Updates on the Fight for Quality Public Education in Brevard County, FL
9:26 Good evening. The September 9, 2025 budget hearing and regular board meeting is now in order. I would like to welcome my fellow board members and the public. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public that the appropriate place for their participation.
9:41 Excuse me. In the meeting is during your individual public comment opportunity as identified on the agenda. Outside of your individual public comment opportunity, your role in the meeting is as an observer.
9:53 Paul? Roll call, please. Mr. Trent. Here.
9:56 Mr. Susan. Did you unmute him? Mr. Susan. Here.
10:07 Ms. Wright. Here. Ms. Campbell.
10:09 Here. Mr. Thomas. Here.
10:12 @ this time, the board would like to hold a moment of silence. I invite the audience to join. It’s.
10:46 Thank you. At this time, the board would like to. At this time, I would like to invite Alina Delgado to the podium to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
10:54 Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all. Please welcome the Sherwood Elementary School Choir.
11:26 They will be performing a few songs for us. Give them a hand. Start at the very beginning.
12:06 A very good place to start. When you read, you begin with A, B, C. When you sing, you begin with do re mi do re mi do re mi the first three notes just happen to be do re mi do re mi do re mi FA so mati do A deer, a female deer May a drop of golden snow. Sam, it’s sa.
14:38 Se don’t be afraid and don’t delay Nothing can break us no one can make us give our eyes away Arise and season. Ra. Jam sam.
17:42 Shake them down Shake them down Shake them abaya Shake them down Shake them down Shake them down Shake them oh me o When all the work’s done I plan to have fun I need your help me to find the. Shake, shake, shake shake Shake. Up a fire down Jesus.
20:20 It. I. And I’m a. Horizon.
23:25 How long have you guys been singing together? This whole group. I’ve been in choir for two years. I’ve been in choir for three years.
23:32 Ah. What was your favorite song? Was this last song your all’s favorite song to sing? Yes. Y’ all really got into it.
23:38 I could tell. So I have one last question for you guys. Who’s your favorite principal? Miz Renezz.
23:44 All. We may have a few more questions for you if you two want to stay at the podium. So did you notice? I know you were concentrating watching your wonderful music teacher, but did you notice your fan club in the back? Oh, yeah.
24:11 I think you need to take them on the road. Mr. Ramer and Co. Were dancing along with you.
24:16 You may need to take them. You’ve got a lot of fans in here. So I have to ask.
24:20 You guys sounded fabulous, but I happen to know about Sherwood. You also have a fantastic school culture. All right, when I say school culture, what does that mean to you girls? Well, school culture.
24:35 So to me, that really means. So as you know, we have the four houses. That’s on our logo right here.
24:47 So that means we have all different houses. So that could be a culture if you would say it. Yeah.
24:52 But fur cultures, not only are they separated, they’re separated kind of, but they’re still together. So that’s what we do since we’re four houses, one share with family. Awesome.
25:05 Very good. Good answer. Very good.
25:09 So it sounds to me like that makes Sherwood an awesome place that you all want to go to every day. Yeah, awesome. And I think music makes it even more fun to go to every day, so great job, everybody.
25:24 Well, thank you guys so much for coming in. Performing this always kind of grounds us, and it starts our meeting off on the why, because you guys are all the why that we sit here and we come up with policies and things that don’t sound as much fun, but when we see you and your faces and your dancing and. And singing, it’s like, that is the why.
25:42 So thank you. I want to comment on your amazing music teacher’s boots. I’m not sure where you found those, but come up here, show these things off, because those are pretty amazing.
25:51 So, yeah. Very, very good. All right, so we all agreed that the fourth song was your favorite.
25:58 I have to tell you, I’m listening to the papaya song. I have papayas, and I just feed them to my chickens now. I feel like I need to go out there and shake the tree and shake the papaya now.
26:08 So I appreciate for that song. Taught me something today. So sixth graders, raise your hand.
26:14 We all sixth graders. All right. Any fifth graders.
26:16 All right. Any fourth graders? They start Thursday. Oh, okay.
26:22 All right. All right. Who’s the best music teacher that you’ve ever had? Oh, wonderful.
26:33 Well, again, just thank you so, so much for coming and performing. It was so much fun. And I’m gonna go home and shake a papaya tree tomorrow.
26:39 I think so. Thanks. Very nice.
26:42 You guys get all the good questions. You got papaya trees? I don’t. I don’t have any of that.
26:47 But what I do have is, you know, the opportunity to hear you guys like this. Today was awesome. The one thing I could tell is you guys were really having fun, you know, and that.
26:57 That’s great that you can do a school activity and have just a whole bunch of fun. Now, I know you have a whole bunch of fun in math class, right? So not quite as I always do, the math jokes, but it’s great. That was not set up, but it was really good.
27:19 You know, we got the dancing in the back, but also many of these parents knew those words to the song. So I don’t know if you sing them at home or. They’re just really good at, you know, listening to you guys because they were mouthing those words as well.
27:33 So you had the entire audience. Now, of the group, how many are going to continue in some sort of singing at the next level of school? Very good. You know what it is? It’s a great life lesson.
27:48 Standing in front or sitting and talking in public. I think it’s wonderful. It helps you participate more in class.
27:55 Someday you can be up here talking to parents all. It’s so much fun up here. You could be up here with us as well.
28:02 But again, they get all the good questions, but we’re really happy that you came out. And, parents, thank you so much for putting your students in programs like this and saying yes to doing things like coming out in this lovely weather on a Tuesday night. But we do appreciate this is the why of why we do things, and it’s fitting to be here and talk about the why when we talk about our lovely budget meeting tonight.
28:24 So, you know, thank you so much for, you know, making us proud of another reason to be proud of BPS and their students. So thank you, Dr. Rendell. Well, first of all, Mr. Trent, if there’s a way that I could speak real quick.
28:36 Oh, yes, Mr. Susan. He’s head of calling. Hey.
28:40 No, that’s okay. Listen, I just wanted to give a big shout out. Ms. Marinus, you have done such an amazing job with connecting all the leadership and all of the programs that you have at that school.
28:51 And what Mr. Trent was just saying about how the connection to the parents that were actually dancing in the back, I apologize, I’m not able to be there tonight. I can feel the energy inside the room, and it sounds spectacular, and I wish I was there, but there’s a certain connection all the way from the parents to the students to the administrations to the teachers at Sherwood. It’s something very special.
29:10 And Ms. Marinus, you have all of the credit for that, along with all of the staff that puts it into play. I truly appreciate everything that you guys did. It sounded amazing.
29:21 I’m listening to it as I’m trying to call in, and I’m so upset that I wasn’t able to feel the energy and be in that room. But thank you so much, you guys, for being here today. Parents, thank you for taking the night off when there’s rain outside and being a part of the opportunity for us to hear and feel our students inside of our school district and be a part of it for our boardroom.
29:41 It sets the tone for our meeting, and it’s everything that we need. So thank you, everybody, for being out there and students and teacher. Who? The music teacher there.
29:49 Thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to come and bring the students here to perform for us. So thank you.
29:56 All right. Thanks, Mr. Susan. Well, I have had the honor and the privilege of visiting Sherwood several times over the last couple of years, and the school culture, as Ms. Campbell alluded to, is fantastic.
30:10 Shout out to the Amistad House. Any Amistad in the room. But you guys represented Sherwood well tonight.
30:18 Really, really good job, and you should be proud. And maybe your parents and I’ll take you out to dinner. So.
30:24 Just kidding. We’re going to take a picture in a few minutes, but first, we have something else to do. I’ll turn it over to Mr. Trent, but stay right there because you guys are part of another celebration.
30:36 All right, good. Ladies, I think you’re excused. You can go join the rest of your group there.
30:41 But I would like to bring up at this time Ms. Tara Harris, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, to the podium, please. Now, I will say that was a very tough act to follow with some very talented students from Sherwood. I am so glad that this is coincidental, but we are here to share in a very special moment.
31:04 So good Evening, board chair, Mr. Trent, board members, Dr. Endell, Mr. Gibbs. To our Sherwood community, it is with great pride and admiration that we recognize a remarkable milestone for Sherwood elementary tonight. Under the visionary leadership of Principal Sandra Marinas, Sherwood elementary has been honored with the EC Tech Exceeding Expectations Award for tremendous efforts in student achievement.
31:31 This is a distinction that recognizes schools across Florida that are exceeding expectations, going above and beyond for all students, delivering on academic excellence and increased learning gains. Sherwood is only one of three BPS schools to be honored with this distinction. This award is not simply about meeting benchmarks, but about exceeding them.
31:57 It is about surpassing them. Reaching for the stars and surpassing those stars. Sherwood elementary has demonstrated that high achievement is possible for every student let’s consider the criteria for this recognition.
32:12 You must serve a population that exceeds the 2024 state poverty average. You must earn a school grade of an A or B, which I am thrilled to say, while this award is based on 2024 data, Sherwood has just in 25, earned its second consecutive school grade of A. Award. Schools could not have any ESSA designations from the state.
32:43 Again, I’m pleased to say for both 2024 and 2025, Sherwood had zero underperforming subgroups. So that is worth another applause as well. Awards schools must show increased achievement even from the prior year, showing not only that we can exceed expectations, but we can sustain them.
33:05 Principal Sandra Marinus, your leadership has been the cornerstone of success. You have cultivated a culture of excellence and high expectations with deep care and relentless pursuit of student achievement. To the Sherwood team, our students and families, our teachers, our support staff, you have worked together to create a learning environment where every child is empowered to thrive.
33:31 Sherwood embodies the Ron Clark House system of four houses and one Sherwood family. To the students of Sherwood, this award is yours. Your determination and love of learning inspires us all.
33:46 Let this recognition serve not only as a celebration of what has been accomplished, but a beacon for what is possible. Sherwood elementary is proof that with strong leadership, dedicated educators, hard working students, and a united community, excellence can be achieved. Can you please join me in congratulating Sherwood Elementary? They have truly exceeded expectations.
34:44 These are the words I have. We are very proud of our students, and we are very proud of our community. If you look out, we don’t do the work alone.
34:52 We do this together. And so I could not be more proud of our kids, our parents, our community, and these incredible staff members and teachers and those watching online. We are very proud of all of you.
35:05 This is your award. All right. So.
35:16 Yes. Yeah, it’d be a good time to take pictures. We’ll take a short recess.
40:37 Tonight. We have two proclamations on the agenda. I would like to invite Yvette Cruz to the podium to introduce our proclamation.
40:43 Do I hear a motion? Not yet. Move to approve. Second.
40:48 Any discussion? Paul, Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
40:52 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent.
40:54 Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye.
40:57 Ms. Wright? Aye. All right. Ms. Cruz.
41:01 Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationwide from September 15th through October 15th to honor the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. And whereas throughout our nation’s history, Hispanic Americans have enriched the cultural fabric of our communities, strengthened our economy through innovation and entrepreneurship, and served with honor in our armed forces and Whereas. In Brevard Public Schools, Hispanic students, families, educators and staff contribute daily to the academic, cultural and social success of our classrooms and schools.
41:42 Schools modeling leadership, resilience and creativity for future generations. And Whereas. By honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, Brevard Public Schools reaffirms its commitment to fostering learning environments where every student feels valued, supported and empowered to achieve their full potential, while also highlighting the many ways Hispanic Americans have shaped and continue to shape our nation.
42:08 And now, therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Brevard County, Florida recognizes the month of September as Hispanic Heritage Month and be it further resolved that Brevard Public School staff will encourage all families, students and community members to join in celebrating the rich histories, diverse cultures and invaluable contributions of Hispanic Americans through social programs, community partnerships and educational opportunities adopted by the members of the Brevard Public School board, Brevard County, Florida, at the regular board meeting thereof held 9 September 2025. And tonight we have the president of the Brevard Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here to accept the proclamation. We have Dr. Javier Molinare.
43:02 Thank you so much, Yvette, for this proclamation and thank you so much for this partnership that been going on for many years. We started in 2009 with Pam Lorenzo. She was the ESOL director long time ago and we started working together.
43:22 I donated a page in the bilingual newspaper Aldea Today and I’m still doing it for more than 15 years working together with the schools of Brevard. We did the Be Kind Brevard program with Jeanine and Paula Jeanne Gleason. So we had done so many things.
43:40 We started the English Language integration program with Dr. Bingley working together. He gave me two teachers from Brevard Public Schools to help those individuals that went to school in other countries. What we did is that we raised the level of English so they can work here in the United States in what they went to school for.
44:00 And that was a great success. And I hope we can continue working together with John Thomas, all of you, Katie, and we have a lot to do. The need is there.
44:13 So I’m here to help as much as we can, as much as we can with the Brevada Hispanic Chamber and the Brevada Hispanic Center. So thank you. Thank you so much.
44:24 And I want to invite you to the Viva Brevard Gala October 11th. It’s a great celebration, a lot of fun, good food. So I hope you can make it.
44:33 Thank you. Thank you so much. Mr. Chair, procedurally do we need to vote on the proclamation after it was read or before it was read, Mr. Gibbs? Just want to make sure.
44:48 Normally it’s after, but. Okay, so then let’s just. Yeah, we were so excited that we were like, let’s go on this one.
44:54 But let’s go ahead and move to approve the proclamation and we’ll do it right now. Okay. There we go.
45:00 All right. All right. I moved to approve the proclamation and I’ll second it.
45:04 And we’re going to vote on it twice. Roll call, please, Mr. Thomas. Aye.
45:10 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
45:12 Mr. Season? That’s right. Aye. Thank you.
45:18 Sorry. That’s fine. We’ll do pictures now or after the second? I think if we do both proclamations and then we’ll do step the pictures together.
45:24 Like not together, but afterwards. All right, so if you stick around for just a minute, we’ll do another proclamation and then we’ll do some pictures. Thank you.
45:30 Thank you so much. Yep. All right.
45:32 Ms. Cruz, you have a second one. Whereas September is designated as National Suicide Prevention Month, as recognized by the national association of Mental Illness. And whereas many health officials and community leaders locally, state and nationally understand that mental illness is a significant issue of concern, particularly among our youth.
46:00 And whereas we realize that to address mental health issues requires more open and honest discussions about mental health. And whereas one major hurdle is removing the stigma attached to mental health treatment and discussion. And whereas parents, teachers, administrators, coaches, mentors, public officials and peer students recognize the importance of emotional health.
46:00 And whereas we all can play a valuable role in assisting others who may show symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety or mental illness. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Brevard Public School Board supports the education of staff, parents and students on symptoms of and help for mental health problems. And be it further resolved that Brevard Public School staff will encourage a positive, safe school environment and encourage helping others while also promoting access to school based mental health supports and recognizing when young people are at risk for or are experiencing mental health problems.
47:01 Adopted by the members of the Brevard Public School Board, Brevard County, Florida, at the regular school board meeting thereof held the 9th of September, 2025. And tonight we have four organizations accepting this proclamation. We have the President and CEO for the space Coast Health Foundation.
47:20 We have representatives from do it for Hunter, Give Yourself a Reason and Palm Point Behavioral Health. If you guys want to come to the podium, we got to move to approve. Let’s vote really quick.
47:32 Yep. Yep. So I hear a motion move to approve.
47:37 Second discussion. Second roll call, please. Can we just.
47:40 Discussion really quick for you guys, because I. There’s not often in this area where we get to find points to celebrate. And Dr. Rendell shared some data with us actually in his year end review that our SRI numbers, our suicide risk inventory numbers have gone down over the last few school years. And I know that one life lost to suicide is one too many.
48:02 And so the work continues on. But I felt like that’s something that when we think about what the schools are doing, what organizations like yours are doing, I feel like when there’s an impact made, we need, we want you to know, and then it means something. And so I appreciate all that you do, appreciate all that our school staff do, but I think we.
48:22 It’s. It’s good to be able to celebrate a reduction. Right.
48:26 Because it means we’re moving in the right direction. So thank you for all that you do. Right.
48:31 I also want to echo that sentiment. I have to tell you, just yesterday I was in a school and I was using a restroom and it was a student’s restroom and a umatter sticker was right in the restroom. And normally we would say, no, we don’t want to see that in there.
48:42 But it just made my heart go, ah, there’s a student that’s going to see that and recognize that. So we are definitely, we’re doing everything that we possibly can and trying to spread that message of making sure that children understand that they have people, they have support. They are more than just a temporary decision.
48:57 Don’t make a temporary, permanent decision to a temporary problem. And so thank you to the organizations that are here, because this is something that I think hits near and dear to just about everyone that has. Has this impact them.
49:08 So thank you. Mr. Thomas. Aye.
49:12 Ms. Campbell. Aye. Mr. Trent.
49:14 Aye. Mr. Susan. Aye, that’s right.
49:18 Aye. All right, so now we’d like to give the organizations an opportunity to speak. This is truly a partnership.
49:28 As with the Hispanic community, both of these are not just proclamations, but they’re partnerships with our community. Good evening, board members and Dr. Rendell, thank you. And thank you so much for your comments because this has been a long journey and as you said, even one life lost is too many.
49:47 But to know that the numbers are going down makes a big difference. I’m Johnette Ginling. I’m the president and CEO of Space Coast Health foundation, and I’m here with our key partners.
49:56 As we mentioned, do it for Hunter, Palm Point AI and a new organization, Give Yourself a Reason. We are all joined in a common purpose to end suicide and encourage dialogue about Mental health efforts, like the action taken tonight by the school board are an important element of this initiative. We believe we’re the only county in Florida that has official support of suicide prevention of every town, city, school board, county commission, chambers of commerce, and numerous businesses and civic organizations.
50:31 Actions like yours tonight show we’re a community that cares and one that is willing to address uncomfortable topics like suicide. Thank you for your leadership. We need the conversation to continue and we need the dialogue to continue.
50:46 And we appreciate your support. And I’d like to turn the mic over to Kelly. Once again, thank you for supporting everything that we do at do it for Hunter.
51:02 You know, we have our umatter day coming up. I would love to see somebody here in our dunk tank. I know Dr. Rendell is going to be conveniently out of town.
51:14 Yes, I would love to. But our event we hold each year, it’s, you know, free for everyone in the community to come. And.
51:23 Yeah, suicide isn’t something, you know, exactly what you said. Something to celebrate. There’s no celebration.
51:30 You know, we have to be proactive because reactive is useless. I hate to say it, but. So we need to be proactive, and that’s what we do.
51:42 In our organization. We are hands out, boots on the ground. We love putting on this umatter day each year.
51:48 Ginny and I have been crazy busy putting this all together. We’d love for everybody to come out and have fun. We are doing a.
51:55 It’s not a 5k, it’s a Mustang mile this year around the perimeter of Merritt Island High School. And so we invite everyone to come on out and join us for that. It’s a $25 registration fee.
52:08 You get all kinds of great stuff, and it’s a great way to kick off the morning for the event. But thank you for recognizing Suicide awareness Month. I love hearing those numbers that they’re going down.
52:19 When I looked at the numbers recently on the 211Brevard dashboard, looking at the calls that specifically come in for mental health reasons last year, in the same time frame of 90 days, it was 1,800 calls that had come in specifically for that in Brevard County. I looked the other night and it was 3400. So that’s good and bad.
52:44 That’s almost double the amount of calls that are coming in. But those people are seeking help and maybe, maybe they’re getting the help that they need. So that’s great.
52:54 But thank you for all you do for us and supporting us. All right, so picture time. I think so.
53:03 Yeah. Okay. We’ll take a short break.
53:05 Thanks. That brings us to the adoption of the agenda. Dr. Mandel.
56:18 Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this evening’s agenda, we have 10 final public budget hearing items, 37 consent items items, one action item and zero information items. Changes made to the agenda since it was released to the public include the following.
56:33 Revised was D11, which was actually moved to F24 budget amendments for June 30, 2025. Revised was D6, 2026 required local effort, local discretionary additional voted and capital allay millage resolution and revised was D7, the final 2026 year end budget. Added were F3 instructional staff recommendations and added was F4 support staff recommendations.
56:59 Do I hear a motion move for approval? Second. Second fall roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye.
57:06 Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye.
57:11 Ms. Wright? Aye. Okay, this is the second the. This takes us to the second and final public hearing for the 202526 proposed millage rates and final budget.
57:23 The hearing of September 9th, 2025 is now in session. Now we’ll move into the presentation of this hearing. Dr. Rudolph? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
57:35 Members of the board, Ms. Cindy Liszinski, Chief financial Officer, will make a. Excuse me, let me start that over. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, Ms. Cindy Luszynski, Chief Financial Officer, will make a presentation on the 2025, 2026 final budget and proposed millage levy.
57:50 Ms. Liszinski? Yes. Good evening, Mr. Trent. Board members.
57:55 Dr. Rendell, like you said, this is the second and final FY26 school board and district millage rate public hearing. Tonight’s public hearing will cover this presentation as proposed mission as proposed millage rates and FY26 budget. An opportunity for public comment and board member discussion.
58:19 Adoption of the total millage levy as well as the adoption of the FY26 school board final budget. The truth and millage legislation requirements are detailed under Florida statutes. TRIM timelines are very prescriptive in law.
58:37 And the clock started July 1. The total timeline to budget adoption is 80 days. The statute dictates the order of business during the budget hearings, and TRIM requires two public hearings for open discussion of millage rates and the proposed budgets.
59:00 Millage is a term that represents the tax rate levied on real estate or other property. One mill is equivalent to $1 in taxes per $1,000 in taxable value. If your home has a taxable value of $100,000 and you’re assessed a 1mil tax rate, you would pay $100 in taxes.
59:27 The Florida Education Finance program is the mechanism by which state and local operating funds are allocated to finance its school district’s operating costs. Funding for FEFP combines state funds primarily generated from sales tax revenue and local funds generated from property tax revenue. Required local effort is the local amount of funds the district receives from levying the state certified local millage rates on the district’s taxable property.
1:00:02 It is key to understand the Florida Legislature sets the required local effort millage rates and the school board must levy the required local effort millage rate to receive state funding under the Florida Education Finance Program. The total proposed millage related to school funding for the FY 202026 school year totals 6.3100 mills.
1:00:37 This millage rate will generate revenue for the general operating and capital outlay funds. The required local effort rate adjusts year to year while the discretionary and the local capital remain fixed. The voted operating millage is an additional 1 mil that our voters approve.
1:00:56 Approved during the November 8, 2022 election. The total projected tax levy makes up the local operating funds or required local effort and discretionary local effort, the local capital improvement millage and the voted operating millage. The required local effort is $234.
1:01:46 7 million and the discretionary local effort is 57.3 million at a 96% collection rate. The 96% collection rate is a key component of how the State of Florida calculates the required local effort for each school district.
1:02:19 The RLE is the portion of the district’s tax levy that is factored into the state’s Florida Education Finance Program funding formula. The statute mandates that the Florida Commissioner of Education calculate the RLE for each district by using 96% as the district’s prior year’s taxable value. By using the 96% figure, the state effectively limits the amount of revenue that districts can factor into their budget for the RLE millage.
1:02:37 This accounts for the fact that 100% collection rate is not realistic due to delinquent payments and tax roll challenges. The full basic discretionary millage will garner 57.3 million.
1:03:45 If any school district levies the full 748-mil levy and it generates an amount of funds per FTE that is less than the state average, the school district will receive a discretionary millage compression supplement that will bring the district up to the state average. In our case, the state compression calculation guarantees $864 per FTE, so we will receive an additional $161.32 per FTE, or 13.
1:05:01 2 million. The local capital improvement millage will provide the district 115 million 36.4 million comes off the top and is used to pay the district’s debt service, which covers principal and interest payments from previously bonded debt that was issued primarily between years 1990 and 2008 to build schools and provide for major renovations at our older schools.
1:05:11 LCI contributes 20.5 million toward maintenance projects and cost for labor. LCI also pays for the district’s 10 million property insurance 225,000 education technology lease leaving 44.
1:05:39 8 million available for capital needs projects throughout the district. The voted millage will continue to provide increased compensation for our employees after proportionally sharing with our charter schools. BPS will receive an estimated 76.
1:06:04 6 million. This slide depicts the historic millage rates over the last 10 years. The orange area represents the fixed basic discretionary operating rate, the light blue represents the fixed capital outlay rate and the dark blue depicts the variable RLE rate that has been adjusted down each year as property values increase and the green area represents the voter approved 1mil operating millage rate.
1:06:26 As required by trmm. We must compare the proposed millage rate to the rollback rate. When property values rise, property taxes generate more revenue.
1:06:56 For the total revenue generated to stay the same as the prior year, the tax rate must decrease. The rollback millage rate is the rate that would generate the same amount of revenue as last year if applied to the current year’s tax taxable value. Said another way, the state rolls back the millage rate as property values increase to bring the total taxable dollars available roughly equivalent to the prior year.
1:07:15 Under trim, the rollback rate is the basis for determining if tax rates have increased or decreased. When the rollback rate is less than the proposed millage rates that we receive from the state, we will advertise a tax increase. For Brevard Public Schools, the proposed millage rate is higher than the rollback rate.
1:07:58 This slide depicts the annual certified school property tax values from 2014. The 2021 tax assessment is pre Covid values in 2223. Brevard County, Florida saw high property values due to the combination of low housing inventory and high demand.
1:08:48 The imbalance was fueled by factors like population growth and an increased migration to Florida, particularly after the pandemic. While prices have risen, Brevard county remains relatively affordable compared to other parts of Florida and which continues to attract buyers. The 2526 tax roll is the property appraiser certified school taxable value.
1:09:28 This slide shows our debt service. It refers to the money required to pay principal and interest of our outstanding debt. Our FY26 proposed budget is balanced.
1:09:59 We did consider the reduction of vacant positions that align with our decreased enrollment and used a available general fund balance but are still showing acceptable financial stability. At a high level, high level view of the tentative budget of the the final budget you can see the breakout of the general operating fund. The general fund also includes a $86 million pass through for charters and 7 million allocated for adult education.
1:10:25 Our capital budget includes multiple funds to include tax levy impact fees and sales surtax and it shares funds with our charter school. You can also see the food services fund and the next one is the special revenues which includes the federal grants to include our title grants like title 1, title 2, title 3 IDA head start 21st century grants which funds our before and after care school Internal funds include schools fundraising dollars and district advertising. School and then the final funds that is our health insurance.
1:11:23 It is also our casualty and liability insurance and workers compensation and for there is a lot more. I mean there’s so many lines into this budget but if you want to see more you can go to this site here and it breaks out all these funds further. And finally you know the FY26 conference report does not increase funding from the FY25 reduction levels for BPS or other districts throughout the throughout the state.
1:11:30 Flat funding actually equates to a cut given cost of living, inflationary costs, higher operating and construction cost, unfunded mandates and the need to be able to provide competitive wage for our employees in order to have the best teachers in our classroom. And because of further projected enrollment declines, the FY26 budget will require BPS to continue to reduce its footprint and increase efficiencies to match its enrollment population. Again, we’re not alone.
1:11:43 Every district in the state faces the same challenges and with a BPS one team, one mission focus our student achievement. BPS will lead, adjust, adapt and continue to be Brevard’s best choice for students academic achievement. And on this slide you can see the the beginning fund balance for the final 26 budget.
1:11:51 The revenues, the transfers in and then you can also see the expenditures for each of the funds as well as the fund balance. Now our fund balance or our financial condition is for general funds is something that the state really keeps sharp eye on and by statute we must be at least 3%. Right now we’re projecting that we will end FY26 at a 6.
1:12:03 16% financial condition rate. It is slightly down from the last year 7.61 Are there any questions? Board, we’ve been through this a little bit with you, and you answered all the questions, you know, professionally, exhaustively.
1:12:41 Exactly so. But anything else, guys? Nothing over here. Thank you for mentioning the financial condition ratio.
1:12:54 I know we’re looking at potential sources of funding for construction projects, and that’ll be really important. Important number for us to have those in reserve. Thank you.
1:13:13 Nothing else. Okay. All right, Mr. Chair, it’s to you now.
1:13:21 Yep. All right, so the hearing is now open for public comments. We will, in accordance with Florida law, accept the speakers in the following order, the 2025, 26 proposed millage levy followed by the 2026 final budget.
1:13:38 Budget. Is there any individual would like to address the board on the 2025, 2026 proposed millage levy? Is there any individual would like to address the board on the 2025, 2026 proposed millage levy? Is there any individual would like to address the board on the 2026 final budget? Thank you so much. My name is Bernard Bryan, and I represent the south Brevard branch NAACP, the education chair.
1:14:02 And thank you, Mr. Trent and Dr. Rendell and board, for allowing me to speak. First of all, I’d like to thank you for the budget report. I thought it was well done, but I just have a few questions.
1:14:24 One of the things that noticed today was that there was mentioned a decline in enrollment, so. Which is a very big concern for the community. And we did realize today that we understand that the birth rate is shrinking, so.
1:14:57 Which means that our market is shrinking. And I think Brevard Public School has the best educational program. But.
1:15:14 But I think that the growth in the charter school area, and we heard tonight that there were $86 million that was transported to charter school. And I don’t. You know, I’m not a charter school defense guy, but I’m a public school guy.
1:15:37 So my concern is we have lost, just based on enrollment, $29 million this year, either this year or going into next year. But that is a big concern. And I think that due to the shrinking market and the charter school and private schools, they have grown up to almost 24% in terms of enrollment.
1:15:53 And I know we lost 3,000 students, I think, this year. So I just want to see if maybe the marketing of what Brevard Public Schools offer and. And I’m an ex football player and I’m a competitor, and to see that hopefully there’s a plan in place to really capture the market.
1:16:02 What are we doing to advertise and what I’m concerned about And I heard the workshop today. The presentation said that we need to look at adding a tiger team, either a black belt team, to really look at those areas where there’s opportunities to really minimize waste so that the narrow funds could be targeted toward those areas that need help. And we know that, you know, Brevard Public Schools is an A district, but there are some schools that have been a C schools for years.
1:16:24 And we got to target resources where those schools can really become an A to B status. So that’s kind of where my heart is right now. Because when budget gets tight, okay, everybody’s going to be targeting for money.
1:16:40 And I hope that our plan will be target based to help those students that need help the most. So I’m hoping that you will share with us your staffing impact, your program impact to the budget shortfalls or the budget struggles, and that there’ll be some transparencies on where monies are going and where money will not be going going. So that’s my ask.
1:17:21 Thank you. Mr. Is there any individual would like to address the board on the 2026 final budget? Okay. The public comment portion of the hearing is now closed.
1:17:31 That will bring us to the recommendations for the adoption of the 2025, 2026 proposed millage levy and the 2026 final budget. Dr. Riddell. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
1:17:53 Florida statute 200.0065 requires each taxing authority levying millage to publicly state the name of the taxing authority at the rolled back rates and the millage rate to be levied prior to the adoption of the millage levy resolution. So in compliance with those requirements, the following needs to be stated.
1:18:01 The taxing authority is the school board of Brevard County, Florida. The 2025-2026 rolled back rates are. The required local effort would be 3.
1:18:06 0004 mils. The local discretionary would be 0.7328 mils.
1:18:19 The capital outlay would be 1.4693 mils. The additional voted millage would be a 0.
1:19:06 9795 mils for a total rolled back rate of 6.1820 mills. The total millage rate to be levied exceeds the total rolled back rate by 2.
1:19:10 07% because the proposed 202526 millage rates are the required local effort of 3.062 mils. A local discretionary of the full 0.
1:19:14 748 mils capital outlay of 1.50 mils and the additional voted millage by the property property taxes of 1.0 mills.
1:19:28 The total proposed millage rate, therefore, is 6.31 mils. So now there’s a total of five separate motions.
1:19:31 I will read each of the recommendations into the record and then request board action. Recommendation number one is to adopt the resolution setting the required local effort, the local discretionary, the additional voted millage, and the capital outlay millage of 6.310 mills for the 202526 budget season.
1:19:48 The written resolution is incorporated into this motion by reference, so I seek approval of the board. Do I hear a motion? Move to approved. Second.
1:19:54 Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye.
1:19:58 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? The next recommendation is to adopt the final 2026 budget in the following amounts.
1:20:33 A general fund of $835,022,710, debt service fund in the amount of $36,828,238, a capital project fund of $475,987,803, special revenue funds of $151,709,362, and the internal service funds of $126,807,690 for a total budget of $1,626,335,803. Do I hear a motion move for approval? Second. Any discussion? Paul, roll call, please.
1:20:38 Mr. Thomas, Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
1:20:40 Mr. Susan? Aye. That’s right. Aye.
1:20:45 The third recommendation is to authorize the superintendent to adjust the adopted millage levy and budget due to changes in the certified tax roll. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Any discussion? Paul? Roll call, please.
1:20:53 Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
1:21:06 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. The fourth recommendation is to authorize the superintendent to forward the adopted millage levy resolution to the Brevard county property appraiser and tax collector no later than 30 days following the adjournment of the value Adjustment Board.
1:21:14 Do I hear a motion? Second. Any discussion? Paul? Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye.
1:21:21 Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye.
1:21:27 Ms. Wright? Aye. The fifth and final recommendation is to authorize the superintendent to forward the following to the designated state agencies. First, the adopted budget, millage levy resolution, certified tax roll rolled back rates, proposed millage and certified copies of the advertisements for the proposed budget and millage rates to the state department of education and to forward the millage levy resolution, certified tax roll rolled back rates, proposed millage, and certified copies of the advertisements for the Proposed budget and millage rate to the Department of Revenue.
1:21:46 Do I hear a motion move for approval? Second. Any discussion to follow? Call, please. Mr. Thomas.
1:21:50 Aye. Ms. Campbell. Aye.
1:21:55 Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright.
1:21:59 Aye. This public hearing is now adjourned. We are now at the public comment portions of the meeting.
1:22:03 Paul, how many? One. All right, each speaker or the speaker will have three minutes, and we’ll take a brief recess to get ready for our speaker. Thank you.
1:22:07 We don’t need. Are we recessing before the agenda Speaker? This is the administration. This is the agenda.
1:22:12 Yeah, it probably is. Yeah. So you don’t have to.
1:22:18 Very good. We got it. Good, you’re still here.
1:22:21 All right. Okay. All right, so we’re at the agenda right there.
1:22:30 We got it. Okay. We’re not at consent agenda.
1:22:39 Dr. Rendell. Are we doing that? We skipped the public comment. We got one.
1:22:44 We have one on the public. We do, yes. Call the meeting back in order, though, because he called a recess.
1:22:47 Did we do it? He didn’t cut. We didn’t cut. So he has not cut the feet.
1:22:50 We were going to that. We didn’t cut it. Okay, Just making sure.
1:23:00 All right, Mr. Bryan, you’re good. All right. Oh, he’s not.
1:23:04 He’s waving. Okay, we’re done. So we are at the consent agenda.
1:23:11 We are. See, I was right all along. You were right all along.
1:23:14 All right, we are now at the consent agenda, Dr. Rendell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is 37 items in the list under this category word.
1:23:18 Thank you. Dr. Undel. Does any board member wish to pull any items? All right, I will entertain a motion to accept the consented item items on tonight’s agenda.
1:23:30 Approve. He just comes out of nowhere. That was from God.
1:23:35 Second. Okay, discussion. Paul, Roll call, please.
1:23:44 Mr. Thomas? Aye. Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye.
1:23:59 Mr. Susan? Aye. Ms. Wright? Aye. All right, Dr. Ndell, you please let us know about the items under the action portion of today’s agenda.
1:24:08 Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tonight’s. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
1:24:29 Tonight’s action item is H1 School Improvement Plan. Do I hear a motion move to approve? Second. Second.
1:24:36 New discussion. Roll call, please. Mr. Thomas? Aye.
1:25:01 Ms. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Trent? Aye. Mr. Susan? Aye.
1:25:19 Ms. Wright? Aye. All right, we’ll move on to the information agenda, which includes zero items for board review and may be brought back for action at a subsequent meeting. No action will be taken on this item today.
1:25:40 Does any board member wish to discuss this item? There’s no item. Yeah, we’re done. We’re done.
1:25:56 There was zero. We’re not at the board members reports does any board member wish to have go first? I’ll go really quick. Okay, here we go.
1:26:10 First of all I’ve got something to. Okay, we’ll make sure we get to you. I want to congratulate our board administrative assistant Lena Farnham who will not forgive me for recently earning her certification as a.
1:26:20 She’s now a certified board assistant. So congratulations to Lena for finishing her training through fsba. All right.
1:26:30 Also board, I just wanted to let you know one of our community members who reaches out to me weekly to ask how he how he and his team of people, especially in the north area can pray for us. He wanted me to let you know to encourage you that you are being prayed for by name individually and us corporately. So I wanted to share that with you.
1:26:49 We’ve had lots of legislators visit in our schools the last couple weeks. So I don’t know if anybody else. I don’t want to take anybody else’s thunder.
1:27:12 But thankful for Senator Wright it came down to heritage for legend program Congressman Heridopoulos who came and visited a couple other schools to visit. But I also had the privilege of taking our newest legislative member Brian Hodgers to a tour of three of the high schools that are where our districts overlap. And so he went to Milhi West Shore and then also we jumped over and joined Mr. Susan at Eau Gallie and it was really great.
1:27:27 And so I appreciate him for coming and jumping in and getting to know our schools when he’s just had a little tiny taste of session and he had asked great questions and he also encouraged us to try and bring students back to Tallahassee which we haven’t done in several years. So talk to Dr. Rendell about that. Hopefully we’ll get to get that off the ground again this year.
1:27:37 Also board, I told you probably a month ago that I wanted to encourage relationship building with our county commissioners and I’ll report back to you. I met with three of them last week. I’ve got at least one where we to go and just had some great conversations with them about our relationships across the street.
1:27:39 Our students are starting the process of they’re all state auditions our music students. We have a select number of students and we are always very well represented when it comes to the Florida Music Education association conference in January. We always have around 100 plus students in all the different organizations.
1:27:44 So I wanted to say good luck to all of our orchestra, band, choir, jazz, you know, elementary. We’ve got all these different groups and because they are coming up with these. What for them is the state championship.
1:27:56 But the auditions happen here in these next months in September and October, and then they’ll get the culmination. They’ll find out in November. And then hopefully we’ll get to recognize them this year, too.
1:28:13 And then finally, just a bit of trivia. Today is an important day that is often overlo. In fact, I learned about it this morning as I was listening to one of my favorite news podcasts.
1:28:27 But bored. Today is the 249th anniversary of the naming of our country because on September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress officially named our nation the United States of America. So happy name day to the USA.
1:28:37 That’s all I have, Mr. Chair. Yes, I just have one. And that is I’d like to acknowledge Brevard Federation of Teachers President Anthony Catalucci and his team and Mr. Dufresne and his entire HR team for coming together to finalize or approve the three year come to an agreement on the three year collective bargaining agreement.
1:28:48 And I also want to give a shout out to our colleague, Mr. Susan for kind of spearheading leading the charge on the health insurance component of it. But collectively all everybody worked hard on it, and I’m just glad to see that we were able to come to an agreement. That’s great.
1:28:55 Ms. Wright, Mr. Sousa, did you want to go? Yeah, let the voice above. Yeah. And I’m literally like a minute away, so if Ms. Wright goes, I can probably be in person.
1:29:02 Okay. Ms. Wright, go ahead. Okay.
1:29:17 All right. So many schools. I have been very, very busy visiting all of my schools.
1:29:37 And I just encourage you guys, if you haven’t used Lena to, you know, Lena, you’re probably going, oh, thank you, Ms. Wright. But she’s been wonderful at scheduling visits at all the schools for me. And so I just encourage you if you need help in that aspect, she’s great.
1:29:50 But I’m going to talk about the most recent school that I visited this morning. And Dr. Rendell, I hope this wasn’t one that was on your radar, but I had the opportunity to visit Pinewood Elementary School this morning, which is our northernmost school, way up there in good old Mims. They had literally had have a son that says, how do y’ all when you walk in? I’m like, it’s very indicative of the community they serve.
1:30:08 So very much fun. But they had an unveiling today for a very exciting thing, which was a book vending machine. I don’t know if any of you have seen this in your elementary schools, but they’re using this as a way to really reward our students who are reading.
1:30:16 And I just want to thank, you know, Advent Health was a sponsor for that. This is something that they just, they saw the need and they’re not even in really Brevard County. Advent Health isn’t.
1:30:21 So I just want to give them a huge, huge, huge shout out, thanking them for being a wonderful, I can’t even say business partner, but just seeing a need meeting, a need kind of thing. It was really exciting seeing the kids. And then we had Fox 35 out there that really.
1:30:41 They videotaped the entire thing. And these kids were so excited. I mean, they couldn’t have been happier to see a cameraman.
1:30:57 Honestly, I think they were more excited about the cameraman than anything else. So it was a lot of good fun. Ms. Smith did a wonderful job at, at putting that on.
1:31:09 And again, just want to thank all my principals that have taken the time to really sit down with me. I told you guys before I joked about this that they’re going to cringe that the fact they stuck me on the academic excellence portion of the strategic plan. But it’s a good time to go and meet with our principals and talk about areas where we can possibly help.
1:31:39 Do you they need help? Are there things that we can be advocating for, you know, from the board’s point of view? And I just want to thank all the principals that have taken that time to sit down and talk with me, tell me what they’re looking at doing and how they’re going to make their schools better. I am so excited to see all the wonderful things that are happening. Also, I have another one I just popped into my brain, so I don’t want to forget this.
1:32:10 Pocket constitutions were handed out. This happens every single year. And this is something that my student, who is now in ninth grade, was given a pocket constitution when she was in seventh grade and she still to this day has and utilizes and looks at for a reference.
1:32:32 And so just want to give a shout out and a thank you to Moms for Liberty for taking that initiative of making sure our middle schoolers have those pocket constitutions. Constitution day is coming up, so hopefully this leads to those conversations of read your constitution. It is the most important founding document that we have and it’s, you know, available and accessible.
1:33:04 And I am ecstatic that we are putting it in the hands of every one of our middle schoolers. Very, very important. So thank you for taking that initiative and delivering those to our middle schools.
1:33:17 And that is all that I have. Thank you. That’s great.
1:33:37 Mr. Susan, how you doing up there? I just walked up to the wrong car because Megan’s got her car out here. So anyways, I just wanted to say thank you. You guys wanted to get two updates in particular to healthcare and to the logo trademark renaming.
1:33:41 First off, I’d like to bring you up to speed on the logo trademark piece. We have a situation where we identified many of you know that we are in the process of redoing those trademarks. We engaged with Volk law firm to, on a voluntary basis.
1:34:02 He started to say, hey, I will work with your schools. It’s going to be a good community based project. The students will turn around and they will, you know what I mean, work a long process.
1:34:13 And he was going to do all the filings for free and everything else. And then what we ran into, so that everybody knows is the situation where we thought that Walmart was the ones that were printing out all of the, the, you know, shirts and all that stuff, but it’s actually third party vendors and those third party vendors were sitting there and utilizing, they sold the rights that they got from each one of our schools. There we go.
1:34:28 Not awkward. So what ended up happening is that the third party vendors, these third party vendors were going around in 2011, 2012, 2013, and they were getting signatures from our athletic directors to sign away the rights to the entire school on perpetual contracts that they were supposed to give percentages of sales that they’ve never done. So they’ve.
1:34:58 Some of our schools have received small portions, some have received smaller portions, some have received zero portions. This is a, there’s a three companies that they identified. So now Mr. Volk, who came on to work and do all this stuff on pro bono, is now engaged with getting ready to put together letters.
1:35:11 And what, what is happening is, is I’m working with Satellite Beach High and Viera High School and Ogalli on developing the first process of how we’re going to go ahead and set up these logos and trademarks and all that stuff and then it’s going to disseminate to all the other schools. In that process, Mr. Gibbs is going to send out and ask for an audit to be done of all the revenue that goes back. For instance, Viera High School can’t notice where they’ve been paid at all.
1:35:24 And I can go to Target, I can go to Walmart, I can go to all of those places and they’re selling like hotcakes. So good process that’s happening. It’s just to give you guys a heads up once we get it kind of under wraps and everything, Paul will probably send out an email and stuff like that.
1:35:33 But Ms. Cindy Luscinski was asked to ask the bookkeepers how much they’ve made and if there’s any other contracts. I want to give big shout out and credit to Ms. Yvette Cruz because she was like in Family Dollar finding people and contracts and stuff like that. I wanted to give a shout out to Ms. Wright who was up in Port St. John getting.
1:35:37 Where did you pull yours from? Where was that one? CVS and Walgreens. CVS and Walgreens. I mean these are.
1:35:44 This third party went around, got signatures from athletic directors, some principals. Edgewood did have Dr. Bingley’s signature. But like there is nothing that says that those people can do that except for Dr. Bingley, but that we don’t have perpetual contracts that are not with our anyways, our group.
1:36:04 So that’s the first thing. Just want to give you guys an update on that. Second thing is, is that you know that we produced the, we signed in the, for the healthcare, the cancer care piece.
1:36:21 I wanted to give you guys an update. There’s a lot going on in the healthcare space right now, but this is one that I wanted to bring to you guys real quick. It looks like part of that cancer care is these things called infusions, right? So infusions for cancer, infusions for other things.
1:36:28 And it looks like that is going to act the same way also. Just like the cancer care for people who are out there right now that may not know what’s happening is that surgery plus who turned into lantern care then also opened up the ability for our members to be the same way that we go to get surgeries for ankle or I’m sorry, hips and knees is now going to be the same thing for cancer. They’re going to engage with a person that calls and talks to them, gets them to the best cancer care that’s out there specific to their actual cancer.
1:36:50 And then also the infusions are going to act the same way again. This is zero cost to the employee. Those infusions will change people’s lives because the outcome from what they do is better and it’s free to the member.
1:37:13 So it’s an incredible opportunity for us. Incredible things that are going on Ms. Yvette Cruz and them are putting out together. They’re going to start every week sending out an update of what we’ve been doing behind the scenes because now it’s Time to start rolling it out.
1:37:31 So all the way from communications and site based individuals to answer questions. It’s going to be really cool what we do. So that’s it.
1:37:53 Thank you for letting me call in. I apologize. It was entertaining.
1:37:59 Thank you know, if I could just read the script, it would be good. Dr. Dell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually have several items. First, I want to echo Mr. Thomas’s comments about the fact that we have a three year agreement with the Brevard Federation of Teachers. That is that should be serve as a comfort to our instructional employees that we’ve settled this contract for a three year period, guaranteed raise of 2% each year. You know, in these tight budget times, we are showing a commitment to our instructional employees and we will follow that up with our other employees. But you know, we’re committed to making sure that we take care of our people. Three year contract is something that, you know, really should be celebrated. Not official yet. That’s why Ryan’s shaking his head. He’s like, you’re talking, it’s an agreement right now. So the other thing is Thursday is 9 11. It’s an anniversary that we don’t really want to celebrate, but we do need to commemorate. And a lot of our schools are doing some ceremonies and things to make sure that this younger generation does not lose sight of that event that changed American history and world history. And so I commend the schools that are doing something to make sure that this generation does not forget or not even know about, not aware about, you know, such a momentous day in our history. And then last, I want to thank Sue Han and the executive leadership team. Sue has an additional title, Deputy Superintendent. So whenever I am away, she takes the leadership role as superintendent when I’m away. And recently I was gone on a vacation for I was out of the area for 10 days. And usually a superintendent would not take a vacation during school when school is in session. But this vacation for our family, it worked out for the vacation to be this time. And so I actually was not concerned at all leaving and going on vacation while school is in session because I have that much faith in the team and sue on the team. So they did a great job of handling everything while I was away and I just want to give them a public shout out. So thank you to the team. Very good. That’s all. All right, we’ll take a short recess before the non agenda item public comment portion of tonight’s meeting party. Sa.