- April 24, 2024
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Concerned that the Flagler County Board of Commissioners might reject Flagler Schools' proposed impact fee hike, the School Board appears to be heading toward a Plan B.
At its information workshop on Oct. 19, the board asked staff to present options it can discuss at its special board meeting on Oct. 28. The special meeting had been designated to approve a salary increase allocation agreement with the school unions. The impact fee discussion will be added to the agenda.
Citing extraordinary circumstances based on student growth projections, the school district had proposed raising impact fees including an increase for single-family homes from $3,600 to $7,175. The increase would be the district’s first since 2004.
The County Commission has scheduled a workshop and special meeting for Nov. 2 to discuss and decide the fate of the district's proposal.
School Board Chair Trevor Tucker brought up the matter during old business at the end of the four-hour workshop.
Tucker said he does not want to see the School Board get into a dispute with the County Commission, and he also does not want to see the district get into a lengthy mediation over the issue.
“Can we ask for something (the commission) would find more palatable?” Tucker asked.
One suggestion is for the district to recommend a "stair-step" approach in which fees are gradually raised.
“What I want to do is come up (with a proposal) as soon as possible,” Tucker said.
The other board members agreed.
“As a community we do not need a board against a board," School Board member Jill Woolbright said. "We went for the gusto. If that’s not going to be approved, I don’t say we butt heads to get the whole amount.”
While board members stressed the district’s proposed increase is necessary to pay for future school expansion, Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt praised the board and district staff for doing all it can to present its case.
“We’re a small school district,” she said. “Only (revenue for expansion) are impact fees or the 1.5 mill (capital outlay). The resolution I think is very sound. We’ve done all we can to defend ourselves. I think as a board you’ve done everything you should be doing.”
During an update on middle school and high school rezoning, which is scheduled to be finalized in December, Woolbright said there is "a growing concern among a large constituency group" over the word "equity," in regards to the rezoning plan, noting the word is used in the district's strategic plan.
Some speakers during public comment at the regular School Board meeting that followed the workshop criticized the use of "equity" as opposed to "equality."
School Board attorney Kristy Gavin said Flagler County is one of five school districts in the state still under a federal desegregation order from 1972 and is attempting to achieve unitary status.
"I will need to file a request for approval in federal court with any rezoning we do," she said.
Mittelstadt said equity is providing the resources to give all students an equal opportunity to succeed.
"We need to make sure these targeted efforts are out there," she said.
Conklin said there is a perception that the school district is rezoning to readjust demographics, and stated that's not the case.
"We would not be rezoning based upon the current population of our schools," Gavin said. "We are rezoning because of (Flagler Palm Coast High School's) excess capacity and (Matanzas High School) is not at capacity, and we will have the same issue with our middle schools."
Gavin said desegregation is a federal requirement, but it is not the driving force for rezoning.
The only change in the proposed middle school and high school zoning map is the 'R' section and everything west moving from Buddy Taylor Middle School and FPC to Indian Trails Middle School and Matanzas, said Patty Bott, the district's coordinator of planning and intergovernmental relations.
"Everything else is the same," Bott said "We’re keeping the entire neighborhood together."
As board members reviewed School Board protocols, a disagreement resurfaced between board members Janet McDonald and Conklin that stemmed from the Aug. 17 board meeting.
McDonald said board members "were blindsided" when Conklin made three motions to issue mask mandates. All three motions were defeated.
The motions, made during old business, followed a contentious public comment session during which deputies cleared the room and the meeting was paused for half an hour.
McDonald said the item should have been discussed at the workshop before the meeting. Conklin said it was an emergency item.
Gavin said it had been placed four days earlier under old business as a discussion item.
"We weren't told," School Board member Jill Woobright said. "We don't have new items unless they're communicated."
"The whole point of having it at the meeting and not the workshop was for possible action," Conklin said. "In my opinion (the delta variant) was rampant."
"It wasn't rampant," McDonald responded.
Gavin, as parliamentarian, said she did not know if there would be a vote.
"I take full-scale ownership for failing to communicate that with you," she later added. "We had a lot of moving parts going on that night. But that’s not an excuse."
