Plavac: School Board should exercise fiscal restraint in an era of uncertainty

Letter to the editor

The School Board of Alachua County has two primary responsibilities to our community: policy and budget. And in light of the recent redistricting and potential decreases in funding from the State of Florida (the budget has not been finalized), I think it is important that the taxpayers of Alachua County are aware of important facts regarding fiscal accountability. It is the responsibility of the school board to hold our departments accountable for working within the budget and overseeing and approving the budget, which will be presented to us in a few weeks by the superintendent. 

There are three items I would like to bring forward to the community:  The superintendent’s current contract, the recent Declaration of Intent (Internal Revenue Code 1986) resolution, and the 2024-25 SBAC Audit Report (Purvis/Gray)

Let’s first address Dr. Patton’s contract. When Dr. Patton was hired in November 2024, her contract included a $2000/month TEMPORARY housing allowance. Dr. Patton’s contract has been extended twice since her arrival — the last time through June 2027. At the April 21, 2026 board meeting, I asked our attorney why we are still paying for temporary housing when she has owned property in Alachua County since March 2025. I asked our attorney if her contract could be revised, and I asked the three board members who voted to extend it if they were aware they kept that in the contract. They said they were aware and felt that it should stay as a benefit. Because the contract is already in place, the only way this could have been brought up for discussion is if Dr. Patton would agree, and she did not, so until June of 2027, we will be paying her $2000/month for temporary housing when the definition of temporary is certainly under one year from onset of an initial contract.

The second issue that is concerning is Resolution 26-07 (click here to read the resolution), which was approved by the SBAC on May 5; according to our CFO and Dr. Patton, this resolution is merely a “Declaration of Intent,” required by Internal Revenue Code 1986, that must be filed prior to incurring debt “to reimburse certain capital expenditures with proceeds of a future tax exempt financing”. The amount that staff intends to ask for is $200 million. When I asked why we are asking for $200 million (maybe a bond) when we have seen no details on how much it will cost for school expansions (Lincoln, Oak View, Mebane), I was told that this resolution is only to alert the IRS and any bond issuance will be brought forward later for board approval. As a citizen of Alachua County, I would not feel too confident in that answer.

Thirdly, the 2024-25 audit report (click here to read the findings) was presented to the board, and there were glaring deficiencies. Of course, the CFO said he accepted all the deficiencies and is correcting them, but the one that stood out to me was that the reconciliation of food services accounts was not performed for the entire year. We paid for an acting CFO, we paid to outsource financial reports, we hired our current CFO in December 2025, and there were other employees involved in the finance department who should have caught these discrepancies. But what really brought this to the forefront was that the board had to approve an additional $48,000 for payment to Purvis/Gray on top of the $100,000 that was previously allocated. When I asked why it was almost 50% more, the response was (noted in the report) that the information needed by Purvis/Gray was not produced in a timely fashion, which pushed them into taking longer to produce their final report.

So going forward, with the closing of schools, renovating schools, building new schools, and, in light of decreased enrollment, decreased funding from the FLDOE, along with the potential that property taxes (the greatest revenue for schools) in the future might be abolished (although none the proposals currently on the table would affect property taxes for schools), SBAC needs to be discerning and frugal and hold all administrators, staff, and departments accountable.

Many jobs were eliminated last year, hours were cut, teachers’ workload was increased, and enrollment continues to decline. In my opinion, going forward with redistricting without knowing, in detail, all the financial implications, was a mistake. As we will soon be presented the budget for the 2026-27 school year, it is extremely important that we maintain a fiscal outlook that is solid, without relying on borrowing money to make the changes work — because even though the SBAC would qualify for a $200 million loan, we need to know what the exact capital funds are currently and what it would cost to go forward with the redistricting. With at least one new board member in August and a new superintendent coming in June 2027, why not wait for all parties to be in place before making these financial decisions?

Janine Plavac, School Board of Alachua County Member

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