Sarasota County Public Schools, Florida

From Sunshine Review

Jump to: navigation, search
Taxes
Budget
Meetings
Elected Officials
Administrative Officials
Contracts
Audits
Public records
Academics
Background checks
School district websites

Contents

Sarasota County School District is a school district in Florida. The school system has a total attendance of 40,014 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

  • Budget is published.[1]
  • School board members listed with contact information. Meeting schedule, minutes and agendas available.[2]
  • Information provided on student and district performance and evaluations.[3]
  • Annual financial audits and lottery tax statements provided.[4]
  • Union[5] and vendor contracts available.[6]
  • Administrative officials listed with contact information in searchable database.[7]
  • Provides background check form for hiring employees.[8]

[edit] The bad

  • Provides information on requesting student and employee records, no other information on making public records requests.[9]

[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. [10]

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.

The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Sarasota County School Board are elected annually in November. The chair presides over meetings and appoints committees as well as any other duties required by law or the school district. The School Board is responsible for determining policies necessary for effective operation and improvement of the school system. [11] The board will set the salaries of board members. [11] The board can call emergency meetings for when immediate action is required. [12] The school board will also be allowed to enter into collective bargaining agreements and request a mediator during a negotiation impasse. [13]


Member District
Dr. Carol Todd District 1
Caroline Zucker Chair District 2
Frank H. Kovach District 3
Shirley Brown Vice-Chair District 4
Dr. Kathy Kleinlein District 5

The Superintendent for the district is Lori White. The Superintendent is responsible for the administration of the entire school system as provided by law. The Superintendent shall also be the contact between the district at large and the school board, as well as keep minutes of School Board meetings. All employees of the school district are under the general supervision of the superintendent. [14] The Superintendents contract will the district will cover the responsibilities, evaluation, salary and benefits. [15]

[edit] Teacher Contracts

In May of 2009 the School Board and the Teacher's Union reached a tentative agreement on contracts, including a small raise for most teachers, but a reduction in bonuses for teaching extra-curricular activities. Approximately 60% of teachers will receive a 1.5% raise [16]

[edit] Academic Performance

Sarasota County has been classified by the state as an “A” district. [17]

[edit] 2007-2009

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 "show".

[edit] School Budget

As of the end of the most recent fiscal year, the general operation budget for the district is $449,413,000. The money is segmented into four groupings to streamline spending, which are:

  • Instruction: $209,186,000
  • Teacher Salaries: $141,419,000
  • Pupils: $24,179,000
  • Total Support Services: $129,263,000

In addition, the current student population in the district is 41,890.[19]

The district is receiving $4,579,155 under the Recovery Act. [20]

[edit] Millage

The following are the proposed millage rates for 2008-2009. [21]

Type 2008-09
Required Local Effort Millage 3.717
Discretionary Millage 0.578
Voted Operating 1.000
Capital Improvement Tax 1.750
Total Millage 7.045

[edit] Unions

The Sarasota Classified Teachers Association (SC/TA) is the union for this school district. [22]

The SC/TA has set up it's own lobbying association by the name of SC/TA TIGER, an Acronym for Together in Government and Education Reform. The SC/TA Tiger was set up as a separate political action committee, and is an independent organization that contributes money to candidates. [23]

[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. [24] The results are included in Florida school districts lobbying totals. (For information on the project or to start your own, see the project page.) Sarasota County Public Schools has not reported any lobbying activity. Sarasota County has lobbied for education appropriations in 2009 and 2008. [25] [26]

The school district pays membership dues to the Florida School Boards Association, a taxpayer-funded lobbying association.[27]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Budget
  2. ↑ School Board
  3. ↑ Research, Assessment and Evaluation
  4. ↑ Accounting
  5. ↑ Human Resources and Labor
  6. ↑ Purchasing Bids
  7. ↑ Phone Directory
  8. ↑ Background Check
  9. ↑ Records
  10. ↑ School board powers and duties, Florida statute
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Responsibility of the School Board
  12. ↑ Board Rules
  13. ↑ Collective Bargaining Agreements
  14. ↑ Responsibilities of the Superintendent
  15. ↑ Superintendents Contract
  16. ↑ Sarasota School District and Union reach contract agreement, changes to come, MySunCoast.com abc 7, May 12, 2009
  17. ↑ Sarasota County School Superintendent
  18. ↑ Florida School Accountability Reports
  19. ↑ Sarasota County School District Information
  20. ↑ Grants to Local Educational Agencies - FLORIDA
  21. ↑ Tentative Budget Facts 2008-2009
  22. ↑ SCAT Online
  23. ↑ SC/TA Tiger
  24. ↑ Online Sunshine - Lobbying Information
  25. ↑ 2009 Lobbying Report, Q1 - Sarasota
  26. ↑ 2008 Lobbying Report, Q1 - Sarasota
  27. ↑ Florida School Boards Association members list


v • d • e
School districts in Florida
Alachua • Baker • Bay District • Bradford • Brevard • Broward • Calhoun • Charlotte • Citrus • Clay • Collier • Columbia • DeSoto • Dixie • Duval • Escambia • Flagler • Franklin • Gadsden • Gilchrist • Glades • Gulf • Hamilton • Hardee • Hendry • Hernando • Highlands • Hillsborough • Holmes • Indian River • Jackson • Jefferson • Lafayette • Lake • Lee • Leon • Levy • Liberty • Madison • Manatee • Marion • Martin • Monroe • Miami-Dade • Nassau • Okaloosa • Okeechobee • Orange • Osceola • Palm Beach • Pasco • Pinellas • Polk • Putnam • Santa Rosa • Sarasota • Seminole • St. Johns • St. Lucie • Sumter • Suwannee • Taylor • Union • Volusia • Wakulla • Walton • Washington
Special school districts

Florida School for the Deaf and Blind • Dozier/Okeechobee School District • Eckerd Youth District • Alexander D. Henderson University School • Florida State University Schools •

Florida A&M Developmental Research School • P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
Retrieved from "http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Sarasota_County_Public_Schools,_Florida"