School board pauses talks on a new Riviera Beach high school due to expanded vouchers

It may be a lean year for the Palm Beach County School District.

School leaders learned Wednesday that the legislature's universal voucher program, proposed cost-sharing with charter schools and enrollment rates are going to force them to pause some renovation projects at historic Roosevelt and Carver high schools and table discussions on building a new high school in Riviera Beach.

With more than 22,000 employees and 180 campuses, the district has a budget that nears $5 billion and goes into effect Oct. 1 each year.

By April, school board members typically have an idea of how much money will come from property and sales taxes and can compare different budget proposals.

Not this year.

Chief Financial Officer Heather Frederick said she's never seen such a wide gap between budget proposals brought by politicians in the House and Senate — meaning local budget planners don't have enough information to estimate how much money the district will get.

As legislators work out how to pay for universal school vouchers, the House and Senate have completely different ideas on how to cap the amount of tax money set aside for private school tuition.

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Although school principals now have their budgets for their individual schools, the district is likely to cut back on borrowing for some major school-construction projects.

That's a result of the uncertainty in Tallahassee and the possibility that the legislature will require school districts to share between $189 million and $427 million over the next 10 years with charter schools for construction projects.

H.B. 1259 is separate from a 2021 dustup in Palm Beach County in which charter schools sued the school district over its refusal to share dollars from a property tax referendum, which voters just renewed in November. The district lost that court case.

"The district has to borrow money to do these projects, and we shouldn’t borrow money if we’re going to lose a chunk to charter schools," Superintendent Mike Burke said Wednesday.

Here's what to know:

Voucher programs could cost public schools between $40M and $200M

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law March 27 that establishes a universal voucher program so Florida families, regardless of their income, can use taxpayer dollars to pay for up to $8,000 yearly in tuition at private schools.

The Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, called the law a "massive transfer of taxpayer funds to unaccountable, private and religious schools and corporations."

Burke said Wednesday that the district spends $80 million each year on existing vouchers to private schools, which used to be limited to poorer families. He said the new voucher program, depending on how the number of students who participate is capped, could cost the district between $40 million and $200 million more per year.

The House and Senate have different ideas of how much the voucher program will cost and how to cap its growth. The House estimates the expansion will cost Florida's public schools $209.6 million annually and proposes limiting the growth of the program to a certain percentage of students each year. An analysis by the Senate tagged the cost at $646 million a year and proposes limiting the voucher program to a certain amount of money. The Florida Policy Institute, a nonprofit that opposes the program, found it could cost the state nearly $4 billion.

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Burke has previously noted that he worries small private schools, particularly those run by individuals in places such as strip malls, will pop up in order to take advantage of the new voucher availability.

"Our principals have advanced degrees, our teachers hold certification and credentials, our facilities are built to codes compliant with the Stoneman Douglas Safety Act, and we have an officer in every school," he said. "We’re up to 1,300 pages of Florida school law that we have to follow. Private schools have no regulations."

He added that he's going to work "as hard as possible" not to let the program hurt public school students and staff.

"You are going to diminish resources for the existing public school students. I don’t feel like this is good policy," he said. "Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy."

School renovation projects are being put on hold

Four major district construction projects are likely to be delayed because the district is going to limit borrowing.

The projects include consideration of an elementary school in the Westlake area and a new high school for the city of Riviera Beach, as well as updates to two school district warehouses.

Also likely to be paused is the next phase of renovations at the historic Roosevelt and Carver high schools. "Phase two" of renovations at Roosevelt include a proposed African-American history museum, library and health-care clinic.

Board member Edwin Ferguson, who has been a staunch advocate for a new high school despite staff members' concerns that there aren't enough students to attend the school, criticized the staff for delaying projects that affect mostly Black communities, including in Riviera Beach and the neighborhoods around the shuttered Roosevelt and Carver schools.

"If we don’t have the money to do it, we can’t afford to do it," district Chief Operating Officer Joseph Sanches said.

Ferguson and other supporters of a high school in Riviera Beach say the city needs a school to foster community pride and to stop unfairly forcing students to take long bus rides to Palm Beach Gardens and Dwyer high schools.

Of the city's 2,063 high school-age students, 41% attend Palm Beach Gardens High School and 24% attend Dwyer. District enrollment reports show 6% of Riviera Beach students attend Suncoast and 5% attend Inlet Grove, a district-run charter school on Suncoast's old campus on 28th Street just north of Blue Heron Boulevard.

The board did not vote on the matter Wednesday.

The timing is uncertain, while budget needs are not

The school district must adopt a final budget Sept. 6.

District staff members are hoping to have more concrete data ahead of the school board's next budget workshop in June, but Frederick wasn't confident that answers will come soon.

"They are so far apart at this point I don't expect us to see anything within at least the next month," Frederick said of the House and Senate.

The legislative session ends May 5.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Voucher program leave Palm Beach County schools budget uncertain