Rick Patrick: Greene Publishing, Inc.
This is the first in a series of weekly articles about the challenges facing our school district, and the measures proposed to meet those challenges.
There will no doubt be very difficult decisions that will have to be made in the coming weeks and months by Madison County school officials. According to information from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), Office of Funding and Financial Reporting, Madison County's schools have a dangerously low Financial Condition Ratio of just 3.72 percent. The Financial Condition Ratio can be thought of as “savings” or reserve funds as a ratio of total money from all funding sources. In past years, that ratio has been as high as 11.95 percent. In 2013-14 the ratio was 10.52 percent. During the 2014-15 school year, that ratio dropped to 6.45 percent before dropping to its current 3.72 percent. If nothing is done, that ratio is likely to drop further, due to financial obligations of the school district. Madison County School Board policy states that the district must maintain at least a five percent ratio. If that ratio drops below three percent, the FDOE declares the district to be in a state of financial emergency and moves in to implement corrective measures. The state average is 9.54 percent.
According to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Pickles, she was not aware of the magnitude of the problem before she took office in November, 2016. “I knew that there were problems, but was not aware that it was this bad,” said Pickles. The addition of two new charter schools has had some affect on the funding from the state (which is the source of most of the funding for the school district), but as a whole, funding from the state has remained constant, even increasing slightly. Pickles stated that the creation of several non-instructional positions has placed a tremendous financial strain on the school system's budget.
In order to solve this problem, Pickles says that everything is on the table in terms of saving money. “Everything from insurance to the schools' web sites are being looked at to see if we can save some money,” said Pickles. Other plans to help save money will be following a very strict staffing plan. According to Pickles, her plan is to staff each school according to the FTEs (Full Time Equivalent) they generate. The state funds schools based on the number of full time students in the school. Top priority will be any position that has a direct impact on student learning, such as teachers and para-professionals. These are just a few of the measures that are being considered in order to get the Financial Condition Ratio above five percent.