Manatee County charter schools have more students. Should they get more tax money?

With an increase on property taxes, approved by voters in March 2018, the Manatee County School District vowed to boost salaries, expand programs and “support charter schools.”

That vague language — “to support charter schools” — will fuel a discussion at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Board meetings are closed to visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic, but residents can watch live by viewing Spectrum Channel 646 and Frontier Channel 39, or by visiting www.mstv.us. The meeting starts at 5:45 p.m.

Charlie Kennedy, the board’s vice chair, suggested that charter schools receive a greater share of the increased tax revenue, in line with their increased enrollment. While enrollment is on the rise, charter schools are receiving the same percentage of referendum money, he said.

“I’m going to ask the board that we use the correct percentage for each school year, whether it goes up or down,” he continued. “If charter schools see their enrollment drop, then we would drop that allocation down.”

Before the tax increase was presented to voters, the district said charter schools would receive a “fair share” of the money if the referendum were passed. It was decided that 14.5 percent of the extra tax revenue would go to charters, based on their enrollment at the time, according to board attorney Stephen Dye.

During a review of the issue, Dye found the number in two presentations “that were likely presented to the board and public in various formats,” according to his report.

However, he wrote, the 14.5 percent share was not included in the actual referendum, which promised only to “support charter schools.” It seems there was no official allocation for charter schools, and no official method to calculate their share each year.

“It is recommended that the Board take action confirming a methodology as to how the charter schools will be funded for the remaining years of the additional millage referendum,” Dye concluded.

The one-mill increase on property taxes — which brought in more than $37 million in its first year, including $5.4 million for charter schools — is set to expire on June 30, 2022.

In the 2017-2018 school year, charter schools housed 14.1 percent of the district’s students, a number that increased to 16.2 percent in the current school year, according to an attachment on Tuesday’s meeting agenda.

If the allocation were in line with the increased enrollment, charter schools would have received about $680,000 more in the 2019-2020 school year, Kennedy said.

“We’re now at the end of this school year, and my fear is a lot of that money has already been expended, so we may have to make the change for the 2020-2021 school year,” he said.

The referendum also promised to boost programs for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM.

To ensure charter schools are receiving a fair share of the money, Kennedy said the district should pull from the STEM funds. It was the best choice, he said, because the other options were tied directly to employee salaries.

“It’s just a starting point,” he said of the proposal. “We’ll see what the board comes up with.”

Board member Dave Miner said he would join the discussion on Tuesday night. Chairwoman Gina Messenger said the board planned to hold an in-depth review of the issue during a past workshop, which was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neither was ready to take a stance on Monday morning, and board member James Golden could not be reached for comment.

“I think it’s important that we’re fair and equitable to all of our students, and that’s what needs to be discussed,” Messenger said.

It was clear, however, that Kennedy would face opposition from board member Scott Hopes. He said there were “all kinds of problems” with the referendum, but he felt it was too late to change existing agreements and public promises.

Hopes said he would advocate for a comprehensive plan before the referendum expires and goes up for a renewal vote. A lack of detail in the current referendum, he said, has caused regular confusion and debate.

“The whole thing was ill-thought-out, and I’m all for the dollars following the student, but you’re talking about changing in midstream and taking money from STEM,” he said. “We’re trying to build our technology programs.”

The issue of referendum money and charter schools was recently included in an update to Florida law. According to Statute 1011.71, “funds levied under this subsection shall be shared with charter schools based on each charter school’s proportionate share of the district’s total unweighted full-time equivalent student enrollment.”

Since the law changed after March 2018, it had no effect on Manatee’s current referendum. And while the referendum vowed to “support charter schools,” it never specified an “amount, formula or methodology to calculate the level of funding,” according to board attorney Dye.

Board members will grapple with the issue on Tuesday evening. To submit a public comment, email public_comment@manateeschools.net, and to reach a board member, call 941-708-8770, extension 41155.

This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 4:01 PM.