Newberry: Final community input meeting held for possible conversion to charter schools

A final community input meeting by Education First for Newberry regarding the proposed conversion of Newberry Elementary, Oak View Middle and Newberry High to public charter schools was held Tuesday evening in Newberry soon after a final proposed budget was released.

The meeting involved online speakers chosen by Newberry Education First: Shawn Arnold, legal expert with a team that provides legal counsel to multiple charter schools; Ilene Wilkins, CEO of UCP of Central Florida, a system of charter schools with a significant population of Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students; Linda Bartberger, Round Lake Charter School principal; Tiffany Mayhugh-Rego, Mascotte Charter School principal; Linda Searby, former professor at the University of Florida with experience as a public school educator and charter school director; and Andy Binns, Palm Beach County Schools financial director.

Panelists advocated for charter schools and spoke about why they were better than public, district-owned schools. A few noted the benefit of not having to pay rent, as Newberry’s schools would be in district-owned buildings.

The mother of Joel Searby, Education First for Newberry board member, was a panelist and advocated for the plan. Searby said she didn’t know about the initiative until the initial press conference, debunking accusations around who knew about the plan before it was released to the public. She said teachers can expect autonomy as the trusted professional in the classroom, involvement in the decision-making process, and the opportunity to innovate.

Alachua County schools spokesperson Jackie Johnson told The Sun in an email before the meeting that enrollment at Round Lake and Mascotte, both in Lake County, don’t match the demographics of this district. She said new students must apply for both schools and current students must notify the schools of their plan to return every year by a certain date. If the number of applicants exceeds capacity, there is a lottery system for admission.

After the panel, four breakout tables were created, each with their own topics: budget, led by Joel Searby; teacher package, led by Caroline Anderson; zone, led by Chelsea Lemming; and community input, led by a parent volunteer.

The community input table allowed people to give suggestions regarding curriculum, student code of conduct and other matters. No talking points were prepared for this discussion, Anderson told The Sun in an email prior to the meeting.

Searby said Tuesday that Newberry Education First accounted for “modest growth” in enrollment numbers at the schools to address capacity and enrollment concerns, noting that the more students they have, the more money they would receive. There is also a designated reserve of about $700,000 for each year’s budget, which includes 2% of the per-student amount, or Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) funds.

Current enrollment for all three schools is 2,364 students. Newberry Education First estimates 2,479 students in Year 1, 2,573 in Year 2 and 2,622 in Year 3.

Budget information

Newberry Education First released a synopsis of its budget, along with a news release on March 22, despite continued request by community members for a full, detailed budget.

No specific per-school numbers were released until a final budget was published on Tuesday — about an hour before the final community input meeting.

When asked over email why the document was published right before the meeting, Searby said they believe the community is “capable of reviewing the proposed budget over the next 16 days and able to make an informed decision about whether this plan is viable and financially sound.”

He also said they have provided “expert and third-party validations as well, including the City of Newberry's Chief Financial Officer finding the plan to be 'materially sound' after reviewing it in-depth, consulting their own independent auditor, insurance professionals, the Charter Support Unit and the City of Cape Coral who runs a similar, though not exactly the same, system."

Voting begins April 5.

Everything currently being funded at each school is included in the budget, the presentation said, including transportation, food service, athletics, curriculum and all current employees and programs, among other things.

The presentation stated the budget was created by a team of professionals and volunteers who collaborated and signed off on it. This team included school finance professionals, teachers, coaches, activities directors, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an auditor, among others. It does not list names of anyone who collaborated.

The budget was modeled with the Florida Department of Education’s Charter School Template budget tool, which helps lock in guaranteed funds and state-provided formulas customized to the county. It provides formulas for all federal and state required amounts, as well as minimums and non-negotiable expenses and revenues, the presentation said.

It also said Newberry Education First cross-referenced current ACPS enrollment and expenses for each school to make sure all expenses were accounted for.

“After meticulous scrutiny and analysis by a proficient team, the proposed budget stands as a testament to Newberry Education First's commitment to transparency, accuracy, and the best interests of the community," the news release reads.

“The extensive deliberations and hours of effort invested in crafting this budget underscore our steadfast resolve to ensure that every allocation serves the educational needs of our diverse student body," the presentation says.

Highlights of the budget, the news release says, include funding for transportation, enhanced support for ESE education and increased teacher pay and funding in several categories.

School funding follows the student in Florida, the presentation notes. The average amount is about $8,050 per student statewide.

Regardless of the type of school, this money is allotted based on enrollment. Each student receives a base amount while students with other needs receive an additional amount, the presentation says. Additional dollars are funded per student for accommodations such as transportation, safety and classroom supplies.

Additionally, charter schools receive a proportionate share of Alachua County’s one mil tax — $1 on every $1,000 of taxable value of a property — which amounts to about $752 per student, Searby said Tuesday evening. Additional federal and state dollars can be awarded for Title I, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds and specialized charter school support, as well as other funding and support programs.

The budget estimates show a growing estimated surplus each year and a decrease in net revenue within three years.

Estimated income is broken down further into revenues, which would be around $23.4 million for Year 1, $24.8 million for Year 2 and $25.5 million for Year 3. The largest source of revenue each year would be state funding, followed by additional federal and county revenue.

The final budget provides individual, school-by-school numbers, which Searby said would be different when broken out. A disclaimer on the budget says that in the per-school budgets, some budget numbers are intentionally different to account for different revenues and increased expenses due to less efficiency than if converting all three schools.

“Adding the three individual school tabs totals will not equal the same summary numbers as the full system budget because when all three schools convert it will impact both revenue possibilities and expense efficiencies,” the disclaimer reads.

Total operations expenses, which include academic supplies, facilities and transportation among other operational items, are estimated to grow each year. Total estimated expenses in Year 1 is about $22.2 million, increasing to about $25 million by Year 3.

Total employee expenses are also projected to increase, with employee salaries starting off at about $11.4 million in Year 1 and growing to about $12.9 million by Year 3, bumping up total employee costs.

There is room in the budget for athletics, which is broken down into categories: athletics equipment and support; coaching and activities stipends; athletic and field trip transport; and band at Oak View and Newberry High .

The Newberry school system would pay administrative fees to Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) of 5% on the first 250 students enrolled at each school if they don’t become a Local Education Authority (LEA). But Searby said they plan to. He said the current budget doesn't account for becoming an LEA, which requires approval. The budget includes the fee in order to be conservative.

Issues and concerns

Community members have expressed concern about the way information has been released, which has come across as last-minute and rushed. A final budget was released on the Yes Newberry Facebook page a little over an hour before the final community input meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Searby addressed that issue Tuesday night, stating the group needed to make sure “the final entity that would be a critical piece of this working was actually believing that it was going to work.”

Searby said that Newberry's CFO said the plan was "materially sound" at a Newberry Commission meeting Monday, which made them feel confident to share the details

However, the final budget, called a "full detailed budget" by the group, doesn't go into line-by-line detail and still lacks information. The school district spokesperson, Jackie Johnson, said the budget has some potential discrepancies.

While the charter budget allocates $704,580 under utilities in the first year, she said, the district has budgeted about $1.18 million for utilities at the three schools for 2023-24. This includes water, sewage, garbage collection, gas and electricity. This leaves a $472,000 difference and it’s unlikely for utilities to decrease — and, if they do, it won't be by that much, Johnson said.

Additionally, as the district has told The Sun before, most charter schools, even P.K. Yonge, have the district run their food service programs. If that’s the case for Newberry, then having these figures in the budget is misleading, Johnson said.

If Newberry decides to become its own food service operators, she said, they will need to come up with a lot more money.

Newberry schools generated about $1.3 million in food service revenues last year, but expenditures for those schools were about $1.6 million. Newberry Education First estimates a school lunch program revenue of $803,520 in Year 1 with food costs of $659,556, assuming food staff costs are included under employee salaries.

Johnson also said she believes other costs are unaccounted for in the food service budget. For example, all NES students are eligible for free meals regardless of family income under part of the district's Community Eligibility Program. That would not continue if there's a switch to charter, as the school wouldn't qualify.

Searby told The Sun in an email that food service must be accounted for in the budget because it will have cost and revenue associated with it. He said the plan keeps current food service staff employed and that federal funds provide a large portion of food service funding.

In terms of athletics, the presentation says Newberry will allocate $181,500 each year for coaching and activities stipends — referred to as supplements by the district, as it includes extra pay for coaching sports, sponsoring clubs and being a department chair, among others. Johnson said this pay is in addition to salaries. Just last year, she said, the district paid the staff at those schools $273,611 in supplements.

Additionally, conversion charter schools cannot receive facilities property tax revenues, which is a 1.5 millage rate and makes up most of the facilities funding in the district. So there are concerns on how they will address the growing capacities that are projected. The schools can’t impose school impact fees or issue bonds.

The vote to convert the schools to public charters will be held in April.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Newberry: Final community input meeting held for possible conversion to charter schools