At yesterday's meeting of the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee, several themes emerged that are proving to be difficult barriers for the families of some junior enlisted and junior officer members of the armed forces stationed here (or potentially transferring here).
Affordable Rentals, Lack of Available Childcare, and the Public Education System Locally (which many deem to be insufficient for the military dependents' needs) are the big three that were discussed.
Multiple CO's and XO's from several Pensacola area commands were represented at this meeting, and they each expressed an awareness of this frustration/concern. These are not necessarily all new concerns, either.
The discussion on housing and childcare revolved around a "plus-up" in allowances that area military families will be receiving to help offset the skyrocketing costs of housing rentals and childcare. (although there is fear this increase won't completely offset the rate of inflation of the costs)
We also discussed methods we are employing within the county to build affordable housing units. (which received no press once we passed it earlier this month....)As well as some things that Habitat for Humanity is doing in the community to address the affordable housing issue.
But the economy has changed, inflation has become rampant ( a bi-product of money printing ) and fewer folks are stepping up to do low-wage work (like childcare) due to federal and state policies that many feel are overly remunerative for folks that do not work. So there's that double whammy.
With respect to challenges within the public schools--several attendees were interested in learing more about what school choice/voucher programs were/are available to military families that come to our area. I told the group there are resources for military dependents and their families funded by DoD and the State of Florida, and information on this topic was disseminated to the group. I also described some of the historical challenges our schools have faced which have dragged down performance district wide and the various, numerous programs that have been tried, and ultimately failed, at a couple of very difficult and high-profile schools.
When the family totally and completely breaks down in entire communities--this (poor public school performance) along with blight, high crime, and decreased property values is what we see.
Some of the conversation on that topic was uncomfortable. But the truth is the truth, and I'll never be one to add sugar-coating over the top of it. Great communities MAKE great public school districts, that is the universal truth of reality, and I will always defend hard working teachers and school district employees that work their guts out to help students. In other words, this is more an isolated community problem in pockets of our area, and less an academic one or a teacher competency one districtwide. Folks don't like to hear that though and some believe it is a lack of more "programs" and money.
That's not it, though.
On a brighter note, I did take the opportunity to spotlight the performance of more than a dozen Escambia Public Schools that together earned more than $1.5 Million in school recognition bonuses from the state of Florida for sustained excellence and/or learning gain improvements over the last school year.
I also let the attendees know about the upcoming coffee with the commissioner event on December 15th where we will discuss the school district in depth with my special guest that day, School Board Chairman Kevin Adams.
These issues that are acutely affecting the military community here are a HUGE concern of mine as an elected official that understands that the federal military spending in our community represents nearly half of our economy locally. If we don't get these issues ironed out and (heaven forbid) lose missions or have them diminished in size--this would be an economic loss that we cannot afford to sustain.
So we have to work to fix these issues. Period.
