The School Board of Alachua County had its first budget workshop since approving its final budget last month, addressing a drop in the general fund balance, below what is acceptable under board policy. 

Gabrielle Jaremczuk, chief of finance for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS), estimated enrollment this year will decrease by 770 students. Based on that enrollment decrease, and the corresponding drop in Full Time Enrollment (FTE) funding, Jaremczuk estimated the district will lose over $3.4 million in funding, compared to last year. 

“This is an estimate of base funding only, and the amount may increase when the other funding categories are included,” Jaremczuk told the board. 

Taking into account the drop in enrollment and the 1.6% raise the district expects to give staff, Jaremczuk said the fund balance, not classified as restricted, committed or nonspendable, is projected to decrease to 4.44% of general fund revenue. Without any staff raises or enrollment decreases, the fund balance would be 7.27% of general fund revenue. 

State statute requires a minimum fund balance of SBAC policy of 3% of general fund revenue, but SBAC policy requires a 5% minimum fund balance. If the approved operating budget is projected to fall below 5%, Board Policy 6233 requires that the superintendent develop a plan to lift it back to that minimum. 

Jaremczuk also noted that it is normal for Florida school districts to transfer money from their capital funds to their general funds to cover allowable costs, a practice which Board Member Tina Certain has raised concerns about multiple times. Jaremczuk pointed to Bay, Clay, Escambia, Okaloosa and Santa Roza counties as examples of school districts that use the capital funds transfer for millions of dollars more than Alachua County does. 

Certain said the counties Jaremczuk listed do not have a voter-approved millage like Alachua County does. 

“We went into this budget prep, the tentative budget that came, our general fund expenditures were exceeding our estimated revenue,” Certain said. “And I think we should have made some considerations there, before we just kind of went forward.” 

Certain said the superintendent and staff were not providing the budgetary information packets that they should have before meetings like this. 

Board Member Sarah Rockwell suggested looking at the size of the other counties’ facilities footprints, saying the Florida Association for District School Superintendents (FADSS) has advised ACPS repeatedly that its facilities footprint is too large, which impacts its budget. 

Jaremczuk listed six other budgetary considerations that the district needs to keep in mind for the future: 

• Potential decreased funding from the Florida Educational Facilities Association due to dropping enrollment 

• Increased technology costs due to a required technology upgrade estimated to cost $12 million 

• Increased safety and security costs due to state mandates 

• Increased maintenance costs due to aging facilities and security needs 

• Increased professional and technical costs for staff ranging from specialists and school resource officers to outsourced substitutes and maintenance techs. 

• Increased costs due to staff turnover and shortages 

Superintendent Shane Andrew said staff has internally discussed some options to guard against increased costs. These options include a hiring freeze, reducing overtime costs and reducing the district’s memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for projects and programs. 

Rockwell said overtime costs are often from staff addressing emergencies such as failed air conditioning, and that a hiring freeze would negatively affect children in classrooms. Andrew clarified that the hiring freeze would not apply to schools, as services to students would be the last place to cut from. 

“There are other things that are in that FADSS report that we could do, that we could have done years and years ago, and we haven’t,” Rockwell said. “And so now that we’re staring in the face of this 4.44% without ESSER (Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief) to cover for the losses, I need to know what the plan is, and I feel like some sort of plan should’ve been brought today with this 4.44% number.” 

Andrew said over the last few years, district staff has been careful to be conservative in allocations, while keeping tabs on fragile and School Improvement (SI) schools. He noted that transportation has made cuts, projects have been careful with half-cent sales tax dollars, and Lake Forest and Idylwild Elementary Schools raised their school grades to prevent bringing in external operators. 

Though ACPS’s revenue and fund balance together cover expenses in the 2024-25 budget, Rockwell expressed distress over the district’s spending outpacing its revenue, saying much of the expenses are recurring, and the problem will only be worse next year when there is no fund balance cushion to cover those expenses. 

Board Member Kay Abbitt agreed that the difference between expenses and revenue was alarming. She said the district does not look out for teachers the same way it looks out for administrators, and that there are plenty of administrative positions that could be cut. 

“If you’re a principal, you should be able to run that school,” Abbitt said. “You should not have to have two other principals that are coming in and… helping you to run that school. And if you’re not the best person to run that school, then we need to find somebody that can… It’s just waste.” 

Abbitt said functional furniture is being thrown away in demolitions, and new curriculum purchased with Title I funds sits unopened. 

Suzanne Wynn, director of community planning and concurrency, said the district salvages what it can, but cannot hold up demolition and construction for a revitalized school just to salvage everything, as that would cost the district more and could keep students in portable classrooms for longer. 

Jaremczuk said if the estimated staff raises and loss of FTE revenue are accurate and all else stays constant, the 4.44% would be accurate, but pointed back to Andrew’s list of considerations to say that staff can make budget cuts that raise the fund balance back above 5%. 

“Right now we don’t have a detailed plan, because we don’t have concrete numbers from union negotiations or the loss of FTE,” Jaremczuk said. 

Rockwell said the district may not have finalized staff salaries for a long time, as the Alachua County Education Association has declared an impasse in those negotiations. 

Andrew said staff salaries are already a struggle, as the 3.5% recurring raise the school board approved last year is still affecting the budget this year. He said staff is operating on the board’s direction, and the last few years of MOUs and significant raises have put a weight on the budget. 

“We’re all in this together,” Andrew said. “And that was a well-deserved raise, and certainly substantial, one of the biggest ones we’ve given, but we’re also dealing with that.” 

Certain said Andrew has not served the board well because he has not addressed concerns about a budget where expenses exceed revenue, and has continued to recommend actions such as opening Duval Early Learning Center, which further expanded the district’s facilities footprint, and keeping about 20 staff members who had formerly been funded by ESSER. 

Board Chair Diyonne McGraw said Andrew inherited projects that previous superintendents opened without foresight, with unqualified financial staff, and that the district’s financial situation has been out of order for years. 

“If we would’ve been scrutinizing other superintendents the same way, we may not be in this boat that we’re in now, because that is the responsibility of every single person here,” McGraw said. 

Board Member Leanetta McNealy said she has full confidence in the district’s finance team, and wants to look to the future instead of the past. She said she is tired of negative talk in school board meetings, instead of clearing things up one-on-one with staff. 

“Enough is enough,” McNealy said.