Let’s start the new year with a strong presence supporting Sarasota schools, especially its students and teachers.
Here’s What You Need to Know…
Speakers will have three opportunities to speak at this meeting: (1) During a special hearing on the adoption of science textbooks (3 min. limit); (2) On an agenda item (3 min. limit); and (3) On any school-related topic of your choosing (2 min. limit). New: You may now sign up online on Monday before the meeting. You can still sign up before the start of the meeting, but aim to be there by 5:45 pm. A separate card must be filled out for each round of public commentary. Please include the agenda item number.
Suggested Agenda Topics for Public Commentary:
Agenda Item No. 7--Public Hearing on Science Textbook Adoption: Gov. DeSantis and the FL Department of Education have already whitewashed history, civics, and even English textbooks, and now DeSantis has forced districts to choose from two or three “Florida editions” of science textbooks. The books are a mixed bag in content quality, but fortunately (and surprisingly), the environmental science textbook chosen by a teacher committee with parent input covers global climate change and global warning quite well. The main point we should make is that it is wrong for the state to pre-select a couple of Florida editions of textbooks per subject. Until recently, Sarasota district, like all Florida districts, had the right to choose what textbook they felt was best for students in all subject areas. This right—just like the right for children to read any age-appropriate book—has been taken away from educators.
Agenda Item 11.17—Approval of the Superintendent’s Monthly Finance Report for the Month Ending October 31, 2024: This Finance Report can be used to discuss the brewing budget crisis that will be worsened by the Trump Administration’s expected push for budget cuts and both the Trump and the DeSantis Administration’s big push for vouchers at the expense of investing in public education. This is happening while Florida districts, including Sarasota, deal with lower enrollment caused by reduced birthrates, family flight from high-cost areas like Sarasota, and the use of ESA vouchers to private schools and for homeschooling education. These enrollment losses reduce district funding as federal and state agencies utilize per capita-based funding.
Here are some comment ideas…
Project 2025 calls for the block granting of federally funded special education programs (IDEA) and Title 1 programs for low-income students. This means states can do what they want with the funds while federal protections and safeguards for ESE students are removed. Trump’s billionaire nominee for Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, wholeheartedly supports this block grant proposal and calls for creating a new federal voucher for private school education. Project 2025 proposals, which Trump has fully endorsed, will very much hurt Sarasota County School’s financial well-being.
ESA Vouchers. Last year, The Florida Department of Education spent nearly $4 billion on ESA vouchers for private schools and homeschooling. Think of what this would have meant if this money had been invested in public schools. Teachers, for example, could have received a $20 thousand yearly raise. While most of the ESA voucher money goes to families of students already enrolled in private schools or already engaged in homeschooling, about 25% are new students who have left the district, thus lowering enrollment numbers and eroding funding.
If this will be your first time attending a school board meeting on Tuesday, please introduce yourself to SOS leaders. See you at the meeting!