The loss to public education this year is not abstract. It is measurable. It is significant. And it is happening…again. 

For some background, check out the post before this that outlines how.

And then jump back in here:

For more than 20 years, Sarasota County said they would cover the administrative commission charged by the Tax Collector to collect these funds. That long-standing practice ensured that 100% of voter-approved education dollars went directly to classrooms.

That has now changed. The Sarasota County Board of Commissioners voted to put that cost back onto the school district; this happened without agreement, without transition time, and without meaningful public discussion.

As voters, we should be asking why the dollars we approved for public schools are now being directed to an agency whose primary role is to collect taxes.

So I did.

I spoke with Mike Moran, our Tax Collector, about where this responsibility should lie. I appreciate the time given where he provided a thorough explanation of how tax collection works in Florida. While questions remain, this is the conclusion I reached:

State law allows the Tax Collector to charge a commission for collecting these funds, capping it at 2%.

For more than twenty years Sarasota County covered that cost so the full value of the referendum reached classrooms. But not in the sense of a line item, or a check being written, but by the Tax Collectors office not collecting taxes.

I think.

I also think that when there is a tax on the ballot, law requires a clear outline of where funds will be spent. And as it stands, none of it goes to the Tax Collector. But despite that…it currently is.

But what I know, is now that practice has ended, creating a situation where everyone can point to the rules, yet no one can clearly claim accountability for protecting the dollars voters approved for schools. 

And here’s the thing: Accountability isn’t missing here because no one can claim it… it’s missing because everyone should be sharing it. This responsibility belongs to our all of them, but it’s our schools, teachers, and students who are left carrying it.

As taxpayers, we have the responsibility to ask why the funds our community approved for classrooms are being reduced by administrative decisions that voters never debated and never approved.

But as parents with kids in public school, we don’t have the luxury to ask questions. Not when our schools are already facing budget shortfalls, stretched staff, and increasing demands on every classroom.

If we believe in public education — and 84% of Sarasota voters proved that we do — then every dollar approved for classrooms should reach classrooms. Not 98 percent. Not 99 percent.

All of it.

To be fair, the final cost to the district may ultimately be much smaller. The Tax Collector has indicated that the net impact to the district could be closer to $185,000.

This raises another important question: why has so much conflict emerged over an issue our local leaders should be able to resolve together? 

Because when voters invest in schools, the expectation is simple: put our schools and students first.

Now it is time for our elected leaders to make that happen.

(PS – I spoke to the Tax Collector after they reached out saying I was missing information. I appreciate the outreach – and the risk – in knowing there will be a follow up coming out. I want to state that I am not here for any political party, not until they make a Parent Party that is!)