School board sets 2026-27 budget, goals
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, September 21, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Lillian Hamman. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast from Mainstreet Daily News where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you. A big thanks to our sponsor, Forest Meadows Funeral Home, where compassion meets experience.
Lillian Hamman:Check out their beautiful gardens, funeral home, and tribute center. With exceptional care and personal attention, Forest Meadows is here to honor every life with care. Here's the top headlines we're following. In spite of all the rain, Alachua County remains in an extreme shortage. Residents are encouraged to conserve water usage as the district is over 16 inches below normal for rainfall over the past twelve months.
Lillian Hamman:Community members protested Gainesville Police Department's new immigration policy last week. The policy requires officers to fill out a form if they suspect someone is living in The US illegally. The police department said the policy complied with state law, but protesters argued it would create an unsafe environment for immigrants and their communities. The city of Alachua is drafting a twelve month moratorium, halting AI data centers from coming to town. The temporary legal measure will allow Alachua to study data centers and enact regulations in the meantime.
Lillian Hamman:A historical marker went up in Waldo on Saturday commemorating victims of racial lynching. The marker comes through a partnership between Alachua County and the Equal Justice Initiative, and it honors lynching victims from the Waldo, Hawthorne, Campville and Rochelle communities. UF Health Shands Children's Hospital is rated among the nation's best pediatric hospitals and number three in Florida. U. S.
Lillian Hamman:News and World Report released the rankings last week. Seven UF Health pediatric specialties were also recognized among the top 50 nationally. For all the details behind these stories, visit mainstreetdailynews.com. Every day, we're adding new information to keep you informed, and it's all free with no paywall thanks to our generous members. Welcome back to another episode of the StreetSmart podcast.
Lillian Hamman:I'm Lillian Hamman, and with me today in studio is education reporter Nick Anschultz, who was a long way from home over in London the past week. Welcome back, Nick. And I'm just so curious if you found any newspapers over there in the streets of London.
Nick Anschultz:Good to be back, Lillian. And I actually did not find any newspapers over there, but I was kinda looking a little bit on some of the streets.
Lillian Hamman:True. Yeah. You did find some really cool English pens that you brought back for your coworkers, which we appreciated. Never had a pen like that before. It's got the little Beefeater hat on it.
Lillian Hamman:And, I look forward to taking all my notes with that now.
Nick Anschultz:I saw those and I was like, know what? I just gotta get these.
Lillian Hamman:Did you have a favorite part of your trip? What all did you get to see?
Nick Anschultz:I think we pretty much covered everything in London in terms of all the major, attractions. I will say probably my The highlight was seeing Buckingham Palace.
Lillian Hamman:Oh, for sure.
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was pretty cool and we got to do like a stateroom tour of Buckingham Palace which they just recently opened up the palace to the public. I don't know exactly like how long ago it was but, it's relatively new to where the public can go in there and start, you know, looking around or going on tours and stuff. That was fun.
Lillian Hamman:Nice. And on top of adjusting back to the time zone over here, you've been staying on top of all the stories that have been going on in the education world here in Alachua County and we're gonna bring a roundup of some of those today. So what are some of the things you've been, reporting on since your return?
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. It's been a busy week for sure coming back, especially with the school board. School board set its timeline for the superintendent search at a workshop, while I was gone. The board also adopted its final budget and millage rate for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven fiscal year and also approved goals to raise achievement and narrow gaps.
Lillian Hamman:That's a lot. And what is that timeline looking like for the superintendent? I know there's been some back and forth on, you know, finding the vendor and figuring out, you know, what that whole process is gonna look like. Now we actually have a framework of when it could all happen. So what did you learn with all that?
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. So the school board met with the search firm in a workshop last week to discuss the timeline and other parts of the search process. Basically, just, you know, a little overall synopsis of that. The board is looking to possibly name a superintendent by the end of February and early March.
Lillian Hamman:Wow. That's actually kinda coming up. I know it's been a really long process. I mean, you've been covering this since last year and all the interim contract extensions and, you know, starting the search and then kind of going back and forth. And do you think it really could wrap up by then?
Nick Anschultz:It sounds like that's the goal of the search firm, to have possibly, like I said, have somebody in place by end of February, early March. But I think it's also gonna depend on, you know, kind of some of the other parts that go along with the search. They're also wanting to hold, stakeholder meetings October 19 through the twentieth to get input from the community and also, you know, other leaders in the in the community as well. And then, applications will actually be open by November 9 for the search. Based off the draft search calendar that was presented by this by the search firm, the goal is to hold stakeholder meetings October 19 through the twentieth to get input from the community and also some community leaders.
Nick Anschultz:And then applications would be open by November 9 with candidate presentations on January 20. And then during the first week of February would be the first round of candidate interviews. And then finalist interviews will be the week after the week of February 8. And on top of the stakeholder meetings, the search firm also said that they would provide online surveys for public input on the search process as well.
Lillian Hamman:Obviously, the superintendent search has been a big priority for the school board for, you know, months now, but they've also been discussing different goals they want to reach in order to help raise performance gaps and bring more achievements among students. So what have some of those measures look like?
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. So the board approved six goals for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven school year focused on raising student proficiency, shrinking achievement gaps, and strengthening other areas across the district. The district is aiming for a ninety five percent graduation rate at its seven traditional high schools. This would be up from ninety four percent in twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, and also a ninety one percent third grade promotion rate, which would be up from 89% in twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. The district is aiming to decrease the English language arts proficiency gap between white and black students from 38 percentage points in 2025, 2026 to 35 this year, and the math gap from 40 points to 37.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. Those will be some pretty important goals considering all the literacy concerns and issues going on around the district. I know you reported that the district's kindergarten readiness rate fell to 68% last year, which is down from 73% the year before. And so they're aiming to get back up to a 71% level. But, yeah, just a general concern among students being ready for kindergarten and contributing to those literacy rate problems.
Lillian Hamman:And I think you also mentioned that they have some goals for students with disabilities too.
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. That's right. The district aims to decrease the ELA gap amongst students with and without disabilities from 40 percentage points last year to 37 this year, and the math gap from 33 points to 30.
Lillian Hamman:And, of course, all of these measures are factored into how the district operates, and that is contingent on a budget. And Nick, you reported that the total budget this year is $623 million. What are some of the main things they're looking to focus on there in the budget? What's millage looking like? How is that gonna shake out?
Nick Anschultz:Yeah. That's right, Lillian. The district approved a $623 million budget, which is about $18.9 million or 3.1 percent higher than last year's adopted budget of roughly $604 million. The district distributes that increase in the budget to the growth in Florida Empowerment Scholarship funding. While five major funds make up the budget, the general fund or the operational fund accounts for the vast majority of the operational expenditures that support the district's education system.
Nick Anschultz:The largest general fund appropriation is for instruction at $176.9 million Of that total, roughly $96 million is for salaries, and roughly $34 million is for employee benefits.
Lillian Hamman:And the district voted to raise their millage as well. What's that gonna look like?
Nick Anschultz:The total millage rate that was adopted by the board is 6.327, which is 0.76 mils higher than the 2025 rate of 6.251. And that total millage that was adopted by the board for this fiscal year is expected to generate a little over a $181 million.
Lillian Hamman:And in that vein of budgets and millages, all the municipalities in Alachua County and the county itself are getting all of their financial set for the twenty twenty six, twenty seven fiscal year right now. And you can find more coverage of all of that on our website at mainstreetdailynews.com. We're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor before we get to the news forecast and event segments.
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Nick Anschultz:Now for this week's news forecast. The High Springs City Commission will hold a special and regular city commission meeting tonight to finalize its budget and hear updates on its city manager search. Hawthorne's commission will meet Wednesday to adopt its final budget. The Gainesville City Commission will meet Thursday for a policy discussion about fence height standards and whether to change the distance requirement between churches and alcohol establishments. Also on Thursday, Gainesville's plan board will convene for its monthly meeting.
Nick Anschultz:The board has several items on the agenda, including changes to outdoor shooting range ordinances and an amendment on historic buffers.
Lillian Hamman:Now for our event segment with plenty of fall themed family friendly events this week. The peanut patch and corn mazes Halloween festival kicks off at 5PM on Friday. The annual event features a brand new haunted house, corn maze, hayride, and other activities for $20 per ticket. Waldo's Homecoming Festival runs Friday through Sunday. A downtown parade, crafter festival, and three on three basketball tournament are all on deck for the free celebration.
Lillian Hamman:Sweet Berry Farms is hosting a free fall festival in Williston on Saturday starting at 9AM. Visitors can shop local farm fresh products, plants, and homemade treats with plenty of photo opportunities. And rounding out the weekend of fall festivals, the Briar Patch in Newberry is having a sunflower festival on Saturday. The full day of farm activities includes a crop maze, hay rides, animal petting, live music, and of course, you pick sunflowers.
Nick Anschultz:Getting to be that time of year where all the fall festivals are coming back. Lillian, you about ready for some cold weather? Because I am.
Lillian Hamman:I don't think so. I am currently holding my electric hand warmers in the the air conditioning because I'm so cold in the office. I don't think I could handle the temperature dropping below 70.
Nick Anschultz:Well, I don't think we have to worry about, frigid temperatures in the next few months. I'm just looking forward to like maybe some sixties or seventies.
Lillian Hamman:I'll just make sure to put on a good turtleneck and keep my hand warmers in my pocket and we'll call it good.
Nick Anschultz:There you go.
Lillian Hamman:And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free news at mainstreetdailynews.com. We'll be back next week with more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville, now leaving space. This episode is a production of MARC Media.
