Bay District Schools, Florida

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Bay District Schools is a school district in Florida. The school system has a total attendance of 25,019 students project for the 2009-2010 school year. The Florida Department of Education provides a list of past, current, and future school enrollment totals for each district.

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Budget
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Administrative Officials
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School district websites

Contents

[edit] Website evaluation

Main article: Evaluation of Florida school district websites

[edit] The good

  • The website has information on school board meeting information. [1]
  • Contact information is provided for elected and administrative officials. [2]
  • The website has information on school district budgets. [3]
  • The website has current contract information. [4]

[edit] The bad

  • The website does not have information on taxes, audits, public records, academic performance, or background checks.

[edit] Budget

The Bay County School District maintained a budget of $230,537,000. Of that budget, they spent $115,657,000 or 44 percent, on Instruction. $74,383,000 or 29 percent, of the budget was spent on Teacher salaries, as well as $62,897,000 24 percent, on Support Services, such as administration and janitorial workers. $7,573,000 or 3 percent, was spent on Pupils. [5]
Bay County School Board Budget
Where spent Amount
Instruction$115,657,000.00
Teacher Salaries$74,383,000.00
Pupils$7,573,000.00
Support Services$62,897,000.00
Total Budget230,537,000.00

[edit] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding

Bay County has received $4,191,862 in Federal Taxpayer money appropriated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also know as the "economic stimulus". [6]

[edit] School board

Below are the school district board members:[7] [8]

School board member District Term Term expires
Pat Sabiston District 1 1st 2010
Ryan Neves District 2 1st 2012
Ginger Littleton District 3 1st 2010
Jerry Register District 4 1st 2012
Donna Allen District 5 2nd 2010

William V. Husfelt, III serves as the superintendent.

[edit] Academic performance

Below is a chart of the school's grade based on the student's performance of the statewide test called the FCAT.[9] To see results, click on "show".

[edit] Lobbying

Main article: Florida taxpayer-funded lobbying and Florida School Boards Association

Taxpayer-funded lobbying, public entities using funds to lobby for special interests, happens in cities, counties, and other entities. These activities are hard to track. The issues lobbied for may be diverse, but school lobbying typically deals with issues close to the school district or school board.

In July 2009, Sunshine Review submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the 27 Florida school districts with lobbyists registered for 2009 with the Florida legislature. [10] The results are included in Florida school districts lobbying totals. (For information on the project or to start your own, see the project page.)

Payments to Mixon & Associates since 2004[11]

The school district has two registered lobbyists with the executive for 2009. [12] It is represented by the lobbying firm Mixon and Associates. [13]

Payments made to Mixon and Associates since 2004 total $63,963.57:

  • 2009: $4,610.12
  • 2008: $11,800.06
  • 2007: $10,486.83
  • 2006: $11,048.78
  • 2005: $15,884.74
  • 2004: $10,133.04

The trend for the payments for previous years shows that more money is committed to lobbying by the end 2009.

The district does not host legislative receptions, and it does not give gifts to legislators. [14] It pays membership dues to the Florida School Boards Association, a taxpayer-funded lobbying association.[15]

[edit] Mixon & Associates

Lobbying firm Mixon & Associates plays four roles for the school district, as laid out in their contract with the school district: ensuring the school district complies with recommendations, giving advice to the school district, representing the school board's interest before legislative and governing bodies, and keeping the district with up-to-date information. [13]

The firm helps the district follow recommendations of Commissioner of Education and Governor. It also gives advice on how to fund programs to the Board of Education

The firm is responsible for representing the school board before the following bodies:

  • Commisioner of Education
  • The Governor and administration
  • Revenue Estimating, Lottery Estimating and FTE Estimating conferences with the Department of Education., before Auditor General, Health and Rehabilitative Services, Environmental Regulation and Department of Natural Resources.

It also takes care of requests for district staff to testify before legislature.

The fourth responsibility of the firm is to keep the district informed on education bills and policy events. This includes reporting on legislative happenings and answering school staff questions.

[edit] Most recent

Bay District Schools has spent $4,610.12 in 2009 on lobbying-related expenditures (see "Payments to Mixon & Associates since 2004"). See also Florida school districts lobbying, 2009.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Working for accountable government now


  1. ↑ School Board Information
  2. ↑ Officials' Contact Information
  3. ↑ Budget Information
  4. ↑ Contract Information
  5. ↑ [1]
  6. ↑ [2]
  7. ↑ School board members
  8. ↑ Bay District Schools, School Board members
  9. ↑ Florida School Accountability Reports
  10. ↑ Online Sunshine - Lobbying Information
  11. ↑ Bay County Check Regist - Payments to Mixon and Associates
  12. ↑ Florida Executive — 2009 Registrations By Principal Name
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Bay - Contract with Mixon and Associates
  14. ↑ FOIA letter, Bay District Schools - August 11, 2009
  15. ↑ Florida School Boards Association members list
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Florida School for the Deaf and Blind • Dozier/Okeechobee School District • Eckerd Youth District • Alexander D. Henderson University School • Florida State University Schools •

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