Revised Interlocal Agreement Passed by Board by 4-1 Vote

Yesterday's special meeting of the Escambia County School Board ended with the revised interlocal agreement being approved by a 4-1 vote. I was the lone "no" vote, as I had numerous concerns with the document as revised. I documented my concerns here:

http://jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/school-concurrency-subject-of-special.html

The document that we voted to approve will be finalized and presented to the county commission this Thursday for their approval--which is expected. The document, with revisions noted, is here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8774229/Escambia-Inter-Local-Agreement-w-Edits

The silver linings involved with the passage of this agreement are:

1. We will have to address our lingering need to close and consolodate some of our schools with excess capacity---if we ever have any hope of receiving ay mitigation funds from any developments. (We should have been doing this all along--but closing schools is difficult and extremely unpopular)

2. Nobody will ever be able to accuse The Escambia School Board of not being "developer friendly" ---as the Home Builders and County Planning Staff essentially got every concession that they requested in this document from the Scool District.