On WCOA this Morning...

I will appear on the radio this morning on WCOA to discuss issues dealing with the County to include our budget, Jack Brown's contract, Wedgewood, and my impending chairmanship of the Escambia BCC.

I always appreciate the opportunity to come on the radio.

Listen to the show here (part 1) and here (Part 2)

Blue Penny Plan

I've put together a plan, just a discussion starter, for potentially addressing our current Budget issue with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

Tomorrow morning I will present this plan to my peers on the board and to staff and the public.

The plan will require cooperation, coordination, and a will to move forward together.

The plan will require a lift from our legislative delegation, which will require the BCC and the ECSO to cooperate toward making this happen.

I look forward to discussing this--but I'm not married to the language, I don't have a pride of authorship mentality about it, and there are and will be ample opportunities to adjust percentages and dollar amounts in this plan based upon discussions between staff, the BCC and the ECSO going forward.

------But if we work together we can put together a pay scale augmentation fund for ECSO--over and above a stabilized base budget with yearly adjustments,  of up to $7 Million over 5 years, $10 Million over 7 years.

Here's the thing:

I'd much rather work together with ECSO rather  than maintaining an adversarial relationship with them, so I offer this as a start to a better working relationship, an olive branch.

See the PowerPoint presentation I will bring to tomorrow morning's meeting  here

AG Bondi to Sheriff Morgan: LET funds CAN be used to Fund School Resource Officers

Rushing to proclaim victory prematurely can be precarious....and embarrassing 

In what I can only describe as a strong and unambiguous validation for a steadfast  position I have taken regarding allowable uses for Law Enforcement Trust Funds--Attorney General Pam Bondi has now communicated to the Sheriff, via an advisory opinion, that LET funds CAN be used to fund School Resource Officers.

I'm somewhat perplexed as to why the ECSO Facebook page is proclaiming this Florida AGO ruling
a victory for their previously held (and flawed) understanding of allowable uses of  these funds.....  This AG opinion rebukes their position.  This ruling is devastating to their flawed assertions that SRO's salaries and benefits "cannot" be funded via the LETF.

So why does this matter?

This is important because the costs for the Escambia County Sheriff's Office portion of the total Escambia County School Board SRO program (School District pays the other half) run about $630,000.00 yearly.  This entire amount, the sheriff's half, has been funded from his general fund personnel budget historically.  What I know as a former 10 year school board member is the Escambia County School District's portion has historically been funded by a Safe Schools allocation from the State that totals about $1.2 Million yearly.  The School district uses roughly $630,000 of that state allocation yearly to fund its half of the  ECSO SRO program, and about $225,000 to fund the Pensacola Police Department (PPD) SRO program. The balance of roughly $300,000 yearly is used in other ways by the school district.   I do not believe any portion of the school district's safe schools allocation is used or has ever been used to fund the ECSO's $630,000 portion. 

So today's revelation about what the statute allows, and what Attorney General Bondi has now put in writing, is that LET funds can be utilized to fund  SROs for those portions of the year (roughly 9 months out of 12 or 75% of the year) when these officers are in the schools working.

A quick review of the previous years' contracts with the school board illustrates that 75% (9 of 12 months worth of this SRO funding) or as much as $470,000.00 yearly could have been funded by the Law Enforcement Trust (forfeiture) fund for the Sheriff's half of this program--even as the program recurs yearly--without violating Florida Law.

So looking once more at where/how the LET funds were actually spent (below) over the last ten years......

...one could easily ask this question:  How much general fund money could the Escambia County Sheriff's Office have saved if LET funds had been used to fund allowable, legal pro-rated SRO costs over the last 10 years instead of billboards, TV commercials, radio ads, and other such spending?  How much general fund money would that have freed-up for more pressing ECSO budgetary needs (pay-scale augmentation, retention bonuses, sign-on bonuses, etc. etc.) over the last ten years?  This is the question that needs to be asked and answered before people start spiking the football as if they have actually "won."

It makes me think of  the infamous story about how the press and others rushed to proclaim victory, prematurely, when in fact they were wrong.  Meanwhile Harry Truman used their own paper against them for one of the most iconic moments in American Political History. Dewey Defeats Truman...

Going Back to Tally Part III: Important Initiatives Move Forward!

I was in Tallahassee for political purposes in 1985 (Left picture) in 2007 (center-with Sen. Gaetz and Gov. Crist for the Merit Pay Bill signing ceremony) and yesterday to push for appointed superintendents of school statewide.  I've been going to to Tallahassee for Decades...

I took a day off of work yesterday in order to do something important:  I went to Tallahassee to testify about some important statewide issues that are going through the process to be placed on the ballot in 2018 as Constitutional Amendments.  Listen to the interview I gave to AM1620 on this topic here.

As I discussed here and here--going to Tallahassee is something I have done frequently over the years--beginning way, way back in 1985 when I was still in High School!  And because important proposals were to be voted on yesterday in the Education Sub-Committee of the CRC---- yes, I wanted to be there to speak.

Four main issues were discussed:  Class Size, Appointed vs Elected Superintendents, School Board Term Limits, and ending School Board Salaries.

I hold strong opinions on all of these issues.

---I support easing the class size mandate (or doing away with it altogether if feasible) to the extent we are able to do so because I have been unable to see data that points to any measurable increase in student achievement due exclusively to smaller class sizes.  Meanwhile, having this cap exacerbates our teacher shortage, limits our ability to increase teacher pay, and creates a situation where funding required to meet the law is not fully provided (unfunded mandate)--incentivizing some large districts to intentionally violate the cap with no significant penalties assessed (which has happened).  In the words of one panelist at yesterday's meeting "I would rather have a large class size with one amazingly talented teacher than a small class size with a marginal teacher"  I agree.

--I do not support eliminating school board salaries--I lived that job and those positions should be paid in my opinion.  (this measure did not pass out of committee)

-- I strongly support the amendment proposal to make all superintendents of schools, statewide, appointed rather than elected.  This arcane, anachronistic throwback model of school district governance and operation  is well past due for a change.  Of the nation's 15,500 or so public school districts------99.4% have figured this out and have moved to the correct structure:  Elect members of the board of education, and allow the board to hire the most qualified, highly-skilled and educated superintendent they can get from a nationwide pool.  (note:  this proposal passed favorably out of the meeting by a 6-2 vote, with Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart voting in support of this amendment proposal.)  We also learned yesterday that the bottom 10 districts if Florida, in terms of performance, have elected rather than appointed superintendents of schools.  Time for a change, time for us to enter the 21st century on this issue.  As Bruce Buffer would scream----It's time.

--I support term limits for elected school board members--did not speak to the proposal but waived in support. (this proposal passed unanimously)

Watch the videos of the entire proceeding  on the Florida Channel here and here.

Going Back to Tally Part II: Encouraging the Commission to End the Election of School Superintendents

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission has finalized the list of 103 items for consideration, for addition to the 2018 ballot.  All of these items will not make the ballot.  Several are similar.  Any that make it to the ballot require 60% voter approval for successful passage and subsequent addition to the Florida constitution.

#33 on the list is proposed amendment to make school superintendents appointed, rather than elected.

Currently, 99.4% of the 15,500 or so public school districts in the United States have moved to this model--with very good reason.

I've documented my tremendous support for appointed superintendents based upon many logical reasons--many of which I have delineated here on this blog.   To summarize the most important reason is simple.  The position of Superintendent -when elected-- undermines the elected board's ability to properly govern, allows for any 18 year old resident of a county to run for and win such a position, and injects too much politics into the job.  This is why the vast majority of the rest of the world has moved away from electing the school superintendent, and this is why Florida must do the same!

As a ten year school board member in a district that elects its chief operating officer for schools and its board of directors--I saw first hand how dysfunctional and dangerous this arrangement can be.

In my experience:

--legitimate information that I had a right to see and requested was kept from me and withheld from my view and analysis by a deliberate act of the elected superintendent of schools that I worked with--he did not want me to know how badly the weak teacher evaluation tool was pencil whipped by several schools and school principals--he didn't want a headline!

--Important information that was known to the elected superintendent and his senior staff about some nefarious conduct occurring at a district charter school (including cheating on standardized tests and grade inflation to fraudulently earn a  higher school grade and state bonus money) was deliberately withheld from the board for over a year according to senior staff that reported this to me subsequent to a whistle-blower revelation. (superintendent did not want a messy headline in the lead up to his re-election announcement)

--All 5 board members disagreed, unanimously, with the initiative to convert School Deans to 2nd Asst. Principals (to handle paperwork instead of discipline) at our two largest Middle Schools.  Superintendent did this conversion anyway---over our objections.  He said we didn't understand why this was necessary and had to happen

--On multiple occasions, I submitted items to be added to a school board agenda--and the superintendent deliberately did not add these items to the agenda for discussion/consideration by the board.  Often, he did not want a headline or the board to discuss something for which he already had a firm position.

There are many other--too numerous to list--reasons why the elected school superintendent model is a relic of the past that must be changed.  I will testify about this on Monday;  I'll testify about why I feel it is essential that this item be one that is put on the ballot for statewide consideration so that Florida can move its public education system 100% into the 21st century, along with the rest of the nation.

Going Back to Tally....Part I: Testifying

The Florida Capitol Building, Tallahassee Florida

The other day I was listening to talk radio and the intro to the 1987 LL Cool J rap song "Going back to Cali" was playing.  I remembered that song from a very good yet extremely depressing movie of that year, Less than Zero.

And then I thought about an upcoming trip I'm taking to Tallahassee---I'm not going back to Cali--I'm going back to Tally!  But I'm going to Tallahassee for a very important reason.

I've been there many times, the first time of significance was when I attended Florida Boy's State in 1985 and met then Governor Bob Graham and learned a lot about civics, politics, and elections.  That was a great experience.

I had the honor and privilege of attending Florida Boy's
State in the Summer of 1985

My next big trip to Tallahassee was not until 22 years later, in 2007, when as an elected school board member I was strongly supporting teacher Merit Pay and was present with Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Don Gaetz for the signing ceremony upon the passage of that legislation.

Merit Award Plan signing ceremony in 
Tallahassee, Florida
March, 2007.  Sen Gaetz, Gov. Crist, 
and Escambia School Board
Member Jeff Bergosh (background)

(footnote--only 9 of  67 counties [Escambia was one of the 9] ever successfully implemented that plan, the MAP, in year one.  by year 2, the unions killed it and statewide merit pay for teachers essentially ended in Florida until 2015 and the Best and Brightest Teacher Bonuses came to the forefront.  Don't worry though--Unions and status quo defenders are working in the courts to kill this now,  too.....)


While a school board member, I attended many meetings and lobbying sessions in Tallahassee, several of which were productive, many of which were not.  But along the way I met legislators and made connections.

In 2014 and 2015--when school choice was under fierce attack by liberals, Democrats, and status quo educrats--I made many trips to Tallahassee  (and other parts of the state as well).  Luckily for all the kids stuck in failing school attendance zones throughout the state--the suits seeking to end tax credit scholarships at that time were all eventually defeated.

But an important by-product of that attack on choice was the formation of the Florida Coalition of School Board Members and the passage of HB 7029 in 2016--which included language that I helped craft ending the monopoly on school board advocacy associations enjoyed comfortably for many years by the Florida School Boards Association.  I'm very proud of what we accomplished in Tallahassee, me and school board members and legislators from around the state working together to dismantle an unfair monopoly by allowing school board members choice in advocacy (or the ability not to fund their portion of "yearly dues" to an organization that ideologically was/is not supported by such individual school board members).  2015 was huge.

Fast Forward to the end of 2017 and I once again find myself going back to Tally.  This time, I am no longer a school board member but now a County Commissioner.

This time, the reason I'm going back to Tally is to advocate for some specific constitutional amendment proposals.

The constitution revision commission (a group assembled and convened only once every several decades in Florida) has finalized a list of 103 potential constitutional amendments for addition to the 2018 Ballot.  (A very brief yet very informative guide to the CRC is here.)  Several of these potential amendments  have my particular interest due to both my current job and to my past experience as an elected school board member.

So I'm going back to Tally to give my testimony about the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY that we push forward many of these proposals---in particular the one that will end the arcane, throwback practice of electing superintendents in the state of Florida.  This practice is such an anachronism and it is so damaging that it must end ----and if I can play a small part in pushing  this forward to the voters--- I'm ready willing and able to do so.  And I will.

Public Records Law: It's no Joke--Just ask Martin County.....

There are often huge monetary costs  associated with failure to comply with Florida's Open Record's Law.  Martin County just had to pay $371,800.00 in legal fees to partially settle a violation of the open records law...

People can be flip about requests.  Private citizens, in most instances, don't have to produce documents or anything else upon request by another private citizen unless there is a court order or a subpoena.

But public officials do not have the luxury of saying no.  Furthermore, they do not have the option of specifying arbitrary procedures after a request is made of them.  Heck, my understanding of the Florida public records law leads me to believe that a public official has to respond to a request to produce a document even if the request is made verbally.  If the request is made in writing and is not honored--there will be problems....

If a request is made of a public official and not fulfilled, there are penalties that can be enforced, to include monetary penalties and/or jail in some cases (look at the case of former Escambia County School Board Member Vanette Webb)

So I take any request made of me with deadly seriousness;  as a school board member I had to respond to many, many requests.  I filled them all, each and every one of them, as quickly and as thoroughly as humanly possible.  Thus far as a county commissioner I have responded to three records requests, and I complied quickly and thoroughly to each one.

Others locally are not as forthcoming and actually say no, or try to put conditions on how they will accept and when they will accept requests for information, or from whom they will accept requests...  They do so at their own peril, is all I will say....

Because I understand the law even though some that should, apparently do not understand the law