at least quarterly or more frequent as
54:21 needed or called by the chair of the oversight committee and
54:23 their areas of responsibility to provide the oversight of the
54:27 oversight committee and the
54:27 review expenditure reports produced by the district ensure that
54:34 100 of the proceeds are expended only for the purposes set forth
54:38 in the ballot make reports to the board and superintendent which
54:41 include but not limited to a statement indicating whether the
54:45 district is in compliance with the requirements of the ballot
54:47 receive and review copies of a district audit
54:49 regarding the proceeds related to that ballot you know one of
54:53 the common questions i have asked when i’m out in the community
54:56 about these funds is if the community approves the millage
54:59 do the dollars assessed in brevard stay in brevard and the
55:05 answer is a resounding yes
55:09 the reason that that is a funny question to ask you would assume
55:14 but we presented before that the millage that is assessed in brevard
55:21 county towards the florida education finance plan or program
55:25 that actually goes to the state and the state puts that in a
55:31 large bucket for statewide public school funding and brevard
55:34 actually receives back just a little less than the every dollar
55:39 we send up for brevard public schools in the case of the millage
55:43 every dollar assessed here stays here and would go into this
55:46 initiative
55:47 so i want to take a few minutes to talk through what is a mill
55:53 and what would the average family expect to realize with a mill
56:00 increase a one mill essentially is one dollar for every thousand
56:07 dollars of home taxable value
56:09 so uh for every hundred thousand dollars of taxable value and i’ll
56:16 talk a little bit more about the difference between taxable
56:19 value and market value is approximately a hundred dollars
56:23 the the medium taxable value of a home of a single family home
56:29 in brevard county is 153 thousand dollars 153 thousand dollars
56:35 approximately
56:35 that was just recently reassessed based on the tax appraisers
56:43 website and their database of taxable value so that is a very
56:49 current number for brevard county based on the most updated
56:53 database from the county
56:53 that would translate uh to that uh home value of 153 dollars and
57:02 10 cents per year approximately 42 cents a day and what i i
57:06 mentioned a moment ago the difference between taxable value and
57:11 market value
57:12 if you look at your property tax roll or assessment you received
57:17 probably within the last month or so
57:19 you look halfway down that tax roll you’ll see assessed taxable
57:25 value and right next to it another box that says current market
57:29 value
57:29 and at least on my tax notice my market value is significantly
57:34 higher than my taxable value
57:36 and i remind uh our community that the reason for that is the
57:41 florida save our homes legislation
57:44 where taxable value can only increase a maximum of three percent
57:49 if market value has increased at a greater rate
57:52 and we certainly know that across our community in florida
57:55 likely across the country that property values have gone up
58:00 quite a bit significantly over the last year or even the last
58:05 five years
58:05 but the taxable value of the taxable value of the home has not
58:09 risen at anywhere near that same rate um as you’ve stayed in
58:14 your home
58:15 the board and uh the community has seen this slide before it was
58:19 part of our uh budget presentation over the last several weeks
58:23 but it does a nice job of depicting what has been the historical
58:27 reality of our millage rates in brevard or in the state of florida
58:33 for the last 12 years
58:33 and you can see that there was a high watermark um school
58:37 district millage assessment back in 2012 of 8.1 mills
58:43 and has decreased since then to now 5.495 mills for this current
58:49 tax roll
58:49 that’s a cumulative millage 1.5 of that is for the capital outlay
58:55 or the capital budget of the district
58:57 and i know at least some board members remember that uh the
59:01 capital millage several years ago not long before 2011
59:05 was actually two mills but it was reduced by the legislature
59:09 down to 1.5 mills and it has remained there for at least the
59:12 last 12 years
59:13 here you have a depiction or a graphic if you will representing
59:23 the school districts across excuse me counties across the state
59:26 that have passed a millage similar to the one proposed to our
59:31 voters uh in november
59:34 and you can see that several uh at least a few surrounding
59:38 counties to brevard have taken uh have utilized this revenue
59:43 source for their school districts
59:44 and done some of the very same initiatives that i’ve already
59:48 proposed to the district or to the school board
59:54 just for clarification a reminder the millage would last for
59:58 four years unless extended by the voters for so for every four
1:00:02 so every four years this initiative would have to go before the
1:00:06 voters uh for it to continue
1:00:11 i’ll close just by putting up the ballot language that will be
1:00:15 on the november 8th ballot um
1:00:19 you can give the board a chance just to review it i know you’ve
1:00:23 seen it before but also for our community
1:00:25 it will be titled the ad valora millage to increase teacher pay
1:00:30 and other purposes
1:00:31 the description includes for increasing teacher and staff pay
1:00:35 funding for technical training for students and other similar
1:00:37 purposes
1:00:37 so the school district of brevard county authorized a one mill
1:00:41 ad valora millage
1:00:41 for four years to ensure student achievement recruit and retain
1:00:46 teachers and staff with competitive salaries
1:00:47 and distribute funds a statute requires to charter schools based
1:00:52 on their proportionate share of district enrollment
1:00:53 with all expenditures to be reviewed by an independent citizen’s
1:00:58 oversight committee
1:00:59 with that i uh welcome any questions for clarification or
1:01:05 discussion from the board at this time
1:01:07 ultimately requesting uh board consensus of the allocation and
1:01:13 distribution of the buckets and how they would be utilized for
1:01:17 the millage
1:01:17 as we continue to walk this out and move forward i would uh
1:01:21 acknowledge that the funds that would be distributed to employee
1:01:26 groups with a collective bargaining unit
1:01:27 those distribute the ultimate the final distribution of dollars
1:01:31 to employees would have to be mutually agreed upon tentatively
1:01:35 agreed between other collective bargaining units
1:01:35 and the school board ultimately coming to the school board for
1:01:40 final approval
1:01:41 um also we are this week launching our district’s website to
1:01:48 provide our community uh additional information of everything i
1:01:51 have shared here as well as uh other information
1:01:55 includes a faq frequently asked questions uh it’ll include an
1:01:59 email so our community can send an email requesting uh any
1:02:03 clarification
1:02:03 uh any additional information uh that might be helpful to them
1:02:07 we want our community uh every resident every citizen in brevard
1:02:13 to
1:02:13 uh be fully informed of the proposal that we’re bringing before
1:02:17 them and want them to feel assured in
1:02:19 the moment of making that decision when they go to the ballot
1:02:23 box on november 8th
1:02:24 madam chair i turn it over to the board
1:02:27 board members have comments or questions ms jenkins
1:02:33 uh thank you dr mullins um i appreciate you addressing the psia
1:02:41 so the teacher salary increase allocation and it’s
1:02:43 wonderful that we increase that starting teacher salary like you
1:02:45 said but we still remain as a state 48th in
1:02:49 the nation for average teacher salary so we have only two states
1:02:53 that reward experience and professionalism of
1:02:55 educators less than the state of florida and the entire nation
1:02:57 and it puts this challenge and burden on districts and their
1:03:04 communities that they serve to fix and address that issue
1:03:07 themselves
1:03:07 and i appreciate you bringing up the fact that the taxes that we
1:03:11 pay here get sent back up to the
1:03:13 state and reallocated back to us a little bit less than we put
1:03:17 in um and i appreciate you saying that
1:03:19 this if it is approved would stay here in brevard but i just
1:03:22 want to double down on something those taxes
1:03:25 that go up to the state they don’t just come back to us they
1:03:28 come back to us with handcuffs and restrictions on
1:03:29 how we can spend that money um and just a few quick examples
1:03:33 that are kind of easy for for layman terms
1:03:35 for that teacher salary increase allocation you know for every
1:03:38 dollar we give an experienced veteran teacher we have to
1:03:41 give 75 cents to a new teacher so just further exacerbating that
1:03:46 wage compression
1:03:47 and in addition to that teacher salary increase allocation any
1:03:50 funds that the district wants to spend
1:03:51 wants to spend wants to spend on um raises for their staff and
1:03:56 their teachers we have to provide 25 percent more
1:03:59 to a teacher who is not on a grandfathered or a more experienced
1:04:03 teachers um contract
1:04:05 and so it makes it really difficult for us to even try and
1:04:09 tackle those issues even if we had the money here to do it
1:04:12 so i just think it’s something that’s really important for our
1:04:15 public to be aware of
1:04:16 thank you you’re you are correct thank you ms jenkins ms campbell
1:04:22 thank you so when um thank you for giving all this information
1:04:28 thank you for especially explaining walking
1:04:30 through the millage and what that looks like so on the there was
1:04:33 a slide that says the plan that has the
1:04:36 paragraphs under student programs the 40 percent for school-based
1:04:40 additional staffing early childhood
1:04:42 student support services i know we’re just not all of that is
1:04:45 completely fleshed out
1:04:46 but we had talked at one time about adding potentially some
1:04:49 additional instructional assistance in the
1:04:52 early childhood range is that the part of the bucket that would
1:04:57 go towards that yes it would
1:05:00 and you know just to acknowledge the the the plan reveals
1:05:03 exactly where the buckets are the the revenue would have to be
1:05:06 expended
1:05:06 i’m not bringing before the board yet a recommendation of the
1:05:11 finite details of each of those smaller buckets because one we
1:05:15 don’t know that we have the revenue to
1:05:16 right to utilize and two it’d be a little presumptuous to know
1:05:22 that our greatest need come next school year is the same as it
1:05:28 would it be today
1:05:28 so i anticipate if uh the the millage passes on november 8th we
1:05:34 will begin developing and doing needs assessment across the
1:05:38 district within these established parameters of where the
1:05:41 greatest needs are and bringing those priorities to the board in
1:05:44 the spring
1:05:44 in preparation for next school year but we have to be aware that
1:05:50 the revenue received for this initiative at the earliest would
1:05:55 be november of 2023 so to make august commitments particularly
1:06:03 for additional staffing we’ll have to weigh out can we manage
1:06:07 that expenditure before we have the revenue directly so we’re
1:06:12 actually working through that now and we’re optimizing that
1:06:13 expenditure before we have the revenue directly so we’re
1:06:13 actually working through that now and we’re optimizing that
1:06:14 that we’ll be able to meet those um timelines that cash flow if
1:06:20 you will but those are things that are a bit premature to
1:06:22 you know finite out right now not knowing exactly what our
1:06:26 situation would be totally understood and appreciated and i
1:06:30 certainly don’t want us to get the cart before the horse because
1:06:32 we have to have voter approval first i just wondered if that
1:06:35 that’s the bucket um and i i also understand and appreciate that
1:06:38 along with teachers and bus drivers i know ias have been one of
1:06:42 our other top priority areas
1:06:44 that we are dealing with staffing shortages and if we’re not
1:07:14 going to be able to fill those positions that we currently have
1:07:14 to add another you know however many couple of dozen ias to go
1:07:14 in our that’s that’s totally understood i just want to see if
1:07:14 that was if that was the place in the future um on the i’m glad
1:07:14 you guys are going to do some more just kind of spelling out
1:07:14 that classrooms of the future looks like because it’s kind of
1:07:14 just this term that people aren’t familiar with um but we have i
1:07:14 i just was thinking we had had conversation before sometime in
1:07:17 the past that a lot of our maybe it was mr susan that brought up
1:07:20 i can’t remember or miss dinkins that a lot of our our college
1:07:23 grads who’ve been doing teacher prep programs or even if they’re
1:07:26 not coming from a teacher prep program
1:07:28 but they’re just college students working in other fields that
1:07:31 end up becoming teachers they’re used to working with technology
1:07:34 and then they’re walking into a classroom with i think we’ve
1:07:36 gotten rid of our last schools that just have chalkboards but
1:07:39 you know just a whiteboard and some dry erase markers it’s a
1:07:42 it’s very different um and so if they’re walking into
1:07:46 environment and i’m not talking about recent grads but ones who’ve
1:07:49 been graduating and coming into our schools to work over the
1:07:51 last
1:07:51 at least a half and a dozen years i would say at least are used
1:07:54 to that kind of technology and so to be able to walk into a
1:07:58 classroom that has the things that they’ve already been used to
1:08:01 using um either in an in a teacher prep program or some other
1:08:04 program i think is is valuable um not to mention that when our
1:08:08 students leave the workforce whether they’re headed to college
1:08:11 or they’re headed into
1:08:12 uh multiple careers they’re going to be using that kind of
1:08:16 technology in the workforce and presentations and and uh just
1:08:20 their day-to-day work so you know to have that along with the
1:08:23 computers that we’re already providing through other initiatives
1:08:25 i think that’s really important um
1:08:27 um on the slide where you talked about the median and i’m so
1:08:32 glad that we got the most updated the median taxable value being
1:08:36 153 100 do you know if that includes the homestead exemption
1:08:40 because
1:08:41 uh 25 000 of the homestead exemption does apply to school tax
1:08:45 rates do you know if that was before or after
1:08:47 that i believe that’s after the homestead exemption okay okay i’ll
1:08:52 double check and clarify and let the board
1:08:54 know and we’ll clarify that on the slide when we post it to our
1:08:58 website okay sounds good but i’m almost positive
1:09:01 that’s after it’s after okay um all right so that was all
1:09:09 thank you ms campbell mr susan anything no good miss mcdougall
1:09:14 um just a couple of questions for
1:09:17 you dr mullins for me more for our public than than for my
1:09:21 knowledge but um you know one of the slides
1:09:24 that you have added to the presentation i think it’s a great
1:09:26 slide is the other counties that have millage
1:09:29 already um can you speak just briefly to the significance of
1:09:34 that yeah the reality is is those districts have
1:09:39 leveraged local dollars to make them more competitive for as
1:09:42 employment destination and so
1:09:44 we are you know the reality is is you know you look at indian
1:09:48 river and orange county virtually any resident
1:09:51 in brevard can access either indian river indian river or orange
1:09:54 county and they have employment
1:09:56 incentives we can’t compete with right now um and so that’s what
1:10:00 we’re experiencing we are experiencing
1:10:03 teachers and some of our most experienced who are going to these
1:10:06 other locations you know particularly
1:10:08 to bolster their um their income at for calculation of
1:10:14 retirement and i’m very pleased to share that if
1:10:18 this becomes a reality for our teachers it too the the
1:10:21 supplement that would come to our teachers would
1:10:24 contribute to their uh salary towards the retirement calculation
1:10:30 so not only does it increase their immediate
1:10:32 uh income it increases their uh retirement benefit as well
1:10:38 making it almost a double competitive
1:10:41 uh proposition so we will be able to keep folks who live in brevard
1:10:47 who could teach in brevard
1:10:49 staying in brevard but it also translates to our bus drivers so
1:10:53 we’ll be able to be more competitive to
1:10:56 um surrounding um employers i i don’t like to call out our other
1:11:03 um employment opportunities but when walmart distribution center
1:11:08 opened
1:11:10 like two miles from our largest bus depot on 520 we got hit with
1:11:17 a a significant departure because our
1:11:19 our drivers could go there and make a considerably higher hourly
1:11:23 hourly hourly rage this initiative
1:11:25 yeah i remember that i remember the groundbreaking i know him i
1:11:32 know her
1:11:36 but this this initiative we anticipate will be able will be a
1:11:41 will be a will level the playing field for
1:11:43 us in terms of competitive wage for our for our employees across
1:11:47 all employee groups uh really
1:11:50 being a game changer for us in the in the landscape of
1:11:53 competitive wage and salary thank you um another
1:11:57 question that i’ve gotten a couple of times from some some of
1:11:59 our folks here in the district and that
1:12:01 is why can’t we use sales tax or impact fees to address our wage
1:12:05 compression concerns yeah i i receive
1:12:08 that question often when i’m out in the community as well well
1:12:11 impact fees we heard earlier have to be
1:12:13 devoted and dedicated strictly to the cost of increasing student
1:12:18 stations so that it’s a very limited revenue
1:12:21 source strictly for capital growth and capital enhancement or
1:12:25 the payoff of debt associated with increasing student
1:12:28 uh sales surtax can only be used for capital extent expenditures
1:12:34 we can’t use it for operating budget
1:12:38 that is dictated and and legislated in state law and so we
1:12:43 cannot take sales surtax dollars and put them
1:12:46 in our operating budget which is where we pay salaries from at
1:12:49 best we can pay some salaries out of sales surtax for
1:12:54 the jobs that get the sales surtax projects done in a hundred
1:12:58 percent so we have for example a handful of
1:13:03 project managers that oversee and manage our sales surtax
1:13:07 capital projects paid out of the sales surtax but
1:13:11 that’s the extent of what the law allows us to do we cannot
1:13:16 supplant operating budget with sales surtax revenue
1:13:20 and and along kind of those same lines what i hear is we just
1:13:24 got all these federal dollars into the
1:13:27 schools in florida why can’t those be used to address our
1:13:30 compression issues well two reasons number one
1:13:34 they’re short term those dollars have to be utilized by september
1:13:39 of 2024 so that’s less than two years well
1:13:44 about two years away from now um those dollars come with a lot
1:13:48 of parameters and restrictions uh the
1:13:51 largest lion’s share of which need to be dedicated and devoted
1:13:55 to to uh enriching and elevating student
1:13:59 academic recovery and growth um certainly some dollars have been
1:14:04 used for bonuses for staff i shouldn’t say
1:14:07 bonuses premium pay but that is a non-recurring source of
1:14:12 revenue and as such they don’t count towards
1:14:15 retirement even when we’re able to provide a premium pay uh one-time
1:14:19 uh compensation to employees
1:14:22 it does not qualify for for the retirement uh consideration but
1:14:28 because the millage would be a recurring
1:14:32 source for at least four years potentially longer um it does
1:14:36 meet the state qualifications as retirement
1:14:40 qualifying for for all employees whether it’s a teacher bus
1:14:45 driver uh cafeteria worker media specialist
1:14:48 etc thank you um another thing that i’ve heard a few times is
1:14:53 you know we have increased our our starting
1:14:56 learning teacher salary significantly we’re doing sign-on
1:15:00 bonuses and all sorts of things to recruit
1:15:02 new teachers um are we seeing an influx of new teachers at a
1:15:07 greater rate than our our more senior
1:15:11 teachers are retiring are we are we seeing that this increase in
1:15:17 the the base teacher pay is having the impact
1:15:20 that i think we hoped it would have of bringing lots of people
1:15:23 into the field of education uh we are narrowing
1:15:26 the gap of vacancies but we are not making a we’re continuing to
1:15:31 realize considerable in uh workforce
1:15:35 vacancies um in the teacher ranks you know my team hates it when
1:15:40 i make these kind of speculations
1:15:42 particularly on camera so i’m gonna do a big disclaimer this is
1:15:45 a gut this is a this is what it feels like
1:15:48 is happening but uh of the teachers i hear from that are leaving
1:15:52 our schools there are many who are leaving in that 10 to 16 18
1:15:56 year
1:15:56 range um because there’s favorable employment opportunities in
1:16:03 the private sector and they
1:16:05 still have a lot of work life left so stepping out of the florida
1:16:10 retirement system at 15 years
1:16:13 still provides them time to to come up with an alternative um
1:16:19 teachers who are hitting 30 years when they have their full
1:16:23 retirement belt their full retirement benefit
1:16:26 eligible um are choosing to leave versus they can extend for
1:16:30 five seven more years through the drop
1:16:33 extension program um they’re choosing to leave earlier because
1:16:37 we don’t have we’re not keeping up with the
1:16:40 competitive salary alternative so uh again that’s my kind of
1:16:44 anecdotal um observation of of what we’re facing but i
1:16:49 i suspect i suspect i would not be far off from what what’s
1:16:52 really happening out there it’s
1:16:54 you know our teacher who’s at 15 years who can go work for
1:16:58 private sector
1:17:00 space industry um and get a 10 to 20 000 immediate increase in
1:17:07 an annual income we can’t compete with that
1:17:10 right um and then i just just three things that i would like to
1:17:16 highlight um for anyone who is is
1:17:19 watching or or paying attention number one you mentioned that
1:17:22 the revenue will not actually come
1:17:24 to us until november or december and there’s been lots of
1:17:27 conversation about you know the increased
1:17:29 cost that we’re all experiencing right now although we’ve we’ve
1:17:32 started to see some of that begin to
1:17:34 taper off um not only would we not receive that revenue until
1:17:38 november or december but our of yeah of 2023
1:17:42 but our residents also are not going to be paying that until i
1:17:46 we get them august right that we would get
1:17:49 our tax bills of august of 2023 is when residents would first be
1:17:54 we get the notice in august the bill in november yeah so yeah so
1:18:02 we’re looking at not impact to
1:18:04 pocketbooks today or tomorrow or correct it’s a year out okay um
1:18:10 and then a lot of people have said why
1:18:12 they’re not giving specifics and i i think you gave this answer
1:18:16 but i for for the lay interpretation
1:18:19 we can’t tell our public today what each individual employee is
1:18:23 going to receive
1:18:25 from those dollars because it all has to go through the
1:18:27 bargaining process that’s correct and we’re
1:18:30 actually engaged in uh conversations right now about beginning
1:18:34 that process with both collective bargaining
1:18:37 units um so i anticipate we will be able to tell our employees
1:18:42 what is negotiated uh before november well
1:18:45 before november 8th uh what they could anticipate if the
1:18:48 initiative is approved so we’re in the process of
1:18:51 doing that but i can’t we’re we haven’t officially started that
1:18:55 process but i think we meet with the
1:18:58 brevard federation of teachers tomorrow uh for first discussions
1:19:02 and we’re in the process of negotiations with
1:19:05 our 1010 iuapt employee group currently for raises for this year
1:19:11 uh and then they have requested to
1:19:14 immediately begin discussions on the potential millage
1:19:18 distribution for their employees thank you um and
1:19:22 then just the the last comment that i will make uh going back to
1:19:25 the slide that had the millage over
1:19:27 the years that has been um assessed by the state we have
1:19:31 declined from the high in 2011 by 2.6 percentage
1:19:36 points on our on our millage um and so i i think it’s important
1:19:41 to pay attention to that because the
1:19:43 reality is if the state had not decreased our millage and had
1:19:47 just held steady on our millage we would
1:19:50 have no need to go to our community and ask them to give us
1:19:52 additional dollars um and we’re not asking for
1:19:55 2.6 which is what we lost we’re just asking for the one so um i
1:20:00 just i think that’s an important
1:20:01 perspective for us to continue to share as well anybody else
1:20:06 have anything for dr mullins on millage
1:20:09 all right thank you dr mullins just for formality um just want
1:20:14 to confirm that the board supports the
1:20:17 allocation and distribution of the funds as it’s been presented
1:20:21 and your support moving forward mr susan
1:20:25 good what the allocation of what was presented today the buckets
1:20:30 of percentages 80 percent of what we
1:20:33 guys have been saying yeah you’re good miss mcdougall good can
1:20:37 we just put somewhere big on the front
1:20:39 of the website the board doesn’t get any of this the
1:20:42 superintendent doesn’t get any of this paul doesn’t
1:20:45 get any of this so especially paul put paul’s face on this miss
1:20:51 campbell you’re good i’m good miss jenkins
1:20:53 you’re good i’m good thank you ma’am chair you’re very welcome
1:20:57 thank you all right does any board member
1:20:59 have anything else that we need to discuss during the workshop
1:21:01 portion no all right there being no further
1:21:04 business this meeting is now adjourned
1:21:34 Thank you.