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School Board members expressed dissatisfaction with district budget one day before firing the Superintendent

Board Member Tina Certain questions aspects of the district’s budget at an October 14 workshop

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On October 14, the day before the School Board of Alachua County fired Superintendent Shane Andrew on a 3-2 vote, board members expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of Andrew and staff to reduce expenses.

Budget update presentation

Chief of Finance Gabrielle Jaremczuk’s presentation showed that the revised 2024-25 general fund estimated revenues are $300,399.931.12, and the expenditures are $314,509,358, with the difference being made up from the fund balance, which was listed at almost $43 million in the original 2024-25 budget. The fund balance as of September 30 was about $27 million, which is 7.27% of revenues but includes funds that are set aside for teacher salary increases and bonuses. When those amounts are removed, the fund balance decreases to 5.54%. School districts are required by statute to maintain a fund balance of 3% of revenues, but board policy requires a fund balance of 5% of revenues.

Slide from October 14 budget presentation
Slide from October 14 presentation

However, Jaremczuk said, there has been a decrease in enrollment this year, which is projected to reduce revenues by $3.4 million, and that would reduce the fund balance to 4.44%. 

Slide from October 14 presentation

In addition to the fund balance transfer, the current budget relies on a transfer of about $10.5 million from capital funds (intended for building projects), and that amount has gradually increased over the past five or six years, but Jaremczuk noted, “It is normal for school districts to do a fund transfer in from capital outlay to help support the costs of the general fund that are capital in nature.” She showed a chart of school districts with similar enrollments that had transfers larger than Alachua’s.

Slide from October 14 presentation

Jaremczuk said budget considerations for the future include a potential decrease in student funding due to the reduced enrollment, an estimated $12 million required technology upgrade, increased safety and security costs due to state mandates, increased maintenance costs due to aging facilities and security needs, and assorted other projected cost increases.

Certain: “I’m missing some things”

Member Tina Certain asked Jaremczuk for the “data [that] was used to prepare the information” because, she said, she had asked both Jaremczuk and Andrew for information and “I’m still missing some things.” She said she wanted a budget book, which has been provided in the past. Certain also said she had expected to see budgets for each school and department. She listed a number of reports that have been provided in the past that weren’t provided this year: “I’ve asked for this, and it’s not unreasonable.” Certain said that under state law, board members should receive information they ask for. She asked how staff planned to “kind of manage us through” a potential decrease in state funding due to reduced enrollment.

Andrew said the district should be receiving information on the official student counts soon, and his staff has discussed the possibility of a hiring freeze and has looked at reducing overtime costs, looking at MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding, which are used for teacher bonuses in specific schools, for example), and reducing or eliminating projects and programs. Andrew said the district is seeing “more… students and families taking advantage of the vouchers.”

Certain: “Our general fund expenditures were exceeding our estimated revenue, and I think we should have made some considerations there before we just kind of went forward”

Certain pointed out that Marion County had been left off the slide about capital outlay transfers and that the other counties on the slide don’t have a One Mill tax and Marion County does. She said One Mill funds are being used to close gaps in the general fund, which is legally permissible, but in the “tentative budget, our general fund expenditures were exceeding our estimated revenue, and I think we should have made some considerations there before we just kind of went forward… It’s really problematic for me that I’m not getting the information from the Superintendent and staff to be able to review it before meetings.” Certain said she hoped the board would start getting monthly reports again, and Jaremczuk said they would be provided at the second board meeting of every month.

Member Sarah Rockwell asked whether the finance department had considered previous Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS) reports that “suggested to us that we have too large of a facilities footprint and that that is dramatically impacting our budget. So I think that’s something that we very much need to look at, in addition to staffing and programs.”

Rockwell: Projected 4.44% fund balance is “very concerning… I need to know what the plan is.”

Rockwell said the projected fund balance of 4.44% (less than the board policy minimum of 5%) was “very concerning… and there should be a plan to deal with this.” She said she had concerns with a hiring freeze because “we’re already operating with open positions and low staff and students with long-term sub[stitute]s in their classrooms.” She said a lot of the people who are working overtime are “people in operations who are dealing with, basically, emergencies… We can’t sacrifice having operational air conditioning… I need to know what the plan is, and I feel like some sort of plan should have been brought today with this 4.44% number. And I also find it very concerning that our current budget has a $14 million deficit between our revenue and our projected expenditures.”

Jaremczuk: “We do not have a deficit”

Jaremczuk said, “Deficit is not the word… Revenues plus fund balance needs to be greater than your expenditures, and that is the situation that we are in. We do not have a deficit.”

Rockwell: “We are spending more money than we are getting in revenue”

Rockwell said, “Thank you for correcting my language. I’m not an accountant, but we are spending more money than we are getting in revenue, is the bottom line… And this year, we’re bringing our fund balance down below board policy levels to account for that.” She said a lot of the expenses are recurring, and “this is a bigger problem than just this budget year.”

Jaremczuk said staff didn’t have a detailed plan yet because they didn’t have the official enrollment numbers or an agreement with the teachers’ union.

Rockwell added, “We were in this same position two years ago, but we had ESSER to cover for it, and now we don’t.”

Andrew: Hiring freeze would not include school personnel

Andrew said the hiring freeze would not include school personnel. Referring to everyone on the dais, he said they “all have a hand in [the responsibility for the budget]. It was last year that a raise was given, a 3.5% recurring, and that was voted and approved by the school board. So, you know, we’re all in this together… and certainly we’re going to work out a plan to keep us solvent.”

Certain to Andrew: “You’ve neglected your duties, and you haven’t served us well as a board in not bringing us back a budget that was considering some of these challenges.”

Certain said that in 2021-22, the district paid $5.1 million in salaries from One Mill funds because the fund balance got down to 3%: “This has been building for the past couple years, and the board has been asking and trying to recommend some changes.” She said the board majority had approved the previous year’s raise and that she had taken a “lot of heat” for voting against it. Speaking to Andrew, she said, “You’ve neglected your duties, and you haven’t served us well as a board in not bringing us back a budget that was considering some of these challenges.”

Budget workshop was never scheduled

Certain said she had called out the differences between revenues and expenditures when the tentative budget was first presented, and she had asked for a budget workshop in February and was told it would be in March or April, but it was never scheduled.

Certain continued, “The staff is reporting to you, and we’re dependent on you to have information ready for us in a timely manner, and to bring us a recommendation, and you haven’t done that. And so to sit here and act like the board has wanted to pursue things – You know, we opened a new school. We opened Duval as an Early Learning Center.” Certain noted that she had voted against that because of the financial considerations.

She also noted that 20.5 positions that had been created with ESSER funds had been moved over to the general fund and told Andrew to “step up [his] game.”

McGraw: “People were just spending” under previous Superintendent

Chair Diyonne McGraw said that because she would be going off the board, she wanted people to understand “what was inherited… When you come on board and you learn that most of the reports that we’ve received in the past from previous administrations – I know when I served in my first term, when we got these ESSER dollars of $90 million, I asked the question to the Superintendent at that time,… we’re creating like 40-some positions. I said, ‘How is this going to help benefit children, and how is this going to affect us financially?’ The response was, ‘We will cross that bridge when we get to it.'”

McGraw said some of the reports that board members received “were very bogus because they weren’t closed out, right… When you come in and you have accounts and things that have not been reconciled in over two or three years – that’s prior to this administration – you have to now go back, go through all of that, and figure out where we are.” She said “budget blocks were not on [and] people were just spending.” She said Andrew “inherited all of this – if we would have been scrutinizing other Superintendents the same way, we may not be in this boat that we’re in now, because that is the responsibility of every single person here.”

Federal grants are being audited; some ESSER funds may need to be paid back

McGraw also expressed concern about the possibility of having to pay back ESSER funds: “With our ESSER funds, I’m concerned, because there’s documentation that we don’t have. So that’s another thing. If somebody comes back and says we need to pay money back, where is the money going to come from?” Jaremczuk said it would have to come from the general fund. McGraw responded, “Because we weren’t monitoring things… We haven’t had checks and balances… for the last four or five years.”

Member Kay Abbitt asked whether they knew for sure that they would need to pay back ESSER money, and Jaremczuk said, “At this time, I’m not aware of any money that we have to pay back.” Abbitt asked again whether there was any chance they could have to pay back a grant, and Jaremczuk responded, “Our federal grants are currently being audited, and the federal audits go back like two years… I can’t predict what may or may not happen, but we are still within the audit period for these grants.”

Abbitt: “It’s not just this Superintendent, it’s multiple Superintendents, because we change Superintendents like we change underwear.”

Abbitt said she believed the district should have cut their budget to match revenues instead of pulling funds from the fund balance, “and I haven’t seen any of that happening.” She said that wasn’t a criticism of Jaremczuk because it’s not her job: “They should have said, ‘Whoa, we’ve got to cut this down because we shouldn’t be pulling from these other funds, especially when we have so many things that are looming.'”. She said the fund balance had ended up lower than projected over multiple recent years, “so it’s not just this Superintendent, it’s multiple Superintendents, because we change Superintendents like we change underwear.”

One Mill was used to shore up labor expenses in 2022-23

Certain reminded the board that during the 2022-23 Fiscal Year, we moved $5 million in labor from general fund to [be paid from] One Mill to shore it up. We had a financial recovery plan… and I was like, ‘Wait, this is not good.'”

Andrew said that 42 allocations were left out of the FY21-22 budget, “and so that’s what I inherited there, in March of 2022.” He said they learned about the “hit to the budget” in October, “which was a surprise to all of us… That is when we rightfully transferred money from ESSER to cover those costs for those allocations that were left out due to the pandemic. And then we did the capital outlay transfer, and just for the record, we increased One Mill expenditures for allowable expenses like guidance counselors and media specialists and stuff like that to 1.0.” He said that “about mid-year” last year, they “moved it back to 0.5 in an effort to rebuild the One Mill funding there.” He said the One Mill tax is currently funding 50% of those positions.

Abbitt: “If some of the decisions that were made weren’t made, then we would probably have had a lot of students that stayed at Williams and not gone over to Frazer School.”

Abbitt said one of the reasons for the projected revenue decrease is the number of students transferring out of the district, and “if some of the decisions that were made weren’t made, then we would probably have had a lot of students that stayed at Williams and not gone over to Frazer School. And so we have to be very careful about the decisions that we make that affect enrollment.”

Abbitt: “We don’t look out for our teachers the same way we look out for our administrators.”

Abbitt added, “There’s also this mentality in the district that we have to watch out for everybody, and that means that if you are an administrator and you’re in a school and you’re not being effective, you don’t have to worry because they’re going to find a position for you in the district, and even if that position doesn’t warrant a salary, you’re going to get the same salary because we can’t pull back that salary that you’ve already had. Even if you have retired from the district and you come back and you’re not even really capable to be working, we’re going to find a position for you, and it’s usually one of those good old ESE positions. And so decisions that are made like that – and those decisions aren’t just with our current Superintendent; those decisions have been made in this district for years and years… We don’t look out for our teachers the same way we look out for our administrators. And there is so much waste in this building… There are so many positions that are created that we don’t need to have… If you’re a principal, you should be able to run that school. You should not have to have two other principals that are… helping you to run that school.”

McGraw asked Andrew about cost-saving measures that had been taken, and Andrew said they haven’t filled “a number of [vacant] positions.” He said they had recently moved district employees into school-based positions at turnaround or fragile schools. He said they have been looking at a “reduction in force… from all levels.”

McNealy: “We are going to have to stand by the Superintendent, as we should, and move forward in unity.”

Board Member Leanetta McNealy said she was going to call Jaremczuk “Miss Gabby” because she couldn’t pronounce her name; she said she was appreciative of the finance staff, but “there have been a lot of miscues in the past… and you have had to go back and spend countless hours… correcting and finding.” She asked whether the district would “still be in good standing with the state,” given the budget considerations: “Are we going to be able to not just consider but actually handle these options that you listed?… We are going to have to stand by the Superintendent, as we should, and move forward in unity.” McNealy voted to fire the Superintendent the next day, along with McGraw and Abbitt.

In response to a question from McGraw about training, Jaremczuk said she planned to do internal training on processes and put procedures in writing. She said she has hired a Finance Director who hasn’t started yet but “was actually here previously as Finance Director… He will be able to review the current processes and procedures that we’re doing and make any changes as needed.”

McNealy and Certain spar about Certain’s criticisms of budget decisions

In response to a criticism from McNealy about “not going 50 years back,” Certain said that when she was elected, she had to read past reports to understand what was done in the past. She continued, “Ever since I’ve been on the board, I have been sounding the alarm about finances… I’m not dredging up the past to create contention… [I’m] not trying to be critical. It’s just these are things that have to be done, and this is our job and our responsibility.”

McNealy: “I’m just going to say that I’m sick and tired of hearing negative.”

McNealy said she had “no problem in you asking whatever you need to ask, Ms. Certain. It is how we project ourselves… It seems as if we have such a deplorable district, and I don’t appreciate it. I’m just going to say that I’m sick and tired of hearing negative.” She suggested that Certain meet with staff members privately to voice her concerns.

Certain said she’s “one person in private, but we move as a board.” She said she had spoken privately with staff, and the issues have not been corrected. She said the board is accountable to the state for any deficiencies, and she asks for information “to equip us as a board.”

McNealy responded, “I’m not trying to stop you from asking your questions about finances, but it’s not just about finances, and we all know that it’s more than that, and I’m not going to continue until we can have a conversation together with an attorney, and I’ll say what I need to say to you, to each of you, but it needs to stop.”

McGraw: “You don’t go and get on Facebook”

McGraw said they all needed to be aware of their policies that set standards for boardsmanship, and “we have to be able to disagree,… but you don’t go and get on Facebook – because as a Chair, I get phone calls all the time about the behavior of board members. We don’t take it to Facebook.” She said that out of all local elected officials, “everybody says that there’s only the one that’s always on Facebook, being totally negative… I don’t take to Facebook, but when you do that and it becomes personal and you openly work against one another as colleagues, that’s why people lost hope in the board.”

Andrew pointed out that the SI schools that avoided needing an external operator (Idylwild Elementary and Lake Forest Elementary) “probably collectively saved us a million dollars.”

At that point, McGraw moved on to the next agenda item. 

  • The state should come in and take over the district.

    There is a downward spiral happening. As people get more and more upset and the state of affairs, they are pulling children out and sending them to charters (that are being run much better).

    Funding is going to get less and less. What is the plan to solve the equation?

    • The photo with this article…
      WTF is that on the left?
      A picture paints a thousand words…
      I think the State of Florida needs to come in and take over. I’m sick after reading this article🤮
      I pay $12,000 to the school board from property tax yearly and have no children in the school system…
      If the parents paid the cost for their children in school would get better results than bilking the property tax payers….

      • Her children probably don’t even know who she is and chances are with the stupid comments and decisions she’s been making, she doesn’t want any one else to either.

      • It’s called a mental illness.
        Instead of being on the school board she/it should be in intensive psychological therapy.

      • I believe the majority of parents with children in public schools pay little or no taxes to begin with. They could not afford the ridiculous $12,000 spent per student in Alachua County. The majority of that money is wasted on things like DEI and other left wing projects. SBAC can’t even develop a strategic plan (their words, not mine) or even a program to define and control discipline.

    • As a 30 year veteran teacher, please know that One Mill only benefits the schools. It does not benefit the school board members. They can not touch it. The children need that money to help fund necessities such as school nurses, media specialists, art, music and P.E. teachers. Don’t cut off the children’s benefits out of spite for the board.
      VOTE your conscience when the board members’ seats are up for reelection.

  • Great reporting, Jennifer.

    Why do they only make reference to half of the total budget amount? Isn’t the total budget around $615,000,000?

    And I blame the voters county-wide for this mess. It shouldn’t take this big of a cluster **** to shake people awake.

      • Did I read that right? 10% of the total budget (over $57 million) is used to purchase insurance policies each year. How absurd.

        The education industry was monetized and this is how it played out:
        1. Extract more and more money from the tax paying citizens.
        2. Gut education.
        3. Take funds previously spent actually educating children and now use said funds to build an administrative bureaucracy.
        4. In the meantime, create distractions and chaos by politicizing and radicalizing public education.
        5. This top heavy bureaucracy then oversees more reallocation of funds from actual education.
        6. This time the money is completely removed from education and given to corporate raiders for insurance, debt repayment, worthless technology, and countless other consultants.
        6. Blame everybody but yourselves and demand more money.

        • Yes sir and the only way this corporate monetization structure works is by electing overly emotional and overly politicized candidates to the school board. These people think they’re doing what’s best for “minority x, y, and z” while not understanding what’s really happening. Basically, they’re being played while allowing the entire district to be hollowed out.

  • It Certain(ly) sounds like Ms. Certain wants to hang the financial debacle on the current Superintendent but she admits the problem has been building for “the past couple years”: “Certain said that in 2021-22, the district paid $5.1 million in salaries from One Mill funds because the fund balance got down to 3%: “This has been building for the past couple years, and the board has been asking and trying to recommend some changes.”

    McGraw: “I know when I served in my first term, when we got these ESSER dollars of $90 million, I asked the question to the Superintendent at that time,… we’re creating like 40-some positions. I said, ‘How is this going to help benefit children, and how is this going to affect us financially?’ The response was, ‘We will cross that bridge when we get to it.’”

    She (McGraw) said Andrew “inherited all of this – if we would have been scrutinizing other Superintendents the same way, we may not be in this boat that we’re in now, because that is the responsibility of every single person here.”

    AC SBAC under current and previous Superintendents spent money without considering long term consequences and proper accounting requirements, it seems! McGraw reference possible payback of ESSER funds received: “Because we weren’t monitoring things… We haven’t had checks and balances… for the last four or five years.”

    Abbitt on current and past budget management: “She said the fund balance had ended up lower than projected over multiple recent years, “so it’s not just this Superintendent, it’s multiple Superintendents, because we change Superintendents like we change underwear.”

    Lots of finger pointing at the current Superintendent, his Staff, but still no School Board member says “Enough finger pointing, let’s figure out how we fix this with the people we have on board today” until Ms. McNealy says, “We are going to have to stand by the Superintendent, as we should, and move forward in unity.”

    Ms. McNealy (McGraw and Abbitt) then voted to fire the Superintendent the next day! Just can’t make this stuff up!

    This SBAC is not even dysfunctional, they are in over their collective heads and blaming everyone else for their failures! I can only imagine the FL DOE is working a take over plan and disband this board!

    Hats off to the teachers and administrators in ACPS who continue to do amazing things (in spite of their leaders failures), and of course to the students who are focused on their education and moving on from this circus!

  • The SBAC is a joke.

    This group complains about the budget but continues to bribe those in the district office with exorbitant salaries and benefits. Can’t help but wonder what they’re getting in return.

    Abbitt: “We don’t look out for our teachers the same way we look out for our administrators.” That may be the most truthful statement that’s come out of this group in the last 15 years. She should have gone further and identified those in the district office who have been “recipients” of such promotions. Many know who they are because they weren’t able to perform their duties at their respective schools and were removed. That equity thing works much better for some than others.
    Watch out for those who’ve “volunteered” to be interim superintendent… you’ve been warned.

  • This entity is out of control and needs Governance at a State Level with people that have a Brain. Time for a forensic shake up. Utter Failures need to resign

    • I see where you’re coming from but instead of the state taking over I’d rather see more than 30% of Alachua County voters turn up for a school board election. That’s the problem…70% of voters don’t bother to vote locally but still want drastic changes.

  • McNeally is a real bully. For years she’s been threatening to get lawyers on fellow board members. VOTE NO ON EXTENDING THE ONE MILL TAX.

    • I am a 30 year veteran teacher in this county. I want to share some thoughts, information and join you in disapproving of the long running track record of the School Board of Alachua County.
      The One Mill does NOT raise any homeowner’s taxes. It does not benefit the members of the school board. There is an oversight board that makes sure that the money is spent in the way that it was meant to be.
      I am embarrassed and ashamed that the members of this board have made a shambles of the board and the office of superintendent for years and years.
      Vote the members off the board that you don’t approve of. But, please, do not penalize the children in this county by depriving the children and the schools of nurses, music teachers, media specialists, P.E. teachers and art teachers.
      Please do some research before you cast your ballots. Don’t short change the children and the school employees who give so much every single day.

      • It’s not exactly true that it doesn’t raise any homeowner’s taxes. Maybe not when compared to this year, since it’s been in effect for many years, but it DOES increase their property tax rate by one mill.

  • 3 of the members on the board were there during the dumpster fire of the last SI they brought in. They spent a bunch of that ESSR money on activism based programs and not on education. They are over staffed (just like the GCC), aren’t paying the teachers what they should be paid, and are now talking about cutting programs. They think they have a problem with people pulling their kids out of the schools in this district and using vouchers, start pulling the programs these kids have busted their asses to get into. What doesn’t happen when there is a competent school board and not a bunch of political/social activists or race baiters on the board……people don’t pull their kids out and move them and the district doesn’t lose funding. You get exactly what you vote for….keep putting these activists on boards and we will continue to see the decline. The people that are over it, will move and take their money or pull their kids from the schools and move them somewhere they can get an actual education and the district will still lose money. Take your activism and politics and BS somewhere else and on your own time.

    • You’ve nailed it “Over It”! They complain about the vouchers but then they mess with magnets, they want to rezone by shoving families eastward into underenrolled far away schools, and they don’t pay teachers or support staff enough, causing shortages that impact the quality of the education.

      As a taxpayer for many years, I would love to keep my kids in ACPS. However, not if it is at expense of my sanity and their safety. Yes, I will prioritize sending my kids to the best nearby schools I can find, regardless of whether they are religious or not.

      I wish Certain board members would stop prioritizing theory over actual families. Collect impact fees for schools. Streamline district; too many layers of management and unnecessary positions. Support teachers and students…all students

    • No, we don’t want McGraw’s ”change” (that’s why she has been voted out from public office). We couldn’t be happier with McGraw leaving (she is responsible for the bankruptcy of the magnet program). McGraw has plunged the educational standards to abysmally low depths, de facto showing the middle finger to magnet students and their families.

      ACPS is a sad, disastrous and very expensive joke (they fired SI S. Andrew in a gigantically shameful masquerade). The ACPS board members are the real problem, they should all resign right now because of their supreme incompetence and crass stupidity. Prioritizing “issues” over educators and education, and pampering autocratic principals will only continue to drive hordes of students away from public schools. The direction of the current board (McGraw, McNeally, Certain, ARE YOU LISTENING?) is wrong to the core. ACPS has reached a dangerous tipping point. The voters in Alachua County should stop supporting the one mill tax.

  • I’m thinking if amendment 3 passes, “creating BILLIONS in revenue for schools and police” (according to their commercials) shouldn’t that reduce our property taxes for schools? …or will they remain the same… or even increase… There’s no mention of how those billions SHOULD provide some relief to property taxpayers. Don’t laugh too hard at this…

  • “ESSER” for anyone not aware is “Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund”.

    https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/formula-grants/response-formula-grants/covid-19-emergency-relief-grants/elementary-and-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund

    I’m curious about some of the nonspecific terms in the budget:

    “Required technology upgrade” — what technology? Required by whom? Is it an opportunity to pursue more cost-effective alternatives?

    “Increased safety and security costs due to State mandates”. What costs and what mandates? Florida’s Constitution prohibits unfunded mandates but the language omits entities like school boards. Is there a way for the county to take responsibility for these aspects?

    • The ESSR funds were mismanagement by former superintendent, Carlee Simon. She was way in over her head! Her no experience in running anything was glaring! No wonder she was fired from every job after being classroom teacher.

  • After reading this detailed accounting of the meeting I can now say with confidence that the board is the problem. Certainly the performance of staff is subpar – when you spend more than take in, it’s called a deficit – but there are so many problems here. Meanwhile, parents are exercising their rights to a voucher and who can blame them.

    • Thanks to the generous SBAC and the gullible voters of Alachua County.
      Is the “interim” because she’s waiting on the Certain call?

  • Spending twice as much per C Grade student vs surrounding counties higher grades and much lower cost per student speak volumes of the WOKE ACSB Failures. The recently released Superintendent should be proud of his dismissal by the 5 stooges. His resume will shine by leaving this terrible ACSB that is beyone repair and needs a higher authority to step in and fire all of members.

  • I’ve read Alachua Chronicle comments about the school board religiously for two years. I wish each commenter would attend school board meetings and make comments publicly. That would help make the school district truly transparent.

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