Collier County District School Board, Florida

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Collier County School District is a school district in Florida. The school system has a total attendance of 41,592 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.

[edit] Website evaluation

Main article: Evaluation of Florida school district websites

[edit] The good

  • Board members posted with contact information.[1] Meeting schedule[2], agendas[3], and minutes posted.[4]
  • Administrative officials listed under respective departments.[5]
  • Budget is published.[6]
  • Annual financial audit[7] and lottery reports posted.[8]
  • Vendor awarded contracts posted.[9]
  • Academic testing information[10] and District test results available.[11]

[edit] The bad

  • Information is not posted on labor contracts, background checks, and how to make public records requests.
Working for accountable government now


[edit] Response to evaluation

The school district was alerted to its transparency grade by Marco News and Naples News. District Spokesman Joe Landon has stated the district will take the suggestions and review the information.[12]

“Our school district is always open and honest with our community,” he said. “We take our responsibility to the stakeholders very seriously.”[13]

[edit] School board

The school board controls school property, establishes, organizes, and operates the schools of the district, including: establishing schools, adopting enrollment plans, providing for school elimination and consolidation, cooperating with school boards of adjoining districts in maintaining schools, maintaining the school year schedule and other more specific duties as outlined in the Florida statute. [14]

It operates, controls and supervises the district's public schools as well as determines the rate of school district taxes, with the option of two or more school districts operating and financing educational programs together.

Below are the school district board members:[15]

School board member District Term expires
Pat Carroll District 1 2010
Kathleen Curatolo District 2 2012
Steven J. Donovan District 3 2010
Julie Sprague District 4 2012
Richard Calabrese District 5 2010

The district's superintendent is Dr. Dennis L. Thompson.

[edit] Teacher Contracts

Teacher contracts are negotiated by the Florida School Labor Relations Services (FSLRS), a joint venture of the Florida School Board. The primary function of FSLRS is to consult with school district personnel and school board members in the area of employee and labor relations.[16]

[edit] School Budget

The total funds for 2008-2009 was $1,009,232,590. Over 99% of the total funds come from the state. This amount comprised the following:

Budget Division Amount
General Fund $417,542,062
Debt Service $90,912,937
Capital Projects $377,219,452
Special Revenue $55,183,108
Internal Service $68,375,031

The total funds decreased by approximately $10.5 million from the 2007-2008 school year.[17]

The operational expenditures of the school budget are almost entirely allocated from the general fund. Within the general fund--with capital transfers--the expenditures run as follows:

Department Amount Percentage of General Fund
Instructional $242,727,439 60.36%
Instructional Support $34,810,851 8.66%
School Board $1,866,766 0.47%
General Administration $1,499,810 0.37%
Office of Principal $26,572,056 6.61%
Facilities $1,618,921 0.40%
Finance and Accounting $1,941,677 0.48%
Control Services $6,304,024 1.57%
Transportation $22,573,692 5.62%
Operation of Plant $40,341,116 10.03%
Maintenance $18,045,982 4.49%
Administrative Technical Services $3,798,377 0.94%

[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.[18] To see results, click on "show".

[edit] Unions

All public school teachers in Floriday belong to the state-wide union, the Florida Education Association (FEA). The budges of the FEA in 2008 was as follows:

  • Total Revenue: $ 20,133,842
  • Total Expenses: $ 19,978,236
  • Total Assets: $ 9,177,174

Collier County also has a teacher's union, the Collier County Education Association Inc, whose budget in 2003 was $1,007,338.[19]

[edit] School Choice

Florida has one of the most effective school voucher programs in the country. However, by virtue of a Florida Supreme Court ruling, students who remain in a failing public school may only transfer to another public school.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program has been a part of Florida’s A+ Education Plan since 1999. As originally implemented, the program offered students who attended or who were assigned to attend failing public schools the option to choose a higher performing public school or a participating private school. A failing public school is a school that has received two “F” grades within a four-year period.

On January 5, 2006, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling declaring the private school option of the Opportunity Scholarship Program unconstitutional. Students assigned to a failing school are no longer offered the opportunity to transfer and enroll in a participating private school. The option to attend a higher performing public school remains in effect.

The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation released, in March 2004, a scorecard rating school choice programs around the nation, and the report rated Florida’s McKay program first and the Opportunity Scholarship program sixth.[20]

[edit] Lobbying

Main article: Florida taxpayer-funded lobbying

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. [21] The results are included in Florida school districts lobbying totals. (For information on the project or to start your own, see the project page.)

The school district responded that it could fulfill the request for a fee of $350. [22]

The school district pays membership dues to the Florida School Boards Association, a taxpayer-funded lobbying association.[23] Additionally, Collier County District School Board has one registered lobbyists with the Florida legislature and executive for 2009. [24] [25]

Schoolhouse Consulting
Contract start Contract end Amount
7/1/20056/30/2006 $24,900
7/1/20066/30/2007 $24,900
7/1/20076/30/2008 $24,900
7/1/20086/30/2009 $24,900
7/1/20096/30/2010 $24,900

Schoolhouse Consulting Group has represented the school district since at least 2005. The contracts between the district and the firm are for a period of one year at $24,900. Since 2005, Collier County Schools has spent $124,500 on contracts with Schoolhouse.

[edit] Most recent

Collier County District Schools spent $24,900 on a contract with Schoolhouse Consulting for the 2009-2010 period.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Board
  2. ↑ Schedule
  3. ↑ Agendas
  4. ↑ Minutes
  5. ↑ Departments
  6. ↑ Budget
  7. ↑ Audit Report
  8. ↑ Lottery Report
  9. ↑ Vendor Bids
  10. ↑ Testing
  11. ↑ Test Results
  12. ↑ Marco News, Web sites for Collier, Lee school districts graded on transparency, September 9, 2009
  13. ↑ Naples News, Web sites for Collier, Lee school districts graded on transparency, September 9, 2009
  14. ↑ School board powers and duties, Florida statute
  15. ↑ School board members
  16. ↑ Florida School Labor Relations Services
  17. ↑ [http://www.collierschools.com/finance/budgetmanual/FS_Summary_by_Fund.pdf Budget}
  18. ↑ Florida School Accountability Reports
  19. ↑ Collier County Teacher Union Facts
  20. ↑ Florida School Choice
  21. ↑ Online Sunshine - Lobbying Information
  22. ↑ FOIA response, Collier County District Schools
  23. ↑ Florida School Boards Association members list
  24. ↑ Florida Executive — 2009 Registrations By Principal Name
  25. ↑ Florida Legislature — 2009 Registrations By Principal Name


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