- May 7, 2024
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Flagler Schools Superintendent Jacob Oliva speaks during the State of Education address Oct. 4. (Photo by Jonathan Simmons)
Flagler students are winning national recognition even as the district ranks 64th in state money provided to the district per student.
“That’s something that is a grave concern of ours, and we want to make sure that folks are aware of that: that we are doing an amazing job, even though we feel like sometimes we might be getting a little bit shortchanged,” Flagler Schools Superintendent Jacob Oliva said during his annual State of Education address Oct. 4.
The district also has the 6th-highest RLE — Required Local Effort, the taxes used to fund education — of the state’s 67 school districts, Oliva said.
The funding is set through the Florida Educational Finance Program, he said, which collects money raised by local school taxes and then reallocates it to districts throughout the state based on a formula. The RLE rate is set by the Florida Legislature.
“In Flagler County, we have the sixth-highest millage rate for property taxes, yet we are the 64th lowest-funded school district in the state,” Oliva said. “Other districts, like Putnam, are higher funded per student even though they pay less taxes. … There’s something that is happening within the way these funding formulas are calculated, and it’s something that has been on our School Board’s radar, administration’s radar; we’re working with our legislators to make sure sure they’re aware of it. We want to make sure that the dollars here locally stay local.”
About 90% of the district’s budget comes from local sales tax and property taxes, Oliva said, while about 10% comes from federal dollars.
The district has shifted away from an educational model that focuses on having students learn particular sets of content to one that emphasizes practical skill building, Oliva said, such as programs that let students learn construction techniques or work on their private pilots’ license while enrolled.
“A lot of it comes down to problem solving, critical thinking, creation,” he said. “We don’t want our students to be just consumers of content, we want them to be producers of content.”
The district’s flagship programs, started about four years ago as part of the district’s classroom-to-careers initiative, “is something that we continue to see expand and grow,” Oliva said.
Most of the flagship programs are STEM-based — focusing on science, technology engineering and math — because research shows that’s where the jobs are, with 26 million STEM-related jobs in the U.S. currenlty, Oliva said. Vacancies in STEM fields, he said, average two positions per applicant.
This year, Oliva said, Old Kings Elementary School developed a marine science focus, and Bunnell Elementary School is focusing on robotics and agriscience. Wadsworth Elementary has an engineering program.
A partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University also helped the district create an unmanned flight program, and the district has created its first “drone zone,” where students and residents will be able to fly drones in a controlled environment.
“We know that if we can bring relevancy into the classroom, and give our students exposure to to the real world around them, that is the hook that gets them excited about learning,” Oliva said.
The district’s school grades have dropped as the district shifted from the Sunshine Standards assessments to the Florida Standards assessments, Oliva said, but that drop was mirrored across the state.
The way learning gains are calculated also changed. “It’s just a very significant change, and it’s impacted the way schools are graded across the state of Florida,” Oliva said.
The district has set four broad goals, Oliva said: 1) Create strength in partnerships that allow all students to build positive relationships with peers, staff and community members; 2) Create a motivating, personalized educational experience that supports a safe, 21st century learning- and working- environment, in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible; 3) Provide staff with job-related training and mentoring to support social, emotional and academic needs of all students, and 4) To recruit, motivate, compensate and retain top-quality employees that reflect the diversity and values of the community.
