State Takeover Of Hillsborough School District Stops At 11th Hour

TAMPA, FL — The Florida Department of Education backed down on threats to take over the Hillsborough County School District's finances after the school system submitted an 11th-hour financial recovery plan that includes using the federal coronavirus recovery money the state has been holding hostage.

It took a trip to Tallahassee by Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Addison Davis and a personal meeting with DOE Commissioner Richard Corcoran to work out the deal to avoid a state takeover.

Although he said it's not a permanent fix, Davis said state officials agreed to release federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money, giving the school district the required minimum 2 percent in budget reserves to remain solvent.

Davis said this will allow the district to meet its financial obligations through June 30.

School District Gets Mandate From State

The school district's back was up against the wall after receiving a letter from Corcoran April 22 with an ultimatum: resolve its $100 million budget shortfall in 20 days or the state would step in and take over the financial concerns of the country's seventh-largest school district.

"The district's lack of attention to this issue since 2015 has already created a disruption with your workforce, and your lack of comprehensive and timely action at present threatens the basic delivery of education services to Hillsborough's students," wrote Corcoran.

Davis said he inherited the school district's massive debt when he was appointed superintendent of the district in March 2020. The coronavirus pandemic only worsened the financial situation.

School districts receive reimbursements from the state based on the number of students in desks. However, when the pandemic was declared, many parents opted to educate their children online at home. As a result, the school district was forced to purchase hundreds of computers for online students.

In addition, it had to shell out funds for personal protection equipment for all its schools, additional janitorial staff to disinfect high-traffic areas and install special filtering systems in schools.

This all came at a high cost. In January, Davis said he had no choice but lay off teachers and defer hiring others to fill open positions.

"We recouped $55 million since January because of the strategies we put in place," Davis said.

In addition to staffing cuts, Davis said he renegotiated employee contracts and cracked down on overtime to cut costs.

Congresswoman Chides DeSantis

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, laid the blame for the school district's crisis at the feet of Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, for refusing to release the monies for schools appropriated by Congress during the second round of the CARES Act funding in December.

“While I am gratified that Hillsborough County Public Schools will benefit from COVID-19 federal emergency aid, students and educators should not have been forced to wait over five months for the state to release a portion these funds," she said. "Congress passed these emergency relief funds in December 2020 with the direction to expeditiously provide the emergency resources to local schools and educators."

She said she personally urged DeSantis and the Florida Legislature in February to send the money to local school districts as soon as possible to keep teachers on the job and address learning gaps.

"Instead, the state slow-walked the money to the detriment of our students and educators," she said. “The state is still slow-walking a large portion of emergency funds that are due to (Hillsborough County public schools) and appears to be siphoning off significant dollars to charter schools. Together with parents, teachers and local leaders, I intend to keep a close eye on the state to ensure that the federal emergency aid is provided according to federal law and serves the purpose we intended: to support our students and educators immediately, ensure continuity of student learning, avoid layoffs and other detrimental consequences."

On Tuesday, Castor called DeSantis' refusal to hand over federal money to school districts "a true embarrassment for a modern, dynamic state like Florida.

"This is particularly critical in a state where the GOP-controlled Legislature’s failure to adequately support public schools year after year keeps Florida students in the basement for per-pupil funding - ranked 46th in nation."

School Districts Didn't Spend 1st Round Of CARES Funds

Although the COVID relief money was supposed to be dispersed to school districts, DeSantis and the GOP-held Legislature retained control of the federal funds, maintaining it was the Legislature's responsibility to decide where and how the money should be spent.

Among the sticking points was the DOE's insistence that the federal relief funds be used only for coronavirus-related expenses, not recurring budget items such as teachers' salaries.

DeSantis also expressed annoyance after learning that school districts hadn't spent 60 percent of the $693.2 million they'd received from the first round of CARES Act funding in May 2020.

The money was intended to pay for technology, protective gear and cleaning supplies when schools opened in the fall of 2020. But according to a report by the DOE, as of Feb. 10, Lee and Wakulla County school districts had spent only 10 percent of their recovery funds. Marion, Lake, Martin and Brevard County school districts had spent 11 to 20 percent of their funds. And the Hillsborough County School District had spent only 56 percent of its money.

State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Melbourne Beach, chairman of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said he was concerned about doling out the additional $2.8 billion from the second round of federal COVID funds to districts that hadn't made use of the revenue they'd already received.

“Our schools have been drowning in federal funding,” Fine said. “COVID, it turns out, is the greatest booster for K-12 education in the history of public education.”

In their defense, the state's public school districts said they hadn't spent all of their initial federal funds because they were budgeting from month to month, hoping to make the relief money last through 2022.

DeSantis Signs School Voucher Bill

On Tuesday, DeSantis made it clear that he wanted to funnel more funds to vouchers for private schools when he signed a $200 million school choice plan into law. Under the plan, 61,000 new students are eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers for private tuition and other education expenses.

“All in all, there is going to be more opportunities for more students and more families in the state of Florida as a result of this legislation,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill at St. John the Apostle Catholic School in Hialeah.

Davis said he understands the state's reticence to distribute additional federal dollars to school districts that hadn't spent the entirety of the first round of funds.

"They're (the Legislature) just looking at how they're going to fund education, the overall budget and how that impacts us, so that we do not use reoccurring dollars for hard positions," he said.

But, in the case of the Hillsborough County School District, holding back the money exacerbated an already-critical budget crisis.

"I think that's kind of where we got into that difficult place in Hillsborough," Davis said.

Financial Recover Plan Unanimously Approved

On Tuesday, a relieved Hillsborough County School Board unanimously approved the financial recovery plan for the school district that will be forwarded to the DOE just one day before Corcoran's deadline. It's now up to the state to approve or disapprove it.

In the meantime, Davis said the school district will continue to looks at ways to cut spending.

"We're going to continue to have to implement mitigation strategies related to reducing district budget, reducing travel, reducing overtime and being able to leverage federal dollars," Davis said.

Although he promised there would be no more staffing cuts, teachers are concerned.

In his letter to the school district, Corcoran said the school district is overstaffed by as many as 3,000 employees.

See related stories:

• Fix $100M Hole Or Hillsborough Schools Will Be Taken Over: State
• Parents Demand Hillsborough Schools Head Resign Over 1K Job Cuts