Manatee County to school district: We can't help pay for campus security

Community leaders throughout Florida are scratching their heads as they try to pay for a state mandate that requires security at every K-12 school, and it seems the School District of Manatee County is hoping for more help than county commissioners are willing to provide.

Ed Hunzeker, the county administrator, will recommend that commission Chairman Priscilla Whisenant Trace send a letter to school board chairman Scott Hopes, advising him that Manatee County declines to participate in funding for the school security program, according to an agenda for Tuesday's commission meeting.

The agenda is unclear about whether the county would completely refrain from helping the district, or whether it would only opt out of helping with new security costs that arose with new state requirements.

Manatee County has traditionally split the cost of sheriff's deputies with the district, but the 50-50 agreement is not mandated and could always be renegotiated. School is in session for 180 days, and full-time deputies patrol the county outside of that time frame, leading to the shared cost, Sheriff Rick Wells said at a recent meeting between commissioners and school board members.

Other costs come from partnerships with the Bradenton, Palmetto and Holmes Beach police departments.

"For more than 10 years commissioners have prioritized law enforcement and public safety, funding them to a combined $173 million, or 27 percent of this year's budget," county spokesman Nick Azzara said in an email. "So, I don't think the commission's decision tomorrow should be a reflection of its commitment to public safety or our school district partners."

The county expects its share to reach more than $3.7 million in the upcoming school year, according to an attachment on the agenda.

Gov. Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 7026, known as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, in March. It requires a law enforcement officer in every elementary and middle school, and one officer per every 1,000 students in each high school.

School board member Charlie Kennedy said he hopes Hunzeker's proposal is the start of a negotiation, not an end to the conversation on school safety.

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but you have to get kind of creative with your budgeting process to pay for things you prioritize," he said. "I hope they would prioritize the safety of 48,000 kids while they're at school."

The county named public safety as a top priority in its most recent budget, but it also cited pending legislation as a future obstacle. The Homestead Exemption Increase Amendment, if passed in November, will raise the maximum homestead exemption by $25,000. As a result, the county expects its budget to shrink by more than $9 million in fiscal year 2020.

If the county were to help pay for school security, it would "need to approve an increase to the property tax rate in the upcoming budget process," Tuesday's meeting agenda states.

Manatee County is not alone in the struggle to secure schools amid the ever-present threat of another shooting, according to media reports throughout the state.

Clay County is working to find the $4.5 million needed to place sheriff's deputies in its schools. In Leon County, the district and the county sheriff's office each contribute $1.5 million to secure schools, but another $1 million is needed to fund the new positions.

Voters in Monroe County will decide on Aug. 28 whether they support a tax increase to help pay for the added security.

Each district received extra security funding from the state, but it was rarely, if ever, enough. Manatee County received about $2.6 million, some of which will go to charter schools, but it still needs $1.3 million to pay for its usual 50-50 share of the costs. That burden will be higher without the support of county commissioners.

Manatee County, like many other districts, is adding more than just officers to its schools. The school board will decide on Tuesday whether to approve $750,000 in additional funding for access control devices at all district campuses.

Hopes said he would like the district and county to work together. In the meantime, he said, the district will do its best to find needed safety funds.

"We'll be looking at the impact of increased property values and projected revenues," he said. "And the bottom line is, we're going to have to prepare a budget that will provide adequate securities to the schools with uniformed police officers and sheriff's deputies."

This story was originally published April 23, 2018 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Manatee County to school district: We can't help pay for campus security."