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Newberry proposes converting its public schools to public charter schools

Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe speaks at the Feb. 19 press conference | Photo: Amber Thibodaux

BY AMBER THIBODAUX

NEWBERRY, Fla. – At a press conference on Monday, a group of parents and leaders in the Newberry community, along with Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe, announced a proposal to convert Newberry Elementary, Oak View Middle, and Newberry High School into public charter schools – known as a “charter conversion” – if a majority of parents and teachers approve the proposal in a vote scheduled for April. This initiative was launched by a group of local parents, and the official application for charter conversion was filed under a local non-profit called Education First for Newberry. If the vote passes at any or all of the schools, it would give the Newberry community an opportunity to have local governing authority over those schools, with all decisions handled by the City Commission until a City school board is elected.

A flyer that was made available at the press conference states the following:

“By voting YES to convert Newberry’s three existing schools into public charter schools, we will create a new Newberry school system with local leadership while still meeting the same high standards expected of every other public school. Newberry’s parents and families will get community-based leadership to ensure great schools for our students and the community.”

The Florida Department of Education website explains charter schools this way:

A conversion charter school is a type of charter school that is converted from an existing traditional public school that has been in operation for two or more years.

Joel Searby | Photo: Amber Thibodaux

“Dedicated group of parents” worked out the details of the proposal

Local business owner Joel Searby, who has two children in Newberry schools and one at Archer Elementary, announced the initiative to a crowd of around 75 people who were gathered on the lawn in front of Newberry City Hall. Searby is a founder of Education First for Newberry, along with Morgan Stefanelli and Carsen Stefanelli. The nonprofit was created in December 2023.

“As a parent, as a community member, as a coach, I’ve seen firsthand a lot of the challenges that our students and our teachers are facing,” Searby said. “Today’s press conference is the culmination of months of research, conversations, and hard work by a dedicated and diverse group of people who have been looking to give the parents and teachers of Newberry schools the chance to start and chart a new path forward, that puts education first,” he continued.

Searby explained that a “dedicated group of parents” will deliver letters to each of the three schools on Tuesday, requesting that a vote be held to convert all three to public charter schools – which would create a “new Newberry school system led by Newberry leaders in partnership with the City of Newberry.”

Schools must follow state standards, but local officials will have more control over programs

Newberry schools would still follow the state and federal curriculum standards for all other public schools, and all sports programs and magnets would remain the same; however, Newberry’s own leadership will have the opportunity to decide on a variety of programs, supports, testing, and discipline policies that work for their specific needs.

In response to questions surrounding who will own the school buildings, Searby said the buildings would remain the property of Alachua County Public Schools but would be maintained and used by the Newberry public charter schools. 

“It’s important for residents, voters, and taxpayers, not just in Newberry but around the county, to remember that the school board, like any other elected government body, is intended to be a servant representative of the people who live, work, play, and attend school in their jurisdiction,” Searby said.

“The taxpayers, parents, students, and community members truly own the buildings, and they are intended to serve the educational needs of each community, not be a source of power or political struggle. Education First for Newberry is dedicated to being good stewards of each school building in Newberry and putting them to great use for our kids,” Searby added.

Voting procedures

By state statute, each school will be required to conduct the vote once the request is officially submitted in writing. If any school passes with a majority “yes” vote (50% + 1 of each of the separate votes of parents and teachers), then the school, in cooperation with the City of Newberry and educational experts, will undergo the process of seeking approval from the Florida Charter Review Commission and will negotiate terms with the Alachua County School Board. This process is expected to take roughly one year; the goal is to begin operating under the system at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year.

The Florida Department of Education website defines a conversion charter school as a traditional public school that has been converted into a public charter school.  The school must have operated for at least two years as a traditional public school in a school district before conversion. Application for a conversion may be made by a parent, teacher, principal, district school board, or school advisory council, but must be approved by a majority of the teachers and a majority of the parents.  A majority of the parents must participate in the vote, and the vote must take place within 60 days of receiving the letters requesting the conversion. 

Ballots will be mailed out to each household that has a student enrolled in any of Newberry’s three schools. Each household will receive one vote; if a child has two separate residences, then the “primary residence” will receive the ballot, meaning that there will only be one vote per student. If a parent is also a teacher at one of the three schools, that parent would be able to vote twice, once as a teacher and once as a member of the household. If a parent has a child in more than one school, that family would receive a ballot from each school. School administrators are not able to vote. If any teacher does not vote, that will automatically count as a “no” vote. Each school that passes by a 50% +1 margin will then submit an application for conversion to the school board and state, and the change will be implemented.

The state has a structured set of standards governing the process of converting public schools to public  charter, which can be read in its entirety here. A summary of these statutes is as follows:

Ballot process:

  • Support for a conversion charter school shall be determined by secret ballot.
  • Teachers and parents shall be offered the opportunity to vote on whether or not to approve the charter school proposal.
  • A minimum of one school day shall be allotted for teachers to submit a ballot and a minimum of six consecutive school days shall be allotted for parents to submit a ballot.
  • Written notification of a ballot shall be provided to teachers and parents at least 30 days prior to conducting the ballot. 
  • The official ballots shall be created and distributed by the school and submitted by teachers and parents in a sealed, unmarked envelope also provided by the school.
  • Separate ballot boxes shall be created for teacher and parent votes and each box shall be visibly sealed, supervised during school hours, and secured when the school is closed in order to maintain the confidentiality of ballots.
  • Upon placement of the ballot by the voter into the ballot box, the school administrator or designee who is not eligible to vote shall confirm the individual’s eligibility to vote and document who submitted the ballot in order to ensure only eligible individuals vote and no individual votes more than once.

Ballot results:

  • As soon as possible, but not more than three school days after closing the ballot, a public meeting shall be held in which an independent arbitrator, selected by agreement between the school administrator and the applicant, will unseal the teacher and parent ballot boxes and count the ballots aloud in the presence of meeting attendees.
  • Each vote shall be tallied by the independent arbitrator.
  • The final ballot results shall be posted in a prominent location on the school site.
  • If a majority of teachers employed at the school and a majority of voting parents support the charter proposal, the conversion charter application must be submitted during the same calendar year the vote is held.
  • If a majority of parents and/or teachers do not support the charter proposal, the application may not be submitted.
  • Only one vote per calendar year may be held.

If the vote passes by a simple majority, then the application will go to the Alachua County School Board and the State Charter Commission for approval. If approved, then negotiations will begin on terms related to transportation, school textbooks and equipment, school facilities, etc. If the school board rejects the application, the notice must articulate in writing the specific reasons for denial and must provide documentation supporting those reasons. This decision can be appealed by Education First for Newberry, in which case the appeal process would be taken to the state level. 

Nuts and bolts for teachers and students

Searby said that if this initiative passes, all teachers who are currently employed by the three schools will be retained if they choose to stay. He announced a goal of giving all teachers a 3% raise going into the fall of 2025 and said that employee benefits will be comparable, if not better than, what they currently receive via the school district. 

All students currently enrolled in each school will have the option to stay at their current school in the fall of 2025. The new leadership, with input from parents, teachers, and the community, will determine the new zoning lines for automatic eligibility, starting with the cities of Newberry and Archer and moving out geographically from there. This is projected to include a radius of up to 8 miles outside the Newberry city limits.

Funding and governance

Charter schools are funded through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) in the same way as all other public schools and receive operating funds from the FEFP based on the number of full-time students enrolled. Charter schools may also access federal funds through a competitive grant process.

According to Marlowe, the schools would be governed by the Newberry City Commission, acting as a “transitionary” school board for the first 3-5 years. Eventually, a governing school board and superintendent would be elected by the Newberry community. Marlowe explained that because the City of Newberry already has most administrative positions in place, administrative overhead costs would be low, and all funding dollars would stay in Newberry. Marlowe said he anticipates a funding surplus of approximately $2 million because all of the funding would stay in Newberry, including the portion that now goes to the school district for administration and transportation.

Parents and teachers have expressed a “growing sense of despair”

Other speakers at the press conference included District 22 Representative Chuck Clemons; Naim Erched, a local parent who also serves on the Newberry Planning and Zoning Board; Jason McGehee, a local parent and former Newberry Commissioner; and Annah McGehee, a freshman at Newberry High School who is on the debate team and a member of the Student Government Association.

Erched said he consistently hears stories from friends and teachers in the community who have grown frustrated with the state of the education system in Alachua County and feel a “growing sense of despair” that nothing can be done. 

“I can’t accept that,” Erched told the crowd. “This is our community, these are our kids. We have a responsibility to do all that we can for them,” he continued. “We’re asking for you to vote yes for Newberry – vote yes for our kids.”

Annah McGehee speaks at the press conference | Photo: Amber Thibodaux

Annah McGehee said she’s excited for the future of Newberry and happy to be a part of this initiative. “Newberry isn’t just another town in Alachua County – it’s a tight-knit community where neighbors know each other by name, where local businesses thrive on trust and loyalty, and where family and friends come together to create a rich environment of support and friendship,” McGehee said. “In Newberry, I feel like someone whose opinion matters. To our school board: I feel like we as students are just statistics… I want the adults in charge to know me and care about me,” she continued.

Marlowe took a moment to thank all the parents who showed up and spoke in support of the initiative. “When it comes to the education of our children, it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out here in the spotlight like this, to name those challenges out loud, and then to put forth a plan that allows all of us to work together towards a solution,” he said.

Marlowe continued, “Keeping our schools great has been a challenge with the increasing pressure on teachers, large classes, too many portables, mandates from a large and frequently disconnected county school board, divisive politics, and local needs that continue to go unmet. Thankfully, we now have a solution that can bring all three Newberry schools under the leadership of Newberry community leaders while ensuring that excellent education, increased teacher pay, and those same great sports and activities that we have all come to love.” 

Addressing concerns about inclusion of minority and underrepresented groups

Marlowe also made a point to emphasize that the initiative will be inclusive and equitable to all children in the community and addressed what he foresaw as possible concerns for some parents. 

“I want to confront what will undoubtedly be a concern for many of our friends and neighbors:… I want to address one difficult piece of this right here, right now, right at the start. Many of us have felt the insecurity and instability that comes from a politically-divided school board and a divisive national culture, and here’s the reality: this proposal is going to make some people uncertain and perhaps fearful that this change is politically motivated  and can lead to less equity, less considerations for minority and underrepresented groups – or that this is an attempt to silence or subdue groups of students. I would not be here today if I wasn’t 100% sure that that was not the intent,” Marlowe said.

“But I’m not going to shy away from those questions. I understand where those questions come from, I accept the truth of where those concerns stem from – the parents who are bringing this forward understand that concern as well,” he continued.

“Let’s put children’s education first – every child, no matter their race, gender, socioeconomic background, or special need – they want to put your child first… let’s put children first. That is why I am proud to stand here and fully support this initiative and pledge that I will do all I can as mayor to assure that our schools have the necessary accountability, transparency, and structure for the City of Newberry to succeed,” Marlowe added. 

Brittany Libengood, whose daughter attends Newberry Elementary, was at the press conference and told us she’s excited to be a part of this initiative. “I feel the focus has been taken off the children and their education and the current system is distracted and focused on individual agendas that do not currently serve the best interests of our community. The conversion would allow our Newberry community’s standards for our children’s education to be the priority,” Libengood said.

School district response

Alachua County Public Schools Spokeswoman Jackie Johnson released a statement from the Alachua County School Board that said, “The district has begun reviewing the potential impact of the conversion of the three schools to charters on students, families, and staff both in and outside of the City of Newberry. That review will include ongoing discussions with Newberry Education First, the City Commission of Newberry, and others involved with the initiative. Alachua County Public Schools remains committed to the success of all students in the district.”

Town hall meetings to be held on Feb. 23, March 6, and March 26

Marlowe said three town hall meetings will be held to answer any questions that the community may have regarding this initiative. Those dates are February 23, March 6, and March 26. All meetings will be at 6 p.m. at the Newberry Municipal Building. 

A website has been set up by Education First for Newberry, which includes an FAQ tab with additional information, linked here.

  • Awesome. Nice to see ‘locals’, citizens taking back their community and seeking to protect and provide for their children.

  • It isn’t just the Alachua County school board failing it’s mission…all levels of Gainesville /Alachua County elected and appointed government have shown and are showing their ineptness at getting about anything done. Every meeting among these democrats has ended in bickering, grandstanding, or wandering off in the weeds somewhere (or a mixture of all 3).

    Still… They get the votes. So a significant number of your neighbors are all for it. Lovin’ it. Wanting more of it. Think it’s the only way to be.
    Let THAT sink in.

    • From your anwer, I doubt you even completed middle school! School board is voted on by registered voters and in Alachua County, there are more Democrats than Republicans. Don’t like it, move on or pipe down. If this does go through, you are shrinking the taxpayer base to construct new schools, losing competitiveness in new teachers and an already dismal pay that is 10%-15% below public school teachers. But by all means, proceed to “stick it to the libs.” Just remember this is what you wanted, when the clerk at the gas station can’t change your $5 bill because of a lack of a good general education.

      • You progressive democrats don’t own a damn thing!…29% of registered voters is hardly a representation of the county (29% was the turnout for last school board election 2022). Maybe this recent mess of local politics will shake more voters to get off their as$ and vote next school board election. It’s a shame more people waste their vote on worthless uniparty national elections (Alachua County 75% turnout 2020 presidential election) but won’t bother to vote locally. That’s the problem – you people drool over flashy televised news and don’t a sh!t about local issues. And I’m talking about Republicans and Democrats both!
        https://www.votealachua.com/Elections/Election-Results

        • Sounds like a YOU problem. If “29% of registered voters” voted no the school board, then you failed at motivating more people to vote. What indication do you have that voters would participate more in a public charter district? If people fail to participate in democracy, they can’t complain about the results.

          • Only an idiot or activist would promote and defend the current government education system. Are you living in a different reality from the rest of us?..do you have zero Common Sense? US public government schools are a laughing stock around the world.

            It takes time to motivate and educate a large portion of voters for local issues. Local issues don’t have CNN and Fox like the fed elections use to (propagandize) motivate voters. So watch and find out…you’ll realize the local backlash soon my friend. Enjoy the rotten fruits of you labor

          • Apparently, you do not understand the definition of idiot, unless you happen to be posting this from your bathroom mirror. You are the one quick to pop out the label gun that is follow up with nonsense questions. But since you choose to label me “progressive democrat”, I will school you on the current system.
            Alachua County spent more per student at Newbery Elementary, Oak View Middle and Newberry High than the majority of other schools in the district.
            No Newberry resident has run or for a seat on the school board, to voice their “concerns” as this non-profit suddenly does.
            Charter schools pay teachers on average 10%-15% less than public school teachers and have less resources.

            I eagerly wait you next word salad of nonsense catch phrases!

          • Where did you get your numbers from? On the SBAC website is the annual cost per student report (most recent one being 2021-2022) which doesn’t support your statement that they spent more per student than the majority of the other schools in the district. Pretty much in the middle for Oakview and NHS, but Newberry Elementary is 6th from the bottom in spending. Do you have more recent information?

          • Absolutely. The link in below my post. Most recent budget posted is from the 2022-2023 school year:

            -Newberry Elementary, with 614 enrolled received $5 million, which breaks down to $8,143 spent on each student. Similar in size Parker Elementary, with 639 students enrolled received $4.5 million, or $7,042 per student. Newberry Elementary has less students but received more funds.
            -Oak View Middle has an enrollment of 945 and spent $6.1million, or $6,514 per student.
            Lincoln’s enrollment was 707 and spent $3.9million or $5,656 per student. Similarly, Ft. Clarke’s enrollment of 915 and $5.1 million budget means $5,663 was spent on each student.
            -Newberry High school enrollment of 595 students and with expenditures of $3.6 million, means the school district spent $6,868 per student, which you will see, is the most out of all high schools.
            Gainesville High School student population was 1,606 with a $9.7 million budget equaling $6,039 per student.
            Buchholz enrollment of 2,154 had $11.8 million budgeted, which means each student received $5,478 in education, which is the lowest of all high schools.
            Eastside enrollment of 1,103 with a budget of $6..8 million equals $6,165 per student.

            Thee figures are drawn from each school’s general fund as well as the half-cent sales tax, Federal food funds and the two COVID relief acts. Removing COVID funds only lowers the individual student number by a few dollars. Budget includes staff salaries, utilities, supplies and CapEx of each school. They do not include transportation (buses) as it has its own budget.

            My analysis shows clearly that Newberry is getting its fair share of budget funds and in many cases more funding than schools with similar enrollments. A favorable argument regarding overcrowding is Buchholz, which has the county’s highest enrollment, but has the lowest budget. On the other hand, Newberry High has the lowest number of enrollments and the most money spent per student.

            https://fl02219191.schoolwires.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1465&dataid=71931&FileName=Annual%20Budget%2022-23.pdf

      • That may be true, but unfortunately this isn’t the state of Alachua County. It’s the State of Florida.

        And, whether you like it or not, Republicans run this state!

      • Common sense would dictate that the teachers would be flocking to a school that protects them from the undisciplined students than a school board who throws them under the bus. Just guessing though.

          • By changing those in charge of the schools..those who hide behind politics to push an agenda that has nothing to do with education.
            By not coddling the demographic that causes the most discipline issues. If you act out then you should be disciplined and punished. Doesn’t matter what color your skin is. Act a fool and get treated like a fool.

            Politics and education don’t mix well…that’s what’s wrong with K-12 and higher education in this country and especially in this county…it’s totally politicized. Remove the politics and just educate. That is how it can be solved by a public charter, Common Sense

          • Funny of your transference of politics into schools, since you are currently doing it. Your two examples involve violence and race. speaks volumes.

      • Dems are generally inept, both as voters and as “leaders.” (Heck, many are inept as people, obvious to everyone but themselves.) We have to try to show these people the error of their ways. Now is not the time to be silent sheeple.

        I haven’t heard quite as much mocking of Springs County lately. Alachua County had better get its head out of its behind and start making this a clean, safe, business-friendly community and stop all their foolishness. Or Springs County will come to pass. It’s only a matter of time.

        • As a “conservative”, I disagree with the idea of Springs County. The leadership of Alachua county currently in place is an accurate representation of the majority in this county.

          If we split Alachua county to create Springs county, and the majority then become of the opposite political persuasion, should Springs county then become split again to suit their values? At what point does it stop?

          I live here for my career. Once the kids are off to college, I will move to a place that more aligns with my values.

          • Springs County is a pipe dream and will never happen despite the desires of many. Those same many should get out and vote more to let their votes make the noise instead of their fingers on a keyboard.

          • I tend to agree with part of your statement as far as splitting the county. I do not agree that the current commission or their predecessors is a current representation of the majority in this county, especially when there are several communities being overlooked due to district wide representation and voting versus single member districts. It will be very interesting to see how the commission evolves over the next few election cycles since single member districts is now the law of the land, much to the chagrin of the current sitting reps.

          • I agree about the next election cycles. But, there is a 2:1 ratio of registered democrats to republicans in this county.

          • The are mostly concentrated in metropolitan Gainesville, not the outlying areas of the county.

          • I use logic in my reasoning. That, by itself, is enough evidence to label me a “conservative”.

      • Is it your belief that retail associates are currently calculating how much change to provide by doing the math in their heads?

        • j, great point!! It’s as if Common Sense doesn’t have any….or maybe they never leave their house 🤔

      • LOL! Sounds like you’re criticizing your own system. Charter Schools are held to the same academic standards as set by the State that all public schools are held to. That’s not changing! What IS changing is the removal of the politically motivated crowd who so desires to dictate the woke agenda that gets handed down by the ACPS board. Heaven forbid people tire of the same thoughtless narrative shouted from every corder of liberal Gainesville.

        • (watch this) PLEASE provide one example of your charge of ” politically motivated crowd who so desires to dictate the woke agenda that gets handed down by the ACPS board.” After all, I believe you refer to someone like me as a “dumbocrat,” so here is your chance to shine and school me with one, single example of your accusation!

          • Stocking a book containing a blowjob scene in a high school library, and the librarian arguing it has literary merit.

            Teachers hanging their ideological flags in their classrooms, and having discussions with the students during class time about that ideology, but then saying with a straight face whenever asked, “It’s not part of the curriculum.”

            School board members intentionally mischaracterizing recent legislation which prevents teaching in our schools the idea that white kids are inherently racist and privileged. Prior to said legislation, teachers teaching kids that white people are privileged and inherently racist.

            School board members and teachers intentionally mischaracterizing recent legislation which affirms parents’ rights with respect to their kids as a “don’t say gay law.” Said legislation was in response to teachers intentionally withholding information from kids’ parents.

            The school board forcing children to wear masks in class at a time when the available evidence established unequivocally that kids were not super spreaders and had a 0% death rate from covid.

          • You must’ve read it in order to come up with your review, right? Oh, silly me…giving you credit for reading a book you believe will magically “convert you” gay! BWHAHAHAHA! You can’t even come up with its title as you attempt to “school me” is beyond hilarious! But I applaud you for including every, single catchphrase from qanon as its been a while. I believe you are referring to “Gender Queer: A Memoir”, but since you haven’t read it of course the illustrations would be out of context. It is the same as a picture of a son, who killed his father, sleeping with his own mother! However you have been able to check out Oedipus Rex for decades at a high school library and somehow, it is never mentioned in all the recent book bans. Same thing with As I Lay Dying and many others. But see, this is where your ignorance really shines. We’re talking about a high school library, where the youngest kid who has access to it would be 14-years-old. The majority of children, 80% of high school students say they watch porn on a weekly basis. Not reading. Not illustrations. Watching porn on their phones, with the average age of first being exposed at 12. That is the conclusion of hundreds of studies analysing data from thousands of adolescents over the last twenty years. So it is highly unlikely a high schooler who is looking for a book on the difficulty of being transgendered, would be “morally shocked” in seeing a cartoon illustration of fellatio. The rest of your nonsense spewed by those who need weak, feeble-minds to control in order to remain in power, have already been debunked.

          • ROFL! Your entire non-response is f’ing hilarious! You asked for one example of the politically motivated blah, blah, blah woke agenda. I gave you five factually accurate examples which stretch back over several years.

            And in your pathetic response, you just make stuff up (I believe a book will magically turn me gay? That’s pretty funny, I have to give you credit for that). But it gets even better- your response to criticism of a book which depicts a blowjob scene is, “Hey! They look at it anyway.” Yes! That’s exactly the kind of “common sense” we should employ in developing our school board policy.

            Wow, you really lost your sh-t there, didn’t you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to reduce you to the blathering you posted. You’re the one who asked for examples. Schooled.

          • Yet you are the one who spent hours of life figuring out a response, filled with reflective narratives that must’ve hit a little too close to home.

          • No, actually I didn’t. But it looks like you did and still haven’t come up with a response! Let me know if you ever have a cogent thought.

            Oh, there is literally no reflective narrative in anything I’ve said. :):):) Did you imagine that made you sound “smart” when you came up with that phrase? I’ll bet you did. I’ll bet you were very proud of yourself. You people crack me up.

          • But hey, here’s your chance to school me now. Which of my points “have already been debunked”?

            See, that’s how a civil conversation between adults goes; I’ll give you my points, you give me your points. I don’t care if you agree with me or not, that’s your right and I respect it. At the same time, if you want to get nasty, I can get nasty. Whatever you want to do.

    • It’s not just gov’t, it’s the pop culture and parents responsible for how kids turn out.

  • Yes , the sadly mistaken ACSB has failed the Students and Taxpayers beyond comprehension. I think the School Board Member should not be paid a dime in compensation. Get some people on board with a brain that is not all politics.

  • When does Newberry pay the county for the schools they will take over? Or is stealing from citizens now normalized after the GRU heist?

    • Use of a public building by the taxpaying public vs use of Reichert House (public building) by criminals and career public leeches? My vote goes to the taxpayers and parents!

      • Newberry citizens didn’t build those schools, the county did. If the county will lose control it should be reimbursed.

        • And I suppose you believe that no one in Newberry/Archer or the surrounding areas pays taxes?

          • Of course they do, but until recently it was a low populated rural area with low value real estate and probably much of that with ag exemptions. As a reinvented bedroom community to Gainesville, one assumes they probably generate much more tax revenue and should be able to pay for what they want.

    • It’s called “Voucher Program.”
      Better question would be “when will the students and parents get from the liberal school board a fair and EQUAL distribution of funds?”

      • “Fair and EQUAL” distribution of funds”, you say? Let’s take a look at where taxpayer money is going to educate our kids. For the 2022-2023 (most recent) school year, here is ho wmuch were spent on each student:

        Newberry Elementary, with 614 enrolled received $3.9 million, which breaks down to $6,351 spent on each student.
        Similar in size Parker Elementary, with 639 students enrolled, received $3.7 million, or $5,790 per student. Newberry Elementary has less students but received more funds.

        On to middle school:
        Oak View Middle has an enrollment of 945 and spent $5.3million, or $5,608 per student.
        Lincoln Middle’s enrollment was 707 and spent $3.9million or $5,516 per student. Similarly, Ft. Clarke’s enrollment of 915 and $5.1 million budget means $5,573 was spent on each student.

        Finally, high school:
        Gainesville High School student population was 1,606 with $8.6 millions spent, which comes to $5,354 per student.
        Buchholz enrollment of 2,154 spent $10.2 million, which means each student received $4,735 in education, which happens to be the lowest amount per student in my findings.
        Eastside enrollment was 1,103 and $6.8million spent, means $6,165 spent per student.

        Newberry High school enrollment had 595 students enrolled and with expenditures of $3.9 million, means the school district spent $6,554 per student, the most out of all high schools.

        To you accusation of “when will the students and parents get from the liberal school board a fair and EQUAL distribution of funds,” Alachua County spent more per student at Newbery Elementary, Oak View Middle and Newberry High than the majority of other schools in the district.

        Feel free to double check my work.

        https://fl02219191.schoolwires.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1465&dataid=71931&FileName=Annual%20Budget%2022-23.pdf

        • I don’t know where the figures you are using come from or what expenditures are included. How about with Newberry being rural and the enrollment area considerably larger than the other schools mentioned, how much does student transportation add to the equation?

          • @Stvee1der They put the link to the Alachua County Public Schools Board Members 2022-2023 annual budget and the end of her comment Lol!

        • Here’s the history from SBAC website. (By the way, it goes back 9 years). Feel free to click on any link.
          https://fl02219191.schoolwires.net/page/806

          Much more concise and easier to read than what you’ve so readily provided. As you’ve made it a point to bring it to our attention, those schools near the bottom of the grade levels do have smaller enrollments, but if you’ll notice the costs per student is higher. In the case of AQ Jones and Lanier – much, much higher.
          Thanks for playing.

          • BWHAHAHAHA! Nice of you to use the crib notes as the full report! But since you appear to only able to understand simple math, here we go: The schools you referenced are special needs open countywide, not general education schools. Special needs such as autism, traumatic brain injury, blindness, deafness, emotional disturbed intellectual disability, multiple disability and other conditions not suitable for general education schools. Of course, they will perform lower on state testing, just like your credit score of 530 is far below the general population.

          • Your comprehension is sorely lacking. The schools on the info provided by the SBAC, represent every school within their jurisdiction. Per student, Eastside students get more. Sorry if you have difficulty accepting that. You’re trying to say a dollar for an Eastside student is not the same value as a dollar for a Westside student. You know, 100 lbs of feathers weighs the same as 100 lbs of lead. Speaking of lead, I’m surprised you were actually able to count to 530.

          • My “comprehension is sorely lacking”??? It is? My information is provided by the SBAC as well! But unlike you and your condescending ignorance, I actually dug into each of the school’s budgets. For the 2022-2023 school year, Eastside did get more funds per student than any other school, but all of that additional funding, $2.9 million in fact, was from the two Federal COVID acts passed by Trump and Biden. Perhaps the SBAC took the opportunity to send more of the ESSERII and ESSERIII funds to Eastside in an effort to catch up a school that has routinely been short-changed from smaller Newberry HS that gets more funding per student than any other high school in the district for years. In any case, unless qanon convinced you George Soros is providing additional COVID funds for the current and future budgets, my original analysis is correct. I see assuming your 530 credit score was way too generous.

          • Now you admit it. Nice of you to finally catch up.

            You’re welcome. Now go play in your sandbox. Just make sure your parent(s) has removed all of the sharp objects.

          • I was wondering when you’d get to bullying. I bet it chaps your diabetes-damaged cheeks that you know nothing about the subject your claim to understand. So to save face, you toss out tired comebacks and ignore factual data…because you were too lazy to find out for yourself! Such a fine example of an “alpha”!

          • Now, now… don’t forget your meds.
            Your memory really is bad. You seem to have forgotten who initiated the childish remarks. Don’t worry, I won’t tell your parents to take away your video games.
            Try to place nice with others and remember, it’s Thursday. You only have to wait two more days to visit Chuck e Cheese.

          • Quite a stretch referring to my factual data and sarcasm as “bullying” as I can see your education is lackluster. I wonder what else you will tell yourself to ease the pain of not understanding individual school budget and the way that taxpayer funds are already being funnelled more towards the three schools that want to break away. I wonder how long you will blindly believe public charter teachers will flock to a system that pays less and has less resources. Rhetorical questions that will be answered with some other dribble that shows your disconnect with anyone who offer “the other side of the story.” It’s why I laugh at your feeble attempts at using comedy to hide your ignorance. But at the end of the day, I’m sure its jealousy as unlike you, I can afford to go to Chuck E Cheese.

        • Good at stats and math, lacking in common sense. You would fit right in with the School Board.

          • An educated response using factual data would “fit right in with the School Board”, is supposed to be a dig at common sense???!??? Glad to see dunning-kruger isn’t just a theory!

          • yet you can’t point ot one “failed agenda” item…other than Springs County! Go you!!!!!!!

    • Surely you aren’t going to defend the failed School Board ,like you do the failed , fired, and challenge Gainesville leaders that bankrupted GRU?

  • Look! It’s Springs County in a new dress! And just like the idea of Springs County, no thought whatsoever other than “sticking it to the libs.” How will public charters improve the situation? How does this address overcrowding? How can you even utter higher teacher salaries? Charter educators are paid an average of 10%-15% less since they are non-union. Not to mention creating new bureaucracy to govern and new construction that will have to be paid for somehow, by a smaller pool of taxpayers. No wonder they are rushing this through.

    • I suggest looking at HB13, 2024. Minimum base salary established by the state of Florida, no union needed. In fact, the union serves no purpose these days other than being an extension of the Democrat party.

      • I have looked at HB13, which has not passed the House or Senate. But let’s say it becomes law, base salaries will be increased for teachers statewide. However public school teachers will still get paid at a higher rate because charter teachers are non-union and contract-based.

  • Nice end run around the Alachua County school board!

    If all towns in the county do this, does it mean our property taxes will go down? (yeah, right)

  • I bet “Certain” School Board Members and their “Rock” friends are sweating right now. From what I’ve heard there’s a “Certain” racist crying “racism.” They usually cry the loudest.
    If this goes through, just think how many other parents from other schools will vocalize their objections to the political games they’ve been playing with their children.

    SBAC ain’t enjoying life about now.

  • You go Newberry! Get your kids out of the Alachua County School System and take your tax dollars with you so that the ACCS has that much less to use in such revolting ways.

    • Congrats! You win the most ill-informed post of the week! Creating a smaller charter school district will mean even less money to be used to hire teachers and les resources to educate students. But hey, at least you will have “owned the libs.”

      • Too bad the voters in Alachua County couldn’t pick better school board members, right? On day one, they should have reinstated paddling and come up with a whole new set of punishments for bad behaviors. But they choose, for example, to spend an entire day fighting to keep a woke trans kook book they know will be removed by Tallahassee in another month or two. Like Madonna said, “Bye Bye Baby.”

        • wow! I think the world is stupider thanks to that post! Perhaps you should start reading books instead of advocating for their removal!

  • This is the way! Instead of complaining about what’s not working well now, taking positive action that gives those most affected the choice for change. Well done!

    • Nevermind the Alachua County School Board has already purchased 37 acres of land to build new schools in Jonesville, which will resolve the very issue Marlowe and Education First for Newberry are whining about! But rather than work with the board, they want to do this in quite a shady fashion in having less than 2 months to look at the big picture. All you have to d is look at other Florida public carter schools to see their teachers are paid less and they have less resources.

      • Let’s see… They might make a few dollars less, but not having to deal with ‘wilding’ behavior every day in class is priceless. And not having a motley bunch of mental patients as bosses must count for something.

      • That site has issues with ground faults and was a backroom shady deal from the start. When the owner could not get the county to approve a subdivision it mysteriously fell into the hands of ACPS at more than twice the market value at the time.

  • It’ll better prep teens for life, especially the ones not immediately going to college. Good move.

  • Great way to Neuter Rockwell , Double Dipper, and the rest of the failed School Boards Commission and prejudice Management agendas. Why would they object to a community action that will make education safer and better for the Students ? Is it because the Woke Commision can’t do it , which is more than obvious.

  • Hopefully the Archer stepchildren will have some representation on the self appointed Newberry Board.

  • There is a serious situation with overcrowding with schools in Alachua County. Newberry like many concerned residents of the county have been pleading for something to be done about this.
    While if passed this won’t help other schools with their issues it will help the schools and more importantly the children attending the schools in Newberry and at the end of the day that is what any community would want to do if given the opportunity.

    While this is in the best interest for the Newberry community and it’s children perhaps this will be a wake-up call to the Alachua County School Board to act on the overcrowding and other issues to maybe prevent what Newberry is trying to do from potentially spreading to other surrounding cities.

    • The overcrowding issues that exist will never be corrected given the current socioeconomic climate. There’s no solution that will appease all parties; parents, children and staff.
      Some can’t afford to live in the Western portions of the county and some don’t want their children to be bussed to the Eastern side of the county. Still others who have made the conscious decision to not live on the Eastern side for the obvious reasons. Throw in staffs who value a more welcoming and safe environment over an abusive one and therein lies the obstacles.

      • Agree. SBAC has had decades to fix East Gainesville schools.

        Nothing has improved.

        I submit they will never get better because it’s advantageous to local politicians to run on a platform of improving said schools. Rinse, cycle, repeat.

        Like it or not, crying racism will get you elected in a Communist County such as this. In addition, there is a career out there for people to “create” controversy when none exists.

  • Discipline should be top notch as well. Bring back paddling. Send disruptive kids to detention, suspend then expell them if they cannot behave in short order. Every time a student disrupts class for 5 mintes with a class of 30 pupils, thats 150 minutes of lost education time.

  • Oh my! Another insurrection! I bet the DOJ & FBI will be ‘looking into’ the trouble makers who are trying to save their children from wokeism.

  • Springs County and now Newberry School District show that Newberry does not get along with others and wants to secede from all things Alachua County.
    From today, the Alachua County Commission should go along with their expressed wishes. No money, no joint projects of any kind. Newberry wants to be on their own. No meat processing plant, no fire training facility, no waste collection facilities shall be built with county taxpayer money in Newberry. No more money for the Ag and equestrian center, no money for the ag research center, no funding for the ballfield to enrich for profit company Raddsports. The taxpayers in the rest of Alachua County do not want one dime of their money spent in Newberry. They can live on their own.
    Build all county facilities no further west than Jonesville.
    Let Newberry in their new single member district replace their current commissioner Prizzia with a Republican who can go to commission meetings and be asked “Why are you here? A 4-1 vote says “No money for you, pay for your own sprawl growth.”

  • I don’t have children in Alachua County Schools so I don’t really pay attention.

    What are the specific reasons to want to opt out of the school district? I’ve read this and see kinda vague charges or innuendo, but no specifics.

    It seems to amount to ‘don’t want to associate with that liberal downtown crowd’, but I’m interested in specific charges.

    • The school board is obsessed with Equity, both in terms of grades and disciplinary numbers. They don’t seem to ‘get’ that some groups do misbehave more than others (a lot more). And some groups are more serious and study more, resulting in higher grades. Some students obviously are born with more academic ability than others. They’d rather your student sit in a room with a bunch of dull students and underperform – all for one and one for all – instead of giving brighter/more serious students more opportunities. They want to pretend that all of the students are equal and therefore something is wrong with the school system if they don’t all have equal grades and equal numbers of trips to the dean’s office. They wring their hands and talk-talk-talk for hours on end about it, over and over, year after year. Nothing ever changes. They can’t keep quality teachers because they aren’t allowed to maintain proper discipline.

      • Agree. Dont forget the great Alachua County catch phrase “empathy and accountability.” The school board and commissions confuse empathy with sympathy and compassion. And then aggravate accountability with it’s the fault of everyone else except the person at fault.

    • The Alachua County School Board repeatedly ignores the requests and desires of the city of Newberry and its citizens. The SBAC has no concern for Newberry, and they’ve made that abundantly clear. The mayor of Newberry has repeatedly and clearly made concerns known. One of the concerns is the overcrowding of Newberry schools. Even if the rezoning had passed, it ignored Newberry’s concerns. The majority of the school board has no desire to serve or represent ALL citizens of Alachua county.

      • As guest mentioned, the schools are currently overcrowded. One is at 140% capacity.
        The problem is that your Mayor Motormouth Marlowe is severely math challenged.
        On TV20 he said:
        1. the schools are overcrowded
        2. when Newberry takes over, all current students can stay, Archer students are welcome, and students from the nearby unincorporated areas surrounding Newberry’s sprawling city limits can attend.
        3. when Newberry runs the schools, they will not be overcrowded.
        Perhaps a sixth grade math student can explain to Hizzoner that his statements are mathematically impossible.
        This is BEFORE you factor in that Newberry has already approved thousands of new dwelling units in their mad dash to Grow Grow Grow. Unless those new subdivisions are all retirement settlements restricted to people over 55 years old with no school age kids, the overcrowding will continue and get worse. Newberry, not ACSD, will pay to build new school buildings.

        • At least they will be able to maintain discipline.

          They aren’t a woke broke joke like the county or City of Gainesville, wasting money on all kinds of foolish garbage, so they can probably afford to put up a building or two if necessary. And it wouldn’t take 17 years to do, like it would if the county and school board were in charge.

          If the schools are overcrowded, the school board should be talking about building new schools instead of equity nonsense and defending woke trans cult books. What is the most recent school they built? Would the current group even know where to begin the discussion?

  • All of the smaller towns should be looking at this for their community schools. The Alachua County a School Board only cares about and allocates funding for Gainesville.

  • I pay taxes, yet I don’t get a vote since I have no kids enrolled. That’s a problem. Another problem is loss of pension.

  • As the old adage goes…”the road to perdition is paved with good intentions.” Praying that any unintended consequences have minimal impact to the students, faculty, staff, and citizens of Newberry and Archer. Praying collaborative wisdom prevails.

  • I don’t have a dog in the fight. Having taught at Newberry, the community is really awesome. I can see how the system holds back the school. If I were to vote, I would vote yes with the provision that leadership is not permitted to cherry pick which neighborhoods would be in and which would be out. The cherry-picking, gerrymandering here in Birmingham, Alabama, has ruined “certain” schools. The “haves” and “have nots” is very evident here.

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