Budget talks for Escambia County Public Schools have begun. These are the top 3 priorities.
The Escambia County School Board turned over a unified leaf Friday as budget discussions began for the 2023-24 year.
Board Member Paul Fetsko called for a special workshop to ensure top priorities found a place, even though the board is unsure of how much support they will be receiving from the state. The top-three wish list items discussed so far are employee raises, high school renovations and the district’s navigator program.
“Since I’ve been on the board, the budget is typically worked up before it comes to us and then we’re shown, ‘This is what is left to do other things with,” Fetsko said. “I would like us to have the opportunity to tell the budgeting ahead of time: ‘These are our priorities.’ Because by statute, the board is supposed to be controlling the budget.”
The 2022-23 budget came to about $819.52 million, with almost a quarter of the budget generated through federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The 2021-22 budget, created before the ESSER funds were administered in three separate waves, totaled $741.10 million. Now that those ESSER funds are set to expire in September of 2024, the board must decide what programs they do not want to lose.
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Board Member Bill Slayton said it is time for the board to start thinking proactively about what they want to accomplish over the next several years.
“We’ve got to get a little more energy in us,” Slayton said. “Right now, we’re having to be very defensive. We’re having to fight off certain negative things. We need to take the forefront, take the ball and get it down the field…Let’s start charging ahead knowing that we can’t do it next year. Just like other things can’t get solved in a year. But at the same time − people like to hear a plan.”
Here are three of the top budget goals from Friday’s special workshop:
Raising employee salaries
Although the district reached agreements this year with both the teachers and staff professionals union, there is still an unresolved salary compression problem that arose after the minimum wage increase last October. The abrupt hike up to $15 per hour for all employees meant the gradual wage increase veteran teachers have spent their careers working toward suddenly lost their value.
As nationwide teacher shortages continue and the district’s salary ladder system is demolished, the board agreed that employees need greater incentives to stay.
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“I want to be clear that my No. 1 priority for our budget this year is making sure that we are able to negotiate a decent raise for our employees and thereby tell them right up front, ‘We are looking out for you,’” Fetsko said. “Now, the caveat is, we don’t know what the bottom line (budget) is going to be when we get it. When we do get that amount, they (employees) are going to be a priority in what we do with it.”
Some board members felt finding a solution to the compression problem will help with retention and also with recruitment. This could potentially help departments that are struggling to operate proficiently, specifically the transportation department, which is significantly short on bus drivers. Route managers have been forced to take the driver’s seat in addition to their daily responsibilities, such as creating routes and interacting with families.
“I would like us to focus on being able to compensate our personnel appropriately,” Board Member Patty Hightower said. “I also wanted us to look at transportation… I don’t think we can continue to operate the way we are with our transportation, with our students and our drivers. We’re having to run so many routes.”
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Hightower said parents will call her frequently concerned over their children, particularly at the middle school level, who are missing their first period classes due to delayed bus routes.
Sustaining successful ESSER-funded programs
Hightower is also calling for a deep dive into the programs the district is currently funding and their impact on student success. One program being supported through ESSER funding is the district’s navigator program, which she said they must ensure continues. The navigators have acted like social workers, providing or connecting students and parents to resources such as food, clothing, government assistance and health care.
At a minimum, Hightower would like to see the program remain in the schools with the greatest needs if the district cannot support navigators for every school.
“I think that is something we have seen to be successful helping our students and our families,” Hightower said.
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Fetsko said the navigators have been fervently working since the pandemic to address issues district-wide, such as chronic absenteeism, by working directly with student families.
“They (navigators) are also going to be one of the ones who help with the attendance, figuring out why they (students) are absent so much,” Fetsko said. “The (attendance) numbers have gotten to the point where it is more critical that we get students in (school.) Somebody’s got to intervene with the families who are enabling students to miss so much school.”
The district still has another year to continue using ESSER funding to support the program but have begun searching for alternative funding sources. This could require cutting nonessential or redundant programs to shift funding toward the ones they feel are truly creating positive impact.
“That kind of examination needs to start, I think, just as soon as possible,” Fetsko said.
Renovating the district’s high schools
Once salary needs and mental health resources have been covered, Slayton said he would like to see the district’s high schools renovated to create a more attractive appearance. The recently renovated West Florida High School serves as a shining example of what every high school in the district could become, he said.
Board member David Williams added that after talking with high school principals, he has heard a desire for more outdoor sports fields to accommodate the new sports that have been added, such as flag football and lacrosse, that are currently sharing facilities.
“Is there a place in our budget where we can improve, maintain, buy extra land or develop land, especially at the high school level?” Williams asked.
Keith Wasdin, director of facilities planning for the district, said that a major renovation to each high school has been in the works for years, but have been postponed by all the schools that needed to be rebuilt entirely. Wasdin said the rebuild of Myrtle Grove Elementary will be the seventh new school the district has funded in the past five years.
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Now that major projects are out of the way, they finally can start looking at enhancing aesthetics at the existing schools.
“Each of the high schools will be significantly touched over the next 36 months,” Wasdin said.
The district’s finance department received about $200 million in ESSER funds since COVID-19 began but are limited in the type of building upgrades they can use them for. However, they can save district sales tax money on ESSER-funded projects, like replacing air conditions units. They can then use saved money for other upgrades the schools may need, such as new flooring, ceilings, paint and lights.
The district is stretching the ESSER support as far as they can by focusing on generational upgrades that can still be impactful another 50 years from now, Wasdin said.
“We knew our facilities, and we knew what the needs were,” Wasdin said of allocating ESSER funds.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County school board sets top 3 budget priorities
