Legislature Reaches Agreement on Education Capital Budget Funding

Charter Schools will get $300 per student and Public Schools $28 per student

Late Sunday afternoon the House and Senate Budget Conference Chairmen reached an agreement on Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO). The totals are detailed below. Follow this link to video: http://goo.gl/wfBldH

The Senate agreed to the House’s funding. The House proposed that the 640 charter schools (or 251,082 students) will $75,000,000 PECO funds, and the 3,629 public schools (or 2,587,554 students) would also get $75,000,000 in PECO funds. If you break this down per student that is $298 per student going to Charter Schools and $28 per student going to Public Schools. Originally the Senate’s version of the budget did not include any PECO funds going to charter schools but today the Senate agreed to the House’s funding.

What may make matters worse is that this week the Senate will take up several “train bills” which include forcing school districts to share the 1.5 mills in locally collected Capital Outlay funds. The Florida House has already approved a bill requiring school districts to share the 1.5 mills. This was an issue that Rep. Erik Fresen, the chairman of Florida House Education Appropriations subcommittee argued in a controversial report his subcommittee released. (see previous blog, Rep. Fresen battles with superintendents over construction costs)

Rep. Fresen’s interest in forcing more capital funds to charter schools has been questioned because of Rep. Fresen’s close ties to charter schools including being a land consultant for Civica, an architecture firm with a specialty in building charter schools and his brother-in-law and sister are executives for Academica one of the largest charter school management companies in Florida.

FIXED CAPITAL OUTLAY – MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, RENOVATION, AND REMODELING

Funds in Specific Appropriation shall be allocated as follows:

Charter Schools ……………………………………….. 75,000,000

Public Schools …………………………………………. 75,000,000

Florida College System ………………………………. 36,155,369

State University System …………………………….. 61 ,804,669

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Presidents’ Day

Happy Presidents’ Day a.k.a. Washington’s Birthday

Today we celebrate our United States Presidents. Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present. (source: http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/presidents-day)

A book on our U.S. Presidents that I recommend is, ‘The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity’ by Nancy Gibbs. It is the inside story of the world’s most exclusive fraternity; how presidents from Hoover through Obama worked with—and sometimes, against–each other when they were in and out of power.

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Facebook Post Leads to Positive District Improvement

You never know if something you post just might save a life

Last week Dondi Cappuccilli a local parent and Facebook friend posted a link to a story and video, ‘Teen’s cardiac arrest and lifesaving rescue caught on tape’. Above the link Ms. Cappuccilli added the comment, “Glad to see a happy ending! These things are so important…..and they are all over. The (AED) machines walk you thru the steps so even if you have not had training you can still help!”

I watched the video and was so impressed at how well each of the coaches, staff, and administration immediately took action and saved this young student’s life. As a swim coach, I have to get certified in CPR and safety regularly and what we learn and putting it into action is critical to saving lives.

As I often do I shared the post with our Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Director of Student Services and our Student Health Specialist. I knew we had good procedures in place, but I know it is never a bad idea to see if through additional information we can improve.

I first received an email back from our Student Health Specialist, Pamela Carnevale RN,BSN who said she too had seen the video on Facebook and the story. She wanted me to know that she had scheduled a meeting to discuss and share the video with the other district’s nurses who teach CPR. I was pleased, but honestly not surprised as our school district is like that. It is made up of parents, community and caring people that always strive to be better.

Today I got an email note from Mike Mullen, Assistant Superintendent;

“Thomas,
As a result of the email / video you sent we have decided to have all sports teams do at least one drill during the first week of each sport season to ensure they are familiar with their Emergency action plan. It was clear the coach (in the video) was successful due to knowing what to do quickly, thanks for sharing!
Mike”.

I want to publicly thank Dondi Cappuccilli, Pamela Carnevale, and Mike Mullen for the role they played in bringing this issue forward which potentially could save additional lives.

“You all rock!”

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