--------- >> Okay. So I'm now calling the workshop to order. All board members are present. Dr. Legg. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. We'll jump right into this. I think you recall back in I think it was late early April or maybe mid April, we had a brief discussion about how we were putting together a work group just to look at the amount of screen time and use of technology that we have deployed in our schools. And why we kind of asked for this work group to come together because there's a body of research that is becoming abundantly clear that too much screen time for our students has an adverse effect on learning. And so we asked our work group to kind of look
at it and to kind of help create and draft some guidelines for our school going into this year. I want to make sure that we're abundantly clear. This is not that we are pulling back from technology or not going to use technology. Digital skills and digital deployment is important in learning. It's important to acquire. But it's secondary to the fundamental basic skills that children need to acquire first. And the best analogy that I can use is I had an opportunity over spring break to visit multiple schools, high-performing schools throughout the US.
And one of the things that we went to, we went to a CTE school. And the CTE school was a top performing school. And what they showed was in their drafting class. And in their drafting class, when we went into their drafting I noticed very quickly that not a single student was using CAD, which is the kind of that they have to use CAD. And I was asking the professors and the -- I was like, why are you using CAD? And they said very bluntly, they have to learn how to do it manually first, so they understand the spacing,
they understand the techniques, they understand the calculations, and then they move on to CAD. And they may not use hand calculations hardly ever again, But they found that if they didn't master the, kind of the analog version first, they never fully understood or fully comprehended how to use and why to use the CAD systems in using it. And I use that as just a loose analogy of what we are seeing in research. I'm not saying here in Pasco County specifically,
but I do anecdotally can say that. What we're seeing in research is that while all of us in this room kind of grew off that technology and then we were given technology and enhanced our learning. Many of our students never grew up in a world without technology. So some of those fundamental skills have not been acquired before they are immersed too much into technology. So what we are looking, we've asked our team to look at how are we using technology in the classroom and what does the research say is the appropriate amount,
what is the appropriate level, and to ensure that we're mastering the fundamentals and the basics first before we do too much, too often to our students in terms of equipment of digital skills. And I'll end with saying this and turn it over to Ms. Green. This is not to say we are not going to use -- or not that we will -- we're pulling back from technology. We will still use technology, but it's about the proper amounts to use it, when to use it, how to use it. what I am, what you'll hear over and over again, and me saying this over and over, I am fundamentally
against passive use of technology. That mindless, the computer's up and they're scrolling and they have disengaged from learning from the teacher, they've disengaged from communication with their colleagues around them, they have those durable skills are not being developed. So those, that passive use of technology is what we are trying to pull away from and only have purposeful, intentional use of technology in the classroom. And with that,
we'll turn it over to Ms. Green and let her kind of walk through what the work group has come up with. - Thank you. Good afternoon. - Hi. - Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Madam Chairman, honorable school board members, attorney maker, superintendent leg, superintendent staff. Today I'm excited to go over the work that our work group has been doing for the past couple of months. We have developed a guideline book that is Learning First, Limited Screens, Maximum Learning. So today what I want to
do is kind of go over some of the work that we did, why that work was needed, the research behind our recommendations, how the work group developed the recommendations, and how this document supports the teachers and in our classrooms. So it all goes back to our strategic goal connection. So it does go along with our strategic goal 1.1 that all schools will increase overall student achievement by achieving at least 5% increase in proficiency and learning gains in ELA and in math. What we
wanna say is we must ensure the instruction remains at the forefront and the practices that we have give the greatest impact on our learning. Technology is also one of those supports we want to do just as Dr. Lake has stated, but we also want to make sure that the instruction from the teacher stays at the forefront of what we are doing. So as we began this work, we recognized an important shift that's been occurring in education, and that is that technology is rapidly growing, rapidly growing every year. So at the
same time, we continue to see how many students who are still working to master those foundational skills, And so we want to make sure that the foundational skills are being addressed by the instructional staff member and not being addressed by the technology that is in front of them. So our objective was to take a step back and ask an important question. How do we ensure that students develop strong foundational skills before relying on the technology tools that are there to extend their learning? We believe digital skills
are essential for today's students but they should be built upon that strong foundation that they're getting in the classroom. And that foundation of reading, writing, math, and critical thinking. In other words, our foundational skills have got to come first. And then our digital skills will build upon that foundation. So just as Dr. Legg stated earlier, ultimately these recommendations are really not about getting rid of the technology, but about restoring some balance in the classrooms. So we had a very strong work group. And what was very good about our work group is we had
representation from all areas, elementary, middle, high school, district staff. We had teachers, instructional coaches, principals, all that were represented in this work group. The focus for our group was like we have stated, was to make sure we had some guidelines to ensure that technology use strengthens, but not replace, the mastery of foundational skills. So within our research, we have several consistent themes that kept emerging. Technology is most
effective when it supports and elevates the explicit instruction. And when we say the explicit instruction, we do mean that teacher to student, and also that collaboration that we see amongst our students within the classroom. We don't want to lose that. Also, foundational skills, they require some direct teaching, they require practice, feedback, and some cognitive effort. And also intentional technology, intentional use of technology will improve the learning. But as Dr. Legg said,
the passive screen time just absolutely does not. We don't want the scrolling through. Ms. Green, can I ask a question? Yes. When I was reading this, and I appreciate everything you said, I agree with what you said. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't eliminating with any of this language the opportunity for discovery lessons. Because sometimes technology can be used to quickly have students try this-- I do it with math. So graph this equation, graph this equation. Now look and see when you change a variable,
have them discover what did it do to the graph. So you can use it to teach in that way, where it's not necessarily direct, but it's discovery. And also one of the things is not to -- there's instruction behind it and there's a purpose behind the use of it as well. It's not that we're just giving students the time -- like that passive time of just, okay, you finished something, here, you go work on this at this time. No. We have a purpose behind what we're doing. And so a good use of it also is having that time for planning purposes is when we're sitting in our planning
sessions and in PL sessions we have those discussions of how we want to utilize the technology to make sure it's intentional. >> Okay, thank you. So our document, we came up with five recommendations have emerged. Or actually, let me take a step back, I'm so sorry. This document we developed is intended to support our teachers, not necessarily to do a monitoring piece as we had just discussed. It's a practical guide, not a compliance document. It's gonna help teachers determine when technology is gonna
add value in the classroom. It includes the guideline book, includes some direct, it includes guiding principles, best practices, some examples of good use and some non-examples. It also has some supports for students with disabilities and shows ways it will support our ELL students as well. It also supports professional decision-making that is aligned to the instructional goals. So we have some five recommendations that emerge. We need to prioritize the direct instruction of
new learning. So make sure that the teacher is doing the teaching of a lot of the new concepts, unless we have that in our planning sessions where we are being very intentional on how we're utilizing it at the time, if it is for discovery. Maintain teacher ownership. We don't wanna lose that relationship of the students and the teacher. We need to leverage our handwriting and reading discussions. And the digital learning is more for the reinforcement a lot and for those diagnostic needs. and use technology intentionally for application, the practice, the research,
and the feedback. And then we also came up with our limited screen time guidelines. Now one important outcome of this work was recognizing that appropriate technology use looks different across grade levels. Because this is a K-12 document, so we did want to make sure we were addressing it from kindergarten, always 12th grade, of course that looks very different as you go throughout the years. So we really looked at it for our primary grades. The students need minimal technology focus in the classroom.
They really need to be focused on the phonics, the oral language, the math computation, those things. Not saying that we're not utilizing technology or digital resources at the time, but being very intentional how we use it, but at a minimal use. Then also our students, as they mature, we understand that with their lessons and with technology, that that's going to increase as well with research that they're doing, presentations, projects, that will increase as they get older as well. So in every grace band, the recommendation reflects developmental needs while ensuring
technology enhances rather than replaces the authentic learning that's taking place. Should we ask questions as we go? Sure, if you're comfortable. Yes, that's fine. On this screen time, I understand the intention of it, but I'm not quite sure how in the middle schools and the high schools you would be able to know, like if you have five different classes you're taking, how are you going to know? You say only so many minutes a day, but it might be, one day might be the day every teacher they
have decided to use some screen time in their lesson plan that would go way over the limit. So that's why I'm questioning how are they supposed to manage that in middle and high school. I'm happy to address that. I'll give you an example of that. In the International Baccalaureate Program, there oftentimes were conversations about assessments. and on homework,
what night do you give homework, when do you give assessments? And so they essentially would come up when ELA would be giving extended homework, when math would be, it does require some communication among the staff and some support of administration. So you're correct, it'll have to be some collaboration. I do think it goes back to when a teacher using the technology that they're being thoughtful about why am I
pulling out the technology and then in addition to that these are the general guidelines across the board there are some courses that may look different based on what they're teaching. So kind of like their PLCs, when they're in their PLCs they have to have those discussions. Yeah, kind of thinking like capstone you know when they're in their research >> That's intentional technology. >> But it's screen time. >> It would be screen time and I would also always state that college level courses do look different than our traditional courses in high
school. >> Right. So they might not be held to this same standard. >> Correct. >> And these are objective average screen times for the students. But I want to kind of push and say it this way. If a student be on the screen for 45 minutes every day, there's a problem. That's a problem. So what we're saying is on an average that they should be looking at it and have an understanding that an occasional use we're using it for 30 minutes in a class on one day and another
classroom does it for 30 minutes and maybe another third class day on that day. And while that's not optimal, that may occur. We're not coming in and saying that can never happen. But if they're doing it every day of the week, that's a problematic that they can avoid and That's what the PLC is designed for. These are guidelines, not a compliance rule where we're walking in and checking it. However, in their discussions, this will be part of their planning discussion of the question will be asked, how much are we using technology this week in these classes?
- Yeah, I mean, the other way of looking at it is if teachers limit it 15 minutes in their class whole class period, you know, that would help keep down the average too. I'm sure there's lots of teachers that don't need to use it at all in the classes. As our work group moved through research to recommendations, one of the most important questions we were asking, what does this, what does effective technology use actually look
like in the classroom? The first section we have here on our screen talks about it identifies the instructional experiences, the paper and pencil or the direct instruction when that should be prioritized. For example, when we're learning new concepts, when we're doing some note taking, when we're building fluency and stamina, then also on our right side it says technology is more appropriate for when we're doing research, when we're doing collaboration, presentations,
some practice of required state assessments because as we know our state assessments are also given on the computer. So that is another reason why we just can't say no technology. The students have to have this to be prepared for the state assessments as well. >> Can I just -- I'm sorry. I don't know. Most of them I'll say, but this one goes with this slide. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Because it's the collaboration piece. And I've heard from parents and I'm not -- not thing I think but correct me if I'm wrong when you were
saying like the technology is appropriate for collaboration that's like when when students are working together on like slides or they're sharing they're working together on a shared document or something like that there's been instances that parents have told me that students have been you know they could post a discussion board right that would be more appropriate in my opinion that would be more appropriate for them to do at home but in the classroom if there was a discussion, I would think we would want that to be in real time as students collaborating and not them doing a discussion board during class time.
Yes. I just wanted to mention that I have had parents tell me that before. They're like, they're sitting right in class and posting on a discussion board and that's not the best use to write. And one of the aspects that we're seeing in research is showing is that these durable skills that we used to often take for granted, the eye contact when we talk to each other, the body language, the listening, the speaking back, you know, technology has improved so dramatically in the last 15 years and we've put those skills on the back burner at times and replaced them with discussion boards.
We are seeing how important those skills are to look at people in the eye to problem -- to resolve problems versus blowing up on a discussion board with it. So what we're trying to do is yes, there will be an appropriate use for discussion boards at home in collaboration, but nothing replaces looking people in the eye, listening, talking, discussing things out in a classroom discussion. Could there be opportunities where they use technology to interact? Absolutely. But we want to, and as Ms. Green said, we want to prioritize that human interaction,
that direct interaction, and we're seeing that too much of reliance on that technology has had an adverse effect on some of our-- some of the social development of our students and some of the ways they develop. Is that just interaction on projects together? >> Absolutely. That collaboration in the classroom is important. >> It's very important. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Another important aspect of the work was the alignment. So these recommendations are not separate from any of the other work that we've been doing within the district. They align with the curriculum,
the standards and our instructional priorities. It aligns with the guidance shared with schools on when and how often to use that technology based off the supplemental programs. And it supports our artificial intelligence guidebook as well as the K-12 technology continuum. So I want to end with a quote by Rose Luckin, "A student who struggles with reading comprehension will find little value in AI-generated content, regardless of how sophisticated the algorithm." I believe this kind of captures why this work matters. Technology, including AI,
is becoming increasingly powerful. Our responsibility is to ensure that we continue building our foundational skills first. And when those foundations are strong, technology becomes an incredible amplifier of learning, rather than a substitute for it. Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening about our work. - Thank you, I had a couple comments if that's okay. I'm sorry Mrs. Armstrong were you? - No I just had a question. - Go ahead. - I just had a question but can I? - I know that
any time that we introduce new guidelines, ideas, any time we have a rollout like this, there's always gonna be a lot of conversation and questions. But I really wanted to say thank you because as I've spent a lot of time in our classrooms, one of the things that I've talked with the superintendent and staff about is that passive consumption. And if you've ever spent time in my classroom, you know, I am very dedicated to the productive struggle. I think it is very important for students to be able to become critical thinkers. And they cannot become critical thinkers if we are merely relying on passive consumption.
And so I just, some of the verbiage I see in here, I think is really great. And I really wanna draw attention to what I'm seeing for math, and prioritizing paper and pencil. I've shared with the superintendent and staff as well that what I'm seeing in six through 12, because of a lot of it is inputting the final answer into SEVAS or potentially I Excel, we're sort of veering away from some of that paper and pencil and then grading based off of those steps. And what that does is it takes away from the critical thinking specifically for math. And so
I just wanted to say hats off to you guys. I think that this is a phenomenal start and it really gets us to shift our thinking a little bit about how we're utilizing technology in the classroom. And I also just want to say to our parents too, because this really is a partnership. As new evidence comes out, we know now as well that getting our kids off of screens, it's gonna just help with their motor skills, their social skills, and we definitely have to be in this together, so thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Mrs. Armstrong, did you have something?
- Oh, do you have a question? - I just, I had, well I can ask Dr. Iles' question later, but I do have, I wanted to piggyback off of that. As an elementary school teacher to me when I read this it really made me think that like it's gonna allow It would allow me as an elementary school teacher or any teacher more time for creativity in the classroom to like Gives you more a little bit of time to like look at your students individual needs and actually like plan a really fun lesson That might meet all their individual needs instead of having to focus directly on the technology So that's kind of where I what I took from this I thought oh, this
is an opportunity now to try to you know, not just focus directly on technology My one question was, and I know this sounds really small, but it is a big deal because I've had teachers ask me, indoor recess happens a lot in elementary schools, and a lot of times they'll just go to a tablet or a computer, and that's just going to be passive playing. Are we going to be able to supply maybe pods or grade levels like activities or give them suggestions on something that might be more productive
during that time for the IAs. That's just, I know that's gonna come up because I know that sometimes supplies are limited. So that might be a good thing to give the materials for them to be able to implement. - We will look at it. - Okay, thanks. - Okay, so several things. First, how does this, I know we have some pilots on one-on-one computer schools. Now, my question was, is that where we're assigning each student a computer or is that where we're
just making sure we've got enough computers in every classroom that they have enough to use during the class? Sure, and I'll jump in and see this. We have a pilot program where it's 6 through 12, so we'll make sure you know it's the upper grade, 6 through 12 doing it. And it's the concept of allowing them to take their computers home so they can do work at home and they can actually do more work because some of their lessons that require some more work. What we see is there's still a digital divide while many of them, while probably all of our students have
a phone, they don't all have computers by which they can actually do real technology work, real research, real papers to write. So the one on one is six through twelve and it's for them to take it home to use. And as a teacher and I and I'll be the first to confess that doing this in the past is before I used to let all my teach students just how their computers opened during class. When we first started doing that, they were engaged with me. But over the years, you start seeing that engagement less with me and more on the technology.
What we're encouraging our teachers to do, don't have that past computer just open in class. It needs to be closed in the backpack, paper and pencil, working, taking notes. But then when you go home, if you wanna spend time summarizing your notes, doing the research, writing your paper, now you have the tools to do it. It is important that our kids have the digital tools. They still need the digital tools. They just don't need it 24/7 in front of them in the classroom. Well, I guess that's what I was going
to agree with. Because when you look at the job force, which we're also trying to prepare people for the job force, It's hard to find jobs that you're not required to have some serious skills on the computer. You know, no, I mean, especially in the medical field, I mean, everything is digital in the medical field these days. So I think that there is that balance. What we do want them to
learn how to do it without a computer, but then we also need to make sure they know how to do it. with the computer and they have these digital skills. So it is a tough balance because you're not going to be able to turn in a handwritten paper to anybody. It's going to have to be typed. You know, they need to get used to doing that. So yes, it is a balance. But I do think it's important that, especially in the lower grades, that they get that
dynamic. And I think it's also important, like you said, if they're in a classroom and the teacher is talking, having a class discussion, yeah, those computers need to be shut. There's no doubt about it. That's why we had that phone restriction. But I think it is important. They do need to really become experts on using their computer skills too in solving problems jointly. Technology. I mean, I've done, as a realtor, I've met a lot of people
that work remotely, and it is amazing to me how they talk about their cohorts, their buddies. They're separated by 100,000s of miles, but they've learned the personality, everybody. They've learned how to work collaboratively, digitally, which is just kind of amazing, has been amazing to me, to see. So I think you have to develop both skills. >> Can I
just ask one more question? I'm sorry. I paid off all of that. For the elementary, do they have to type their FSA writing or their -- >> Yes. >> Okay. So this gives us an opportunity to start practice. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So -- but I really like the fact that they have to use it with intention. I where it's so hard to get students to engage in thinking about when they're doing a lab, thinking about what they're actually doing.
And seeing some of these programs develop through AI that actually question the students on each step, but why do you think that's happening? So they seem to get more engaged than writing the answer down the paper because the AI would then come back and say, Are you sure that's what you saw? You know, other words, he said, why do you, you know, so you said this, why do you think that actually happened? In other words, it's kind of like the teacher can't go
around to 30 different kids and ask them these questions as they're doing the experiment, but the AI on the computer can quiz them all along and make them keep going critically in their thinking. - It definitely needs to be a balance. So there is a balance. The teacher needs to be very aware of how they're planning their lessons. - Thank you. - Ms. Hernandez, did you have anything? - No, no, no, I'm good. - Okay, we've covered. First, thank you to everyone who worked on this.
Good it is important to have some guidance in place and some guidelines. I love what you said about restoring balance. And I really want to thank you for sharing it with us because there's been times when things are out there and then the first week of school were bombarded with emails from teachers. And it's really helpful for us to see it ahead of time. So I really appreciate you sharing and going through this with us. And then I appreciate that the team looked at the research on this topic.
I know I shared a research article with senior leadership that I had read about brain activity and how the brain works. It works differently when students are actively writing compared to typing. So a couple of thoughts to share on the best practice guide. And I want to emphasize that I do support these recommendations, but I just want to give a couple of thoughts on this. On the math on page five, I know it's just a short summary, but I just wanted to ask-- so it's the bottom of page five.
I just wanted to ask if you would consider other ways to use technology, like application of concepts. So students master the concepts, but then I could just give you my notes later. You don't have to write. Try to write. You can do it. I don't want you to have to write. I'll just say a note too. She's got a healthy sense of humor. And you don't have to do it. I'm just giving you some ideas. I thought of them and I wrote them down. So like application of concepts, because students, we want them to master the concept. I think that was, everyone was agreement
on that. But then technology could be used to data crunch with real life data. So the technology tools like Excel or other technology give students the ability to work with large data sets to get information like trend lines and correlation coefficients. So they could do that quickly with technology once they understand the concepts. But then when they use the technology, then they can spend their time analyzing and interpreting what that means, which is the higher order thinking skills we're trying to get to. And then similar
discussions occurred. Oh, I was just given some background. We had similar discussions about this years ago when we introduced graphing calculators for the first time. There were times when we should use it, and there are times students need to be fluent, right? And with their math, with their arithmetic. So technology can help us with efficiency and allow students to use that information to make predictions and interpret results. I also wanna emphasize the importance of having that conceptual understanding before
using the tool, 'cause I agree with what Mrs. Armstrong said, but really to emphasize that conceptual understanding first, which I know that you mentioned too. And again, I do the same thing with compound interest, write it out every month, show 'em by hand what that means. Once they do it by hand three or four times to see three or four months or whatever the period is, then we can go to the technology and say, how would you do that, what does that mean? So they really understand it. So I'm really glad that we're looking at that balance of making sure they have the conceptual before we then move on to using the technology.
And then on page nine, with students with disabilities, I'm glad you included guidance for our ELL students and our students with disabilities. And I just wanna make sure that we consider our students with motor challenges and allowing word processing as an accommodation, 'cause I know several students do have that. And when it's appropriate for some students, not necessarily for all students, but for some students, because students with motor challenges, it's hard for people that don't have a motor challenge to understand it,
but when a student, God bless you, does have a motor challenge, they sometimes have to focus on literally the physical act of writing, and forming letters rather than the content. So with them, technology does help with taking notes. And then just overall, again, I wanna thank you for your work, and I'm pleased with the work of the committee and the recommendations. And I know that when you reroll things out, they often change as they get implemented, technology's changing, you're gonna get feedback. But I think this was an excellent document and I really appreciate the work that you all did on us.
- Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. - It is excellent. - Thank you. - It really does stress what's important. Just one last comment. I think some teachers probably have already grasped this concept. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, the work group obviously has grasped this concept. So I really see it more as a document that's going to aid the up and coming teachers, the new teachers, the teachers that don't have that experience. It will really give them a
starting point and then they'll see how other teachers have been already implementing this. That was a really good point, Mrs. Armstrong. I'm glad you said that because we weren't trying to assume that our teachers didn't know how to do that and if it came across that way. I think we've been saying for a long time we can't replace good teachers with an app. I think that's ultimately what we're saying. It's gonna allow for more creativity. Yeah and I think it lets parent with this document does also lets parents know what the expectation what they can expect from us right. It's letting our families know what this district is focused on. Yeah.
So next up we have our legislative update from Sunrise Consulting Group. So I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Danielle Thomas and Sean Foster throughout this legislative session and they have made sure that our voice, our Pasco County Schools voice has been heard in Tallahassee. So I'm going to turn it over to them for a quick legislative update. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for your patience. >> Thank you. Thank you for allowing us to be here. >> And I'm really interested in coming off the cold and I think everybody in my house
has it. >> Yeah, I see it over here. >> I know. I know. I won't stay close to the mic. Real quick, just want to say thank you. It is quite an honor living in this area for almost three decades now and being able to represent the county in which you live in and have an expert now join our team has been something that's really brought us up and we are honored to have represented you. And so I'm going to kind of start it off. I'm going to let her kind of take obviously a lot of the policy items and then talk about some of the items in the end. And in the end I'm going to talk a little bit what we're talking about in the beginning,
how the special sessions happen and some of the information that I have for you was going to happen in the ballot, going up to folks about tax referendums. So we'll talk a little bit about that and some information for you. So real quick, there was almost 2,000 bills filed, but this session was a little bit different and it was probably good. We always say probably less things that passed in Tallahassee is good for the rest of the state. And John, you'll remember these times, but it was really odd. 782 bills were filed the day before session started. So you had already gone through all
these committees and like literally one-third of the bills, and so you're sitting in the first and second week of session and some bills had not even been heard yet. And so it was a -- we're sitting there and they only had -- were they going to put a couple of these bills on the agenda? So it was a very, very few amount of bills. And you can see the amount of bills that went to the governor in veto. But very, very little legislation was purposely done, mostly from the House, that kind of slowed the whole process down. Next, I'll just talk briefly because I'm going to talk a little bit more at the end. You know,
we talk about every session as a really different session. really was a culmination of a very difficult two years. You had the governor bring us back in this special session, a lot of people didn't realize this, and so he said, "Hey, we're gonna go and talk about medical freedom and the AI bill and health care," and we had already had these bills come up during session, they just didn't pass. The Speaker of the House came in and said, "Nope, we're not going to take these up, we're going to take the congressional map just the way that it is," and we went home. And so that left the Senate with no ability that congressional map and
the governor got exactly what he wanted and the other items didn't start or have an opportunity to start. The next session that you see right there of course with the state budget we couldn't get that done during session and I know you're very familiar with that and I'll talk about some of those items and of course the the property tax happened in the last one and I've got some slides at the end that will go in a little bit more depth so very difficult session all the way through summer and this one right I kind of want like to let you all know this because we always hear about this sometimes especially with education We kind of look what the governor puts in for
the budget and then the legislature tells us they don't care What's in the governor's budget? They're gonna propose their own and so his numbers started at 117 billion That was actually higher than last year's budget. It wasn't lower The house came in at 113 and the Senate at 115 and I say when we get to this process What's a few billion dollars amongst friends? we're going to work it out. And it took a long time for the friends to work it out. It took a long time. You see two numbers. And I always want to be very, very clear. The overall budget was 117. But that was the back of the budget. Those were issues
that were not resolved in last year's. So they add the money. But I kind of like looking at the 114, because the 114 is actually lower than the previous year's budget and falling it. But they also allowed folks to spend the dollars that were not spent in the previous budget. and that's why you get the 117. I kind of like to do this here because I want you to see this real big. If you'll see the 35 billion in 2020 and all the way up to 2028, that is the general budget. So the overall budget that I just mentioned to you is 115. The 52 billion
is the revenue that we have coming in from our state coffers, from sales tax and other funds. The other 60 billion is pass-through dollars coming through trust funds and the federal government. So when you hear folks saying, we've got to cut a billion, it's not really that billion generally that they're telling you they're cutting from the 114, it's from the general revenue, which they really have. And so, you know, when you hear about some less funding available, you can understand when you look at the general revenue how much it's grown. So what they've already projected, and again, I'll talk about this at the end,
is that you're going to see the needs are out going to grow the funding available. You're going to hear -- you've heard numbers -- yes, I know. I know, surprise. >> Surprise. >> And I also like to point out the big change that you'll see that the pre-K budget is now 38% where it was 32% and you can see that the healthcare was higher and where that has switched. So I like showing that to you real quick. And I'm going to pass off a couple of the bills. >> Thank you. So there were not anywhere near the
number of bills that we typically see in education. We were very appreciative and grateful for that. There's a couple of them I'm gonna spend a little bit more time on, and a lot of these, I'm just gonna touch on a few highlights. So of course, we have bills that are titled Education. They can kind of have really anything in them. They're the ones that make us nervous, right? So a couple of big parts here. This is, this ended up being kind of a combination of multiple bills. So the bill that Senator Burgess
had about putting the presidential portraits, that ended up in this bill as well as another bill on cursive writing and making sure that we're more thoroughly teaching cursive writing, that ended up in this bill. There's also some additional protections for charter school students in here. So this ended up being a culmination of a variety of different things. things. This was one extracurricular activities was one that I think a lot of you heard a lot
about was one of the ones that got more attention than others and particularly has impacted you as a school board because it allows you to create policy about coaches compensation. So what the bill does is it allows for there to be outside entities to if you choose to create a policy about this, so it still gives you the ability to make those decisions and create that policy, to be able to include booster dollars to potentially go
toward increasing coaching compensation. This was a high priority of Senator Simon, who's actually up in the panhandle, covers Tallahassee, he's actually my state senator, he lost several of his top football coaches to Georgia, because they pay so much more. And so then this became with his athletic background in particular, this has become something that he was very focused on. This also allowed for
those optional pay increases, also changed a few things around FHSAA and just how they facilitate for the private schools. So just something for you to be aware of, as well as expanded student record keeping when it comes to extracurricular activities. This is another one that you've probably heard about, the school district unapproved, unimproved real property. So basically, DOE is gonna expect the district to fill out a report on all of your
property that you own as a district that does not have any buildings on it as a way for them to find out how did you acquire that, how long have you had it, all of those types of things. I'm sure they'll have future use for that report. That will be yet to be determined. (laughing) - That's what scared me about this one, because I can see, oh, well you can turn that into some other kind of, we can take that and turn it into housing or you know. - And as what happens
so often in Tallahassee and Dr. Legg saw this over his time also, is that bill in particular comes directly from a couple of issues in a couple of districts that are nowhere near this district and not in this area of the state that have been ongoing for an extended period of time. And so that part of, I think, their opportunity to try to get a better grasp on the amount of land in different parcels that school districts have,
that is their first step. We didn't make that bill better than it was, but it still was there. This is the one that I really want to spend a couple of moments on because this will probably have the greatest impact to all of you as school board members and as a board as a whole. And this one was really more heard about and known as the School District Board Members Bill of Rights that went through multiple iterations. The final version,
the two biggest takeaways here are, one, you now have your own section of statute. Whether that was ever something you ever wanted as a school board member or not, you now have your own section of statute because this literally created a new area of statute. So that is gonna be something that we're gonna watch closely going forward. But the biggest piece is what this bill does is if one of you, so Jessica happens to be looking at me, I'm gonna use Jessica as an example for just a moment. I've also known Jessica a really
long time, so I feel like I can pick on her for just a moment. So if Jessica has a question and she reaches out to a member of superintendent staff to ask that particular question, maybe about, it's a curriculum question, and ask that question, whatever the answer is to that question doesn't now just go to Jessica, it needs to go to all five of you. So what we're seeing from a lot of our districts is a change in how they go about that process of
when you as a board member have a question of staff, what does that look like as far as who does that question go to to ensure that it gets to the right person for the answer, but then also importantly, that then the answer is distributed to all five of you. - This, and we-- - How'd I do? - We haven't tackled this issue yet 'cause it brings up tons of logistical issues, especially for this board. - Yes, it does. - This board, I hope we
have a process where you feel comfortable asking senior leadership staff information. However, we are looking at coming up how to ensure that we're in compliance with this statute as the rules get further clarified because you will have to document that you've asked those questions. And we have to provide that information to everyone and have a public record access for the document that you've asked those questions and provide to everyone. Not that we're being slow on
the draw on this, but our priority has been more student achievement here and going on that. We haven't had many issues yet, But I would imagine over the next six months, our team is gonna have to look at how do we stay in compliance with this when working with your board attorney. We are really, it'll be very transparent. We're hoping other people go first and build the framework for us so we don't have to sit here and build the framework. And I just, we're being a little slow about having that conversation 'cause I don't think that's a conversation. I
think many of you like talking to our staff on lots of issues. Let's cut it that way. - We ask a lot of questions earlier, you can say that. - And most of them are very just technical in nature. There's no controversial issue that you're trying to there, but statute doesn't differentiate will this be an explosive issue or not. It says if you ask something about MIDI PLOC, everybody has to know that you asked the question about MIDI PLOC, and then we have to document that, and we have to document that we told everyone.
So I just wanted to jump in that-- - No, absolutely, I'm glad you did. - That's more of a-- - We did not purposely not go and do this yet, but we are kind of waiting for FADS and F-S-S-B-A to kind of create that framework to say maybe they can lead and then we come in after that. - Yeah, 'cause I'm thinking, I mean, you're standing at a school event watching the chorus sing, And obviously you asked the assistant superintendent next to you, how long is this program?
- Yeah. - How long have they been doing course with this teacher at this school? Is that going to be something that then has to be documented? - We should just wear mics everywhere. (laughing) - Like little recording devices. I mean, obviously I think the, and Dr. Legg could speak to this even better than I can, but there's legislative intent right behind legislation. And I don't believe that that is the legislative intent by any means. I think they understand
that there are going to be conversations as you are in your school board role and overlapping with people and asking questions. But they also know that so many times those questions are maybe sent by email or might have otherwise been a phone call to staff at their office. And so now we want to make it an email. So there is that public record. And then we can ensure that all five of you get the answer back to that question. And I just
want to add one piece that Dr. Legg brought up, and I'm so glad he did. I have recently circled back to FSBA and FADS to see if they are giving guidance, if they had already given guidance, and if so, or if they had heard of examples that then I could then share with you as well as with others and not yet is what I got back.
So that's gonna be a continuing conversation also am going to have on your behalf as well as others with FSBA and FADS that maybe that is something that, and I could even see it being a collaborative piece that we all sit down together and try to work through that. Yeah, I mean. No, as Dr. Legg said, the Florida School Board Attorneys Association with an extra A over the FBA is also looking into this and there's been a lot of chatter about it. I mean,
we are a Niola district. This legislation will impact a couple of our policies. So we're all expecting Niola to also weigh in and provide some proposed language for policies. So like anytime when you have any new legislation, it's, you know, well, that's what it says, but what does it mean kind of thing? So, so nobody wants to be the first one to the finish line and everybody's kind of digesting it and trying to see what is the best way for us to move as a group.
>> Yeah, because the system we have in place right now is OK. So I'm not in a hurry. >> But what you're talking about is not in one of-- is not one of these bullet points. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Which one? >> I agree. >> I think the two, three, and four. >> Yeah, I mean, it's kind of-- >> It's not legislative committee anyway. >> Right. I mean, expanding asset access to your district staff information and the requiring of the public records. >> That doesn't say anything about the mandatory sharing of a response to one's -- >> But the bill does.
>> And the bill -- >> The bill does. >> We kind of need to add that to this because that's going to be the hardest one. >> It is. That's why I wanted to spend the button on it. >> I really feel like our district, as a school board member, 16 years, I've never had any issue these other things that are guaranteeing me rights. I've always-- Right. Right. Yeah. --never had any problem. Again, as so often happens, it came from one place. Yeah. Yeah, I read about it. This other one's going to be the biggest headache of all.
Yeah, like so much other legislation, it is. We didn't have the problem here, but somebody with connections had a problem somewhere. And that's how oftentimes new legislation is created. I have the actual chapter law, I'll share it with the board members. So through the process before a statute becomes a statute, it's a chapter law, you know, then it'll be, you know, placed into the code. I'll share that language with the board members. That way you just have the exact language of the enacted, you know, language from the bill.
>> So just a couple of other things to just be aware of. education bill created a uniform weighted GPA system so that way everything weighs the same in every district because apparently that was already that was not already happening. The things you find out in some of these bills is just very interesting. It also caps the CAPE certificates for middle school and it also expands the educational emergency
status for any D schools. What does limited title one STEM set-asides mean? Allows limited title one STEM so there are particular dollars out of title one that can be used for STEM and it creates more like clarification around how those can be used. This was the other athletics bill that many of you heard about. It was commonly referred to as the Teddy Bridgewater Act.
So really just allows a coach, one coach, to be able to spend no more than $15,000 of their own money to to be able to help to support students by bringing in extra food or ensuring that they can get home safely after practice, those types of things. So that was a big one this year. Standard high school diploma really just includes marching band to satisfy PE and arts. And Special
Olympics can be substituted for PE long as there is parent approval and the IEP team all agrees and school counselors remove the certification exam requirements the general education certification requirements for individuals who are applying for the school counselor license because as we've seen over the years sometimes those additional ones are the ones that end up being the
barrier and so we We've been trying to reduce the barriers to some of these certifications as well. There were some changes to ASD and ensuring that people receive their annual training. And most of the school safety bill this year was really focused on higher ed post the tragedy at FSU. But the biggest piece here is that it does require any of our students who,
in particular our dual enrollment students. So if we have students who are dual enrolled and there has been a serious incident in which they could have potentially caused harm and there's any type of investigation to go along with that, that information then needs to be shared with wherever they are dual enrolled so the state college can be aware of any concerns. And the rest of these are really just,
minor fixes here and there. The big one that I just wanna end with is, as we know, sovereign immunity or claims against the government continues to come up every year. It did pass this year and was vetoed by the governor. So we expect it back next year. >> Yeah, I was just-- there it goes. >> I have questions for you, Sean. >> Yes, ma'am. Well, I'm going to go in real quick, your appropriations real quick and ones that I-- you know, you had some that didn't get in.
Of course, the one that got in and passed the high school athletic complex for 5.3, the STEM funding unfortunately was vetoed. Sorry. It was 1 million. He also had the county for the sidewalk again. >> Boo. >> Yes, I know. He vetoed it even though he passed it last year. And I know you guys were-- so I just want to say thank you to Senator Burgess obviously who submitted the first project we talked about for Pasco High School and of course the one that didn't get in there
that we were working on the Future Health Heroes which was a million dollars. We had Representative Yeager and Senator Musullo that helped us with that. So we'll be working with you over the summer obviously preparing for that. I'm going to talk about this really, really quick and I can take other questions. So what's going to happen? This has been talked about for a year and a half. The governor had proposed this. It changed. And the two major changes that happened, of course, you guys, the school board was brought out. That was because of the House. The House made sure that that was taken out. And of course, the last thing was not to be able to have a trust fund. Really,
there was going to be a trust fund that was going to be put in there because we knew cities and counties were going to fall short. Why? Because we already have 27 counties in the state that are called fiscally constrained, meaning they can't raise more than five million dollars per mill, they can't build their own schools, they don't build their own Department of Health, they can't do all these other issues. This, if it passes, the first one just at 150 pushes it to 37 counties. We have 67 counties in the state so just let that number sing in. 37 will be fiscally constrained and not be able to build all those those items. There
is some polling number. Let me tell you a little bit about the polling You've heard different ones. The first one that came out very quickly was one was '68, another one was '72, saying this is the number that this is gonna pass. I know you guys are probably familiar with, I tell you the term push-pull. So as soon as the other polls came out and they pushed the question, they said if you find out that your parks are gonna be closed, that it's gonna take longer to do the roads, that you're not gonna have enough funding to do sports programs, and they were given these type of ideas, it drops down immediately to 54%.
That's a big number. That's been the study. I've seen two polls, one at 54 and one at 56. But please be very aware. People that I've done these type of meetings that I have had folks come up to me and say, voters are not going to vote down a property tax exemption. I've said, wow, well, they've done it three times since 2018. 2018, we proposed a $25,000 exemption up to 100,000. They voted that down. And then in 2022, we put something up for teachers and firefighters and others. They voted that down.
They then voted down the folks who had their homes destroyed and said, let's give them an exemption. Then we voted that down. So they have voted down three in the past couple of years. There is opposition. But let me just end on this real quick. There are two lawsuits. One of the lawsuits is contending that the provision or is where you does not apply to you until you live in the state for five years is not constitutional. That's pretty big. The other one that they're fighting is that the state constitution only allowed for 75 words and the legislature exempted themselves on this and extended it beyond the 75 words even though that's
in the constitution and some of the language in there they believe is also unconstitutional and how they put forth. That lawsuit is still out there and has not been decided. Any questions? Yes. Just real quick because I actually tried to read the actual bill and I kind of gave up And then I just tried to read the ballot language, and I got so totally confused on that. The thing that I think worries me the most is not only are they saying about lowering the taxes, they then got something put
in there about what the ad valorem taxes can only go to this, this, and this. - Correct. - Which seemed to me leaves out libraries, leaves out parks, leaves out, like you said, any student athletic programs. - Right. leads out so many things that make a county why you want to move into that county. Is, did I read that right? They're just, where are they expecting to get that money? From fees, from have a fee to enter the library, have a fee to enter your kid in a sports program? - Yes, yeah.
I mean, when all of a sudden, when a person finds out that they have to pay the full fee of what it takes to have their child attend an event in a park and, you know, for a softball or soccer, you would have to start paying per fee, you know. Yeah. - Yes, so I just thought that was total override of local control, not only doing the property tax, but also saying ad valorem taxes can only be used for, I think it was safety infrastructure and one natural resources.
- Long, right. Well, let me just remind the board. One year ago, when they were going through this, the House proposed reducing, instead of doing property tax exemption, it was going to lower sales tax for the first time in the history of the state of Florida. He offered reducing it by a half a penny. The governor and the Senate absolutely opposed it. So he then said, "Well, let's reduce it by a quarter of a penny." The governor and the Senate absolutely refused it. But let me tell you why they refused it, because they said, as I'm going to talk in a few more seconds, we see tougher times coming ahead and we won't have the financial need to meet the needs.
So, you know, that was their reasoning, not to do it. But I'm like, well then you passed it on down to, you wanted to pass it down to schools, cities, and counties, even though the same fiscal downturn that you see coming is gonna hit you all. And so, that wasn't, you know, taken up in the impact and of course passed it down like this. We're hoping that it doesn't pass. We're hoping it's not even on the ballot, but you know, I will say there will be some opposition. There's gonna be some financial opposition out there. Millions and millions of dollars going to put for it. So let me just give you this real quick because we talked about the state saw
this coming ahead. Here's some really quick indicators. The state does very well and we do not have to have income tax because why? We have a sales tax. And that sales tax is really a compliment because we have tourism. So let me give you a couple things that concern me. In 2025, tourism numbers were down for the first time in 10 years, meaning they didn't go up at the staggering numbers they had and expectation. It was down and it was down slightly and it did not go up. The other items that have come into just recently in the past
couple months I don't have to tell you of course gas and all the other inflation but unemployment has gone up 0.1% for the first time in 10 years and we're higher than the national average for the state of Florida and we've gone up 0.1%, almost a full half percent since February. It's gone from 4.1 to 4.8%. The other indicators that the revenue estimate and conference took that I thought these were really big. Where we have, and I told you, we do well, we do well with sales tax, but we have excelled because people are moving to the state of Florida. How many of you in the room have heard the analogy, oh,
a thousand people are coming. Let me give you the reality of what happened in 2025. We had more people leave the state, almost. We had 25,000 net migration in 2025. 25,000, meaning we had more people leaving as we had more people dying in the state of Florida being born and the net migration is lost. The immigration, as you know, so people coming from other countries has almost come to a standstill where it was before. The net domestic migration has now reduced since 2025 and those numbers have gone down dramatically.
People moving to the state of Florida are not there to substantiate the growth that we've had before and a lot of the projections that we have seen on the revenue, on what you would lose and the counties would lose their revenue, don't take the downtime on what's coming on. And the last thing they put out there was the permits being built. The permits being built are one third of what they were two years ago throughout the state of Florida. Everybody used to say, we're the fastest growing county-- we're not anymore. The two fastest counties are Sumter because of the villages in Duval. Those are the two fastest counties in the state of Florida.
And it's slowing down dramatically. Home prices have sold, I mean are slowing down. And so every indicator that we have showed that in three more years, we're gonna have $7 billion less for the need in the state of Florida than where the needs are met. But I'll leave this with you. We put $13 billion away. Out of that $114 billion, $13 billion went to reserves and 3.1 went to paying off the debt. If they continue doing that, we will have no debt in almost five years, which is amazing. And I'll say Senator Ligon, this part, Because you remember what that
part was when you were in office, so they've done an amazing job. But they are preparing for some harder days ahead. And we just hope that you talk to your friends, your neighbors, everybody else, and they'll realize the impact of that property tax. But let me just leave this on that property tax exemption. You hear about the 82%. It's not truly 82% more people. How many of you in this room have lived in your home for over 10 years? I have. Right. You're not going to see it. You're most likely, if you're living in a home, you're not going to see the first If you import it also,
so those numbers are already impacting, it's the 250 that has a killer damage the next year to them. But people are already seeing $150,000 if they've been in their homes for 10 to 20 years. So just kind of consider that also. They're not going to get another 150. If you have 150, you're not getting another 150. Okay, that was my question. It's off the -- it's not off the just value. It's off -- I mean, it's off the just value. Correct. It's not off the save your home's value. Right. >> Okay, that was the question I really had. >> That's a big hand. >> So thank you.
>> So just know -- >> I was wondering about that. >> Yeah, so I've said that people. I'll leave it at that. So I know you probably have some questions, but I'll -- >> Madam Chair, two things. One, Sean, just thank you for your cheery news, as always. >> Fantastic news. >> I'm so grateful. >> We're getting ready to go to another board meeting, so I'm encouraged just to go to that one. And the second is I just want to sing their praises to help us. The things that you see or that they don't say is the things that you don't see. And Tallahassee, it's not the bills that are filed that you worry about. It's the bills that aren't filed. It's the PCBs. And we've had many,
many phone calls about addressing things that have not yet appeared. And those are -- that's where Sean and Danielle and their whole team is really valuable, or the things that haven't been seen. And, you know, those are the real battles. And I just want to say thank you for fighting those battles. Well, I want to say thank you real quick to Tony. When I was, you know, you'd get a bill that's come up and it's going to strike all and there's 145 pages, the information that we got from her very, very quickly that we could give our delegation and members on the committee was extremely helpful and I know thank you to you and your team
for getting back to us so quickly. >> Thank you. >> Makes our job easier. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The work is done. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Part: 2
[BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] Please silence all electronic devices. No traffic? The agenda for the school board meeting is published and available at least one week prior to the board meeting. Any member of the public who wishes to speak on an agenda item requiring board action will have an opportunity to do so prior to final action being taken. Please fill out a green speaking request card available in the lobby. During the appropriate public comment portion of the meeting, names will be called in the order in which they were received. Any member of the public wishing
to speak to a non-agenda matter of relevance to the school district will have an opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting. Please fill out a pink speaking request card available in the lobby. Names will be called in the order in which they were received. Please note for speakers to address the board on either agenda items or non-agenda matters, their speaker request form must be submitted prior to the commencement of public comment on agenda items. welcome members of the public to attend our meetings and we respect the
public's right to speak to the board. We appreciate your interest in Pasco County Schools. Our vision statement is all our students achieve success in college, career, and life and the thought for the day is from Mrs. Wright. Thank you board chair. Oftentimes our thought of the day is for our students or our staff and today it's for my fellow board members and myself. Every policy we adopt, every budget we approve and every vote we cast eventually reaches a child in a classroom. May we never lose sight of the students whose futures
are shaped by the decisions we make here. Thank you. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, individual with liberty and justice for all. - Please let the record reflect that all board members are present.
Now I'd like to ask for a moment of silence for personal reflection. Thank you. The draft minutes of the July 21, 2026 Board Meeting and Workshop were provided
to Board members in advance of this meeting for review and consideration. I need a motion to approve the minutes as written. So moved. Second. Motion by Mrs. Harding, second by Mrs. Wright. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. It's unanimous. So it brings us to the highlight of the evening, the Buck's Best - Next crew, Dr. Sette. - School board members, Dr. Legge, attorney Meeker. I wanna thank you all for allowing
us to celebrate both our June and July Bucks Best Crew recipients tonight. While many of our teachers and staff are earning a well-deserved summer break, these dedicated support staff members that will be celebrating tonight have been hard at work all summer, preparing for another successful school year. Helping us celebrate is someone who shares our commitment. He is a partner to us, who recognizes great teams and great people. Please join me in welcoming Brian Ford, Chief Operating Officer of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
to celebrate our recipients. (audience applauding) - Good evening. - Good afternoon and thank you, Dr. Zeci. Thank you all. This is kind of capping off a year of the Bucks best crew. And as the behind the scenes guy for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It brings me great excitement to talk about some of your behind the scene folks and the teachers and the principals and the support staff. Those stories were remarkable. We're looking forward to celebrating all those successes and we've invited everybody out and
I hope you guys have it on your calendar for an upcoming training camp practice but we wanna kinda celebrate but today's recipients are the behind the scenes and let me just get right into that. an office assistant, Lori Butler. Come on up. (applause) Again, these comments are from your peers. I'm just humbled to be here to be the messenger.
I want to thank you for the support to allow us the opportunity to celebrate these success stories and the difference that you're making in our community. But you consistently go above and beyond in your role as staff demonstrating exceptional dedication leadership and care for many years you've managed the front door of a busy district office which I can relate to serving as the first point of contact for staff visitors and community members you handle this fast-paced responsibility with a warm smile and welcome welcoming
presence that sets the tone for a positive experience thank you you truly care about every person who walks through the doors and it's committed to ensuring their experience at the district office is top-notch. Whether you're greeting guests, assisting employees, or helping someone find their way, you approach every interaction with kindness and professionalism. What more can we ask for? You're known for your ability to find answers for anyone, no matter how complex the question. Your deep knowledge and persistent make you an invaluable
resource and you often know solutions that others do not. In addition your front-facing responsibilities, your successfully made using a district's training calendar for the entire district office complex. This requires strong organizational skills and coordination across multiple departments which you handle seamlessly. That's what I tell our folks every day. Your attention to detail ensures the training runs smoothly and that the staff have access to the opportunities that they need.
You also genuinely care about the people in your department lead by example. You take the time to check in on colleagues making sure that everyone feels supported, appreciated, and taken care of. Your thoughtfulness positively contribute to a strong connected team environment. If you've worked at the district you know Lori and you genuinely look forward to seeing her smiling face. You're consistent with kindness, reliability, and commitment in making a lasting impact on
everyone you encounter. So we have a tradition at One Buck, anybody that goes over and above, and all our players reported today. Today was the first day, and they're all trying to vie for game balls. Anybody that goes over and above gets a game ball, and that's what you have right there. [APPLAUSE] Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] Congratulations. Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] I know tonight is a busy night with a lot of topics, but I just thought that
this is something that we can all agree upon. Exactly. We love it. This is a positive. So thank you and congratulations. Next up-- and this is kind of special. executive assistant behind the scenes. Okay, Marshall Rux, come on up. [applause] I personally interacted with this young lady, so thank you very much. We got that. All right, so again, these are the comments from the folks that you support and the people around you. This is amazing. Especially when it starts off like this. This is what caught my eye. You're the glue that
holds everything together. That says a lot. And you absolutely hate to be recognized like this. They warned me. But that's OK. This is what I get to do. You're humble always. You support the superintendent's office every day in your role as the executive assistant. You also have an invaluable part of the communications department by default. I love those job descriptions. Just pick it all up. As you support Dr. Legg and Dr.
Zetcher. So they're your biggest supporters, but they couldn't do what they do without you. And I know that from my executive assistant. You're always stepping in wherever you're needed without hesitation. You have an incredible ability to anticipate the needs and what needs to get done, often before anyone else even realizes it. It's radar, right? Whether it's coordinating countless moving pieces behind the scenes, keeping everyone organized, or solving problems before they become problems.
You do it all with professionalism, grace, and a positive attitude. You never hesitate to jump in. What makes you so special isn't what you just do, it's how you do it. You're dependable, selfless, and always willing to help, no matter how busy you are. You're the person everyone knows that they can count on those two for all the answers. You have a way to make no matter how busy the day everything feel manageable. Your calm presence, attention to detail,
and genuine care for others make you an essential part of our team. Simply put, things run better because you're here and we are incredibly fortunate to have you. So congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] Aww.
[APPLAUSE] Oh my goodness. [LAUGHTER] You should come over here too. Come on. - Aww [APPLAUSE] And I know how that is, right? As a director of internal audit, you're constantly going above and beyond in your service to both your team and the broader organization. Your leadership is defined not only by your professionalism and high standards, but by your genuine kindness and care that you show every day. I haven't heard that comment
from a lot of internal audits. [LAUGHTER] You create a supportive and positive environment where team members feel very valued, motivated, and empowered to succeed. You demonstrate such commitment to excellence in your work while always prioritizing collaboration and more do we need, right? You take the time to mentor, guide, and uplift your team, ensuring that everyone has the resources and encouragement needed to grow professionally and personally. Your impact extends far beyond the internal
audit department You contribute to the culture that supports the mission of Pasco County Schools and ultimately benefits the students and the community that we serve. You lead by example, consistently modeling dedication, accountability, and compassion. When I read this in an internal audit, this is great. I went to my CFO and said, "Joe, for your outstanding leadership, your willingness to to go above and beyond and the meaningful difference you make every day,
you're truly deserving of this recognition. You're our next Buck's Best Crewman. Thank you. [applause] >> Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. [applause] >> Thank you. for the kids this behind the scenes. You can come on up here too. Come on. Aw. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. We're gonna quiet them down, I promise.
Aw. Next up is our school safety guard. Thomas DeLuca, come on up. [applause] Good. These comments. Amazing. In your role as a school safety guard with the Pasco County School District, you're consistently demonstrating an exceptional commitment to the safety, well-being and trust of students, staff, and visitors. You exemplify diligence, professionalism, and compassion to the core values of school safety
excellence. Wow. You maintain a strong and visible campus presence, and you have an outstanding ability to proactively identify and mitigate safety concerns. That's all so important. You're constant aware and adherence to procedures and calm decision making ensure a secure and welcoming environment. Every family needs this and wants this when they send their kids to our school. So thank you. As a father of two gentlemen that went
through the public school system, you're dependable and always willing to assist wherever needed. You regularly volunteer during emergency shelter operations and hurricanes, providing critical support when the district and community rely heavily on the dedicated personnel. You step in during extended school year programs to ensure uninterrupted safety coverage. Your willingness to go above and beyond reflects a strong work ethic and deep commitment to service to our county. Beyond your school responsibilities,
you're a dedicated community leader. You're the co-founder and executive director of the Pasco Patriots Association and the founder of the Pasco County Retired K-9 Foundation. I read that. When do you have time for it? Through these organizations, you support veterans, first responders, and retired law enforcement K-9 teams. You're also involved with the Robert Irvine Foundation. What a tremendous individual there and for you to help him. Cryo Fees 22 Every aspect of your service, you exceed expectations and exemplifies integrity,
villages, and heart. For that, you are our box's best crew. [APPLAUSE] All right, now here's another one. Amazing, okay, behind the scenes in our HR world. Kelly Aguilera, come on up. (audience applauding) You have a different approach, which is amazing. You've served the district's
recruitment manager since 2023, demonstrating exceptional leadership and immeasurable impact on staffing outcomes. Under your direction, the district reduced classroom vacancies from 296 at the start of the 2022-23 school year to just 51. - Woo hoo. - 206 to 51. At the beginning of 2025 and 26 school year, this significant improvement reflects your strategic approach to recruitment and strong partnership with school administrators and district staff.
Recognizing critical staffing needs during the 2025-26 school year, you proactively address shortages in exceptional student education, teachers, and speech and language pathologists. You gotta recruit the best to be the best. That's what you do. You develop and implement a comprehensive plan that included targeted incentives, partnerships with staffing agencies, and work closely with the communications team to create a focused social media campaign
showcasing schools and specializing in programs. You're finding the talent. You also identified the importance of staffing opportunity schools with highly qualified educators and prioritize recruitment efforts for these campuses. As a result, five of the district's eight opportunity schools at the end of the 2025 school year with zero instructional vacancies. - Wow. - Wow. (applause) This is where you go over and above. In addition to your instructional staffing, you've implemented
effective strategies to reduce non-instructural vacancies, recognizing the importance of these positions. In collaboration with the Transportation Department, you coordinated monthly job fairs to recruit bus drivers. These events featured a streamlined onboarding process, allowing candidates to complete required paperwork and quickly transition into training. You can't get them there, we need them there, right? So you've done that. These efforts contributed to a 50% reduction in bus driver vacancies during the 2025. (audience applauding)
For your leadership, strategic vision, and commitment to excellence, you've significantly improved staffing across the district. Your work alone with the work of your human resource team has directly enhanced classroom instruction and ensured that each and every student has the access to highly qualified teachers and a world-class education. You're truly a team player, and you work to build relationships, and it's a great representation of the work happening in human resource.
For that, you're our box-best crew. (audience applauding) [APPLAUSE] Yep. If our ball recipients could come forward, we are going to shake hands with our school board members and then jump into a picture with Mr. Ford. [INTERPOSING VOICES] Doctors, we're going to shake hands as we stand up here. So we're going to be done. Sure. [INTERPOSING VOICES] Absolutely. So you guys-- [INTERPOSING VOICES] Jessica, right? Or just 'cause it's so ridiculous. Do
you want us to stay up here for the-- No, okay. Come on, come on. Come on, say hello. We're all doing it the same time. Thank you so much. I just get to everybody. Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate it. So families, while they're taking pictures, if you don't mind, if you'll bear with us and stay until the end of the next two presentations, we'll walk you, Mr. Ford, and your recipients into the production studio for pictures with Mr. Ford. family picture, my Carlson will take them. - Thank you so much. We wouldn't blame you.
- We'll come down there, thanks so much. - You too. - I'm coming around. - For everything. - Everybody's crossing track of shape. [ Inaudible ] You just spin the balls and you can see your names there. Very important. Perfect.
Yay! [APPLAUSE] Thank you. [INTERPOSING VOICES] No, thank you. No, I'm not here right now. (people chattering) - Before I wrap up, and I know there's a lot of stuff going on,
I again just wanna thank all of you for what you do in our community. On behalf of the Glazer family and our entire organization, it's amazing, and I've come to these meetings all year, and the stories and the effort and the leadership is just amazing. But Dr. Legge, if you could come down here just for a minute there. Yeah. This doesn't just happen by accident. And this past year, I was kind of looking at some accomplishments that Pasco County Schools has gone through. Come on down here. This is amazing.
(audience laughing) I just want to read some stats and I don't want to get these wrong. No, I know. (audience laughing) Just from somebody that came in just over the past year and to have a sneak peek and to see the collaboration and the team effort and just people that are happy to be here and people that want to be here. It's through your leadership. And, you know, Pasco County Schools earned a district's A rating the first time since 2009. (applause) The results are here.
We finished the year with no D or F rated schools. (applause) And we added 17 more A rated schools and seven more B-rated schools than last school year. That just doesn't happen. That's... (audience applauding) The most impressive, you've earned 67 accountability points, the highest score in the history of the district. Wow. That's your leadership and all of you and everybody in Pasco County. So again, on behalf of the Glazer family, our entire organization, I'm humbled to actually be
part of this and to come and to hear these stories. And if we recognizing some people that are going over and above has helped, well, we're going to continue doing this. And I thank you for the opportunity to come. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Congratulations. [applause] That was nice. That was nice. That was well deserved, too. Well deserved. Thank you. [applause] (applause) Just real quick, I just, Brian, thank you and board. I mean, it's an honor,
but really, the whole team did this. I mean, we are very grateful. It's not just about a rating, but it's about everybody working to help our students. And while we're in a district, to me this is just like having a winning season, but we still have to win the Super Bowl. We're gonna keep, we're gonna keep going. We're gonna keep going. We got more to do. - We're gonna score it for wins. - Yeah, we gotta keep going. So really we're grateful just for your partnership. But I have one more little, I have a surprise too, just wanted to say we were gonna hold on this, but I want something we wanna add. You've been doing this for a year now.
And when, when, when-- (audience member speaking off microphone) I know, but we didn't know you were gonna do this, but this is not there. You started this a year ago and when doctors actually said, I'm like, oh, Mr. Ford's gonna be coming, and he may not be able to make it many times you know, it's busy out there. I don't know if our, if everyone else says, you've been to every single one. Yes, we have. That says a lot. [applause] It says a lot because you value Pasco County, you value our teachers,
and you have been a partnership that while we were excited when it started, it has exceeded our expectations. Thank you. It really has I mean it has gone to school. I hear it at the schools. I hear it It has been a big morale lift for all the folks. So on behalf of Really the Pasco County School District you get our very first Partnership award for all the stuff that you have done for Pasco County And the Glazer family we just want to say thank you Our only ask is that you bring the
Lombardi Trophy to us Next year after it makes its round we would like to see it here We all want to raise raise it up. So we expect that so we are very grateful. So thank you [ Applause ]
[ Inaudible ] So families and recipients, if you would like to take some pictures with Mr. Ford, you're going to follow Jessica Meek right there. She'll put her hand up. She's going to take you to the production studio and we'll do some pictures. You'll get your cards back there too. [ Inaudible ]
>> Well, we've been invited by Mr. Cordel, so he's mentioned it a couple times. >> He has mentioned it a couple times. [ Inaudible ] >> That was very nice. >> That was very nice. >> John, seriously, welcome to our home. Thanks. >> Yes, welcome here. >> We're going to hand this, this will be in the office for everyone, so. [ Inaudible ] >> Okay. >> Okay. [ Inaudible ] hearing so I'm going to officially open the first public hearing for the proposed
tentative budget. Superintendent Legge will make comments at this time before any public comment portion. Dr. Legge. Thank you Madam Chair and board members. I have a lengthy thing to read just for the record as well so take me a minute. So tonight the board is continually adopting the 2026-27 fiscal year budget. You are required by law to adopt the millage rates. Once these millage rates are adopted, the district will certify them to the property appraiser to begin the notices to residents for the upcoming tax year. Additionally, the district is required to certify the adopted
budget to the FDOE. The 26-2710 of budget total is $2,284,173,662. a decrease of $21,610,763 or 0.9% less than the budget last year's budget. This budget includes a general operating budget of $1,153,833,549 of which approximately 67.7 million is generated from an additional voted millage,
one mill, for salary supplements. The budget also includes a capital budget of $602 million. The total proposed tax mileage for the $26-27 fiscal year is $6.184 million, a decrease of 0.090 mills under the proposed rate a homeowner of $350,000 home after deduction of the $25,000 homestead exemption would pay 2010 in taxes, a $29 dollar decrease over last year.
The general operating budget increased 26.2 million to 1.153 billion. However, the increase is attributed to a pass-through funding related to FES scholarships and charter schools. The district is expected to receive approximately 2.1 million less in state funding due to the declining enrollment of students and has reduced approximately 476 allocations. 107 million is appropriate for charter schools, 87 million for FES scholarship. In addition,
136 million is restricted for categorical programs such as safe schools, mental health, and academic accelerated options. Under the capital budget, the capital budget is 602 million, a decrease of 44 million over last year due to the completion and spin down of large construction projects. The major capital projects include the construction of Gulf Middle School, two rivers, high school, triple O, full remodel of Cypress Elementary, Kirkland K8,
classroom wing, the athletic renovations of the Pasco High School, Land O'Lakes High School and Hudson High School. Other projects include roofing construction, and replacement of HVAC systems and infrastructure upgrades at various schools. The 26-27 budget also reflects fiscal priorities which prioritize and support student achievement and align with our strategic goals. Additionally, the budget is designed to ensure the smooth delivery of effective school operation while prioritizing the need of our students and the community.
The budget is a living document and continuously changes as the year progresses. Budget amendments will be submitted to the board to reflect any changes to the budget document once approved by this board. That being said, Chairman and members, I respectfully request your approval of the 26-27 tentative fiscal year budget as presented. - Thank you, Dr. Legg. Attorney Meeker. - Thank you very much. This is to announce the public comment portion of the first of two hearings on the district school board of Pasco County budget for the 2026-2027 school year.
The second and final hearing will be held on September 8th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Notice that this hearing has been posted on the district website and published in compliance with Florida statutes. Any members of the public who wish to be heard on the proposed tentative budget for the 2026-2027 year are asked to complete a green speaking request card that you can obtain from the board secretary or at the entrance to the boardroom. When your name is called, please approach the podium and state your name and address for the record. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak unless an extension
is granted by the board chair. I did not see that we received any cards on this. Is there anybody here tonight that wishes to speak at this public hearing? Seeing none, Madam Chair. - We have several motions here to get through. So the first one is a motion. I need a motion and a second to adopt the tentative millage rate resolution. - So moved. - Second. - A motion to approve by Mrs. Armstrong, second by Mr. Hernandez. Are there any discussion?
I'm gonna make some comments then. For this section, it applies to some of the others as well. The tentative total base millage, including 1.5 mills for capital, without referendum for salaries, is still not what it was in the 2021-2022 year. The 26-27 proposed millage without the salary referendum is 5.184, which is really only 3.684 mills in the operating category. The proposed tentative total millage,
including referendum and capital of 6.184 is still below the total millage from the 2018, 2019 year, and the previous decades that ranged from 6.274 up to 10 mills. So I wanna emphasize that this budget is drafted with a focus on our mission of providing a world-class education for all students and our vision that all our students achieve success in college, career, and life. As has been noted, we anticipate a decline in enrollment and a decrease
in total millage of.09. So we will continue to prioritize and make the best decisions we can our students, teachers, and staff with the funding that we have. I am always reminded that the budget is fluid. I remain committed to staying focused on our students. I also want to take the opportunity once again to thank the voters in Pasco County for passing the salary referendum in 2022. This is especially critical now that our neighboring districts also have pay referendums
that were passed by their voters. Without this funding it would be nearly impossible to compete for the best teachers for our students and that is crucial for their success. Our community recognizes the importance and the value of public education and I am grateful for them. The investment has paid off and we are seeing student learning gains, more highly rated schools and an A district grade. In November our community will have an opportunity to sustain excellence by voting to continue building on that success. Ultimately,
every decision we make about this budget and every investment our community makes in our schools leads us back to the same place, providing the very best opportunities for every student to succeed. So now we just are voting on the tentative millage resolution. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? No. So that was unanimous. The next is I need a motion and a second to adopt the tentative budget resolution. So move. Second. Motion to approve by Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Hernandez.
Second by mrs. Armstrong any discussion. I have comments. Okay, mrs. Harding So some of this might be a little bit redundant But I think it's very important that I reiterate it as we consider tonight's ten of budget I first want to thank Tammy Taylor and her entire finance department Preparing a budget of this size takes months and months and months of work countless conversations in a trend is tremendous amount of planning So thank you one of the biggest takeaways for me as I was reading through the budget was This is a 2.8 billion dollar budget. That's actually 21.6 million dollars less than last year's budget, which is a 9.9% decrease that's important because
people often assume that if property values increase school districts automatically have more money to spend The reality is much more complicated We continue to face increasing operational costs rising insurance expenses salary commitment and state funding changes all while operating with fewer Total dollars than we had a year ago. I also think it's important to mention the family scholarship. This year's general fund increase because it includes approximately 16.5 million more for the family empowerment scholarships and 14.9 million more for charter school pass-through funding. That's over 31 million dollars that flows through
our budget but does not stay on our traditional public schools. Another challenge is the amount of restricted categorical funding we receive. An example is the new academic acceleration option supplement of a 14.6 million dollars. These dollars can only be used for very specific purposes such as advanced placement, Cambridge dual enrollment, industry certifications, exam costs, instructional materials, and professional development. The same is true for the class size reduction, school safety, mental health, and education enrichment funding just to name a few. These are not flexible dollars that the board can move to meet other district
needs and many times the district, actually most times the district must supplement these programs with local dollars because the categorical funding alone is not enough to cover the actual cost of providing those services. I also want to point out something that often gets overlooked when people talk about district administration. According to this budget, 90.7% of the general fund operating budget is spent directly on school level services including instruction, transportation, student services, school administration, operations, and maintenance. Only 3.7% supports district services which includes human resources, finance,
payroll, purchasing, technology, data processing, and warehousing. Those departments hire employees, process payroll, purchase classroom materials, maintain financial accountability, and provide the technology infrastructure that every school depends on. For a district our size, I believe that demonstrated strong commitment to keeping resources as close to students as possible. Finally, I'm encouraged to see that our district continues to strengthen its financial position. Our debt services fund decreased by over 11 million dollars, and through financing several certificates of participation earlier this year, the district achieved more than 2 million in value
savings. Those are smart financial decisions that reduce long-term costs while protecting taxpayer dollars. Even with the declining overall revenues increasing costs, expanding scholarship programs and significant state restrictions on how dollars can be spent, I too remain committed to keep the students to keep our focus on our students. I appreciate the work that has gone into this budget and I look forward to continuing these conversations as we move forward because I know that it's constantly evolving and I know that Our final adoption is in September. - Thank you for reading all that into the record, Mrs. Harding, I appreciate it. Okay,
so what we're voting on right now is to adopt the tentative budget resolution. All in favor? - Aye. - Opposed? Motion carries. The next section, we need to set the final, I need a motion to set the final public hearing date for September 8th, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom. - So moved. - Second. Motion by Mrs. Harding, second by Mrs. Wright. Any discussion? All in favor? - Aye. - Aye. - Opposed? Motion carries. So now I'm going
to announce the public hearing is closed on the proposed tentative budget for 2026-2027, which brings us to item 5.1, Superintendent Lagojor, any off-the-gen items? Thank you. brings us to 6.1 public comment on agenda items only. - We've received no speaking request cards on agenda items. - Thank you. So that brings us to item 6.2, United School Employees of Pasco, Mr. Larson.
Good evening. - Good evening. Couple quick things. Earlier, during the workshop related to technology in the classroom. I just, I heard a phrase and I liked it and I wanted to bring it back up and repeat it. I heard somebody mention, I think it might've been on the slide, teacher ownership of the education. And I just wanted to bring that back up because we do believe that better student outcomes are the result of teacher ownership of education.
So I just wanted to bring that back up. - That's great. - I also do have a bargaining update for you. We actually went to the table, the bargaining table today, for instructional bargaining, and we have another session scheduled for Thursday. One of the main things being bargained and negotiated right now is the teacher salary increase allocation. These are funds from the state set aside for classroom teachers with greater than 10 years of experience. The state put all kinds of rules on these funds,
including a July 31, July 31st deadline for reaching a tentative agreement on that. Once we get through that process, we then look forward to continuing the collective bargaining process for all SRP and all instructional employees, including those left out by the state, regarding referendum money, salary improvements, and improved working conditions. Thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Larson. - Okay, so it's time for board member committee reports.
Mrs. Wright, did you have any committee? - I had no committees in the last week, thank you. I had none. - No committees. - No committees. - And no committees for me either. But so this brings us to Dr. Legg. - No comments today. - Okay, thank you. This is going fast. So Mr. Shibley. heard enough from me already. We do have an addendum to item 11.1 that has been uploaded into the agenda for the Board of Trustees. Thank you. Ms. Taylor. I won't say everything I'm going to say as you graciously already did for your comments but I just wanted
to let you know that we sincerely appreciate your support and approval of the tentative budget this evening and as is required by the trim process the official ads were posted on the district's website on July 24th and I would just like to highlight several key items that are in your tentative budget book. As we changed a couple years ago the back pages of book are summarized by personal costs, operational costs, and capital outlay for each school and department. The staff allocations that were approved in June are all included.
The five-year capital plan is included and now we've added the strategic goals for this year and those will be updated in the final budget also. Thank you. These items enhance transparency and provide readers with a clear understanding of the district's budget process, projected revenues, and the planned expenditures that support district operations. And then I just also wanted to say that I wanted to acknowledge and thank the finance team for all their hard work and their efforts in partnering with our departments and in schools and
developing the budget and ensuring it's timely completion. It was a bit challenging this year. - Yeah. - As we talked about, there is a drawdown of reserves projected in the budget. And in the final budget, we will show you those numbers once we close out the fiscal year. We are not projecting that they will be any more than what is in the tentative budget. And they do still meet the 5% desire goal of the board. - Good, thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Taylor. - Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Coon.
- Thank you, Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Ile. - I have nothing this evening. - Thank you, we have no expulsion hearings. So that brings us to the consent agenda. Does any member have any item they wish to remove? - Nope, my questions were answered. - Nope. - I need a motion to approve the consent agenda, including all agenda or revisions as recommended by the superintendent. - So moved. - Second. - Motion to approve by Mrs. Harding, second by Mr. Hernandez. All in favor? - Aye. - Opposed? Motion carries.
And that brings us to miscellaneous action items. We have none. So we are at the closing 17.1, individual board member reports. Mrs. Ryu. - Thank you. Yes. And I know I could have included this when we were talking about the budget, but I wanted to thank our finance team and staff as well. And I know that it can be very confusing for the public when we have so many different buckets of funds, but this is a lower military as it continues to be for homeowners, it's very modest tax savings, but we will keep our priority on our, making sure every dollar is
used strategically, supporting our students, our employees, and our long-term success. So thank you guys for everything that you're doing. I'd also like to recognize our athletics department under Dr. Usry's leadership for the outstanding rollout on campus EKG screenings for our student athletes. I participated as a parent. I didn't get an EKG, my child did. So it was a very smooth process. Providing greater access to these potentially life-saving screenings is a tremendous benefit to our students and their families.
As with any new initiative, we've had obviously some bumps in the road, but they're very committed, they're responsive to a very seamless rollout, and they've been working super hard with who we play for. and I look forward to seeing this program continue to grow and serve even more student athletes across our district. One thing I've heard from families about over the last few weeks, and I know we're continuing to exercise students off of the wait list for courtesy transportation, but I am still hearing from our district employees and siblings, and so I just wanted to reiterate
some concerns that we've previously shared or that I have previously shared with our controlled enrollment policy, which prioritizes employees and siblings, yet that is not entirely aligned with our transportation process, which has caused somewhat of a disruption and confusion to a lot of our people that that has impacted. And so I just wanna make sure that as we continue to move forward, that we're looking at that and they are in as close of alignment as possible so that we are following those priority status. And that's it for me. - Thank you. - Thank
you. Mrs. Harding? - Yeah, so I gave you guys last week, I gave an update on the Commission on Human Trafficking and the training that we've been doing with all the employees. And I talked to you guys about the indicator cards. And so every teacher, every employee in this district will be given an indicator card. And so they can, it's pocket sized, they can put it in their badge or put it somewhere. That way it's really good resource for them. And then I also shared with you guys a few of the posters that will be in our high schools and in our middle
schools. And then in our elementary, they'll be in the counselor's office in the staff break rooms. I also wanted to give a shout out to communications because I know the Pasco One app was launched today and I have quite a few friends with babies in our district and I've heard nothing but positive feedback so far so I'm really excited about it. So thank you for getting that done and having a really great place for all of our documents and everything that our parents need so I just wanted to give a shot. Awesome. Well thank you Mr. Leppingwell.
Thank you, thank you. And that's it for me tonight. Thank you. I'm saving comments for next week. I got some comments. Thank you for, well first of all thank you for the workshop today. I also We also agree that limiting screen time yields increased learning, particularly as it relates to English and math programs, which are key to student success. I appreciate this strategic approach, because as discussed, it will restore balance to our educational approach, allowing us to be more intentional in our teaching practices, and by doing so,
we encourage our students to engage in critical thinking and foster deeper learning experience. I'd like to take a moment also to express my gratitude to Sunrise Consulting for their invaluable support in Tallahassee. efforts in advocating for our districts have been instrumental in addressing significant funding concerns and other potential challenges facing our district. So thank you for being our partners in this journey. I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the winners of the buck, best crew including our very own superintendent. Congratulations. Thank you also to our superintendent and staff for
their diligent work in preparing us for the tentative budget. As you heard from my peers, this is not an easy task and funding is limited and less than last year. Our CFO and staff commitment to transparency is greatly appreciated as we navigate these financial discussions and ongoing challenges given our decline in enrollment. Lastly, as our board chair mentioned, I also want to emphasize the importance of passing the referendum on November 3rd. This referendum is crucial for the continued growth and success of our educational programs. It's vital that we come together as a community to support our schools, teachers,
and safety and the safety of our students. We want to ensure that our students receive the quality education they all deserve. Once again, thank you for your attention and commitment to our district. Together I'm confident that we can make a minimum, a meaningful difference in the life of our students. Thank you. A community member I met at Leadership Tampa Bay event earlier this year who is a board member for the Federal Bar Association reached out about an essay contest for high school students and they award cash prizes so I just wanted to let you know that I got that
information and I passed it along to Dr. Iles so staff will have that to get it out to students. As we prepare to welcome students and teachers back for another school year I just want to thank the many people who are working behind the scenes to ensure everything is ready on day one. From preparing classrooms and campuses to planning bus routes, schedules, meals, and lessons. So much of this important work happens long before school starts. Your efforts make an immeasurable difference for our students, families, and schools. I know the next couple of weeks will
be a frenzy of activity and I am grateful for all of you and all that you are doing. I'm looking forward to all the possibilities that come with a new school year. Thank you. Is there any other new business? Thank you. Attorney Meeker. Just one quick update as the board knows we've been having a little bit of a dispute with Attorney Sean Arnold regarding the sharing of referendum funds and not so much the sharing as the timing of it right whether we need to give those portion share the referendum funds to Mr. Arnold's clients prior to us even receiving
them as you know the the board entered into a resolution several months back asking us to seek an AGO and attorney general We have done that we have yet to hear back from the Attorney General's office. We recently received a correspondence from Mr. Arnold letting us know that He is prepared to you know enter into litigation on this issue To the extent that we can't come to some sort of amicable resolution. I let Mr. Arnold know that I would Pass his message on to the board and see if
there's any change in our position No, not for me. Not for me either - Definitely not for me. - I will deliver the message. - Can't pay what you don't have. - Exactly. - That's it for me. - Okay, thank you. - Thank you. - That brings us to public comment and non-agenda items. Attorney Meeker. - Thank you. This is the opportunity for the public to be heard on any general topic of relevance regarding the operation of Pasco County Schools.