CRESTVIEW — In addition to the usual financial strains, county schools also face challenges on several other fronts, Okaloosa County Schools Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson said.
Speaking to the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce Government Issues Committee, Jackson said North Okaloosa County schools must address:
●A nationwide teacher shortage
●Aging school buildings
●Demands for later school starting times
●New state legislation that could increase out-of-county students’ enrollment
TEACHERS NEEDED
One reason the nationwide teacher shortage affects local schools, Jackson said, is teachers love teaching here and stay longer at their school or other area schools. But Baby Boomer teachers are retiring in larger numbers, Jackson said, while fewer college students are pursuing teaching.
“All over the country it is happening,” she said. “Young people are saying, 'We're not teaching. We don't want to teach. Teachers don't get respected.’"
While Florida needs 15,000 new teachers, state schools only graduate 5,000 teachers each year, she said.
Fortunately, she said, Northwest Florida State College’s teachers program has formed a partnership with the school district and feeds graduates into local schools.
At a recent Okaloosa County School District hiring fair, 325 candidates appeared, coming from all over the world, Jackson said. Forty were hired on the spot.
“We made arrangements with the union to offer them a contract right there so they wouldn't go somewhere else,” she said.
OLD SCHOOLS
Eighty percent of Okaloosa County’s 40-plus school buildings are more than 50 years old.
“Some are over 60 years old,” Jackson said. “With buildings that old, infrastructure is failing. We paint them up, but that’s about all we can afford to do. We put lipstick on a pig.”
In North Okaloosa County, schools more than 50 years old include Southside Primary (late 1940s), Northwood Arts and Science Academy (1954), Baker School (1955), Richbourg E.S.E. School (1955) and Bob Sikes Elementary (1959), according to “The Heritage of Okaloosa County.”
Crestview High School, which opened at its current location in 1969, serves too many students for its size. A second north county high school is a greater priority than recent calls for a Destin high school, Jackson said.
But, she added, the budget still can’t afford the $19 million cost of building, staffing and opening a new high school.
Replacing older schools that are getting beyond repair is a looming concern the school district must start considering, Jackson said.
However, there’s one financial source she prefers not to consider.
“We won't raise property tax because it's a regressive tax,” Jackson said. “It affects some of the people who can least afford it.”
Jackson said “every county around us has a penny sales tax but Okaloosa,” but, she added, “I’m not sure if that’s the solution either.”
LATER START TIMES
Proponents and opponents of later school start times for high school students have presented reams of studies and documentation supporting their respective stances, Jackson said.
The discussion in Okaloosa County is not new, she said.
“It's been going on here over 20 years,” Jackson said. “Five different superintendents have turned down later start times.
“I read the research, and there are some compelling things in here, but there's just as much research that says, 'pooh.' The only consistent thing across all this research is kids stay up later if they have later start times.”
Jackson said a 15-member research committee composed of district officials, principals, school board members and school transportation officials studied the issue.
“So what can we do?” Jackson said. “We've got board members saying, 'I'm not spending any capital money on buses. We have buildings falling down around us.'”
By adjusting school bus schedules and routes, “We came up with a plan that will move the start time ahead 30 and 38 minutes and it wouldn't cost us a penny.
“We took it to (the board) and they said, 'No!' They wouldn't have it. If school didn't start at 8:30 they wouldn't have it.”
So, she said, it’s back to square one, with a new committee with a broader composition, including Department of Transportation officials, childcare providers, chambers of commerce, “and experts including psychologists, parents, band people (and) athletic people,” Jackson said.
By May of 2017, the committee should have a plan, and the cost to implement it.
“We've developed a matrix so we can look at this analytically, not just with passion,” Jackson said.
OPEN STATEWIDE ENROLLMENT
School superintendents across the state are concerned with a new state statute based on recent legislation that allows parents to send children to any school, whether or not they’re zoned for that school.
And county borders are no longer an issue.
“Any student from other counties can cross county lines and come to our schools,” Jackson said.
With Okaloosa County being one of just three “A” school districts in the state, and a couple of nearby counties being “C” districts, that makes local schools attractive to out-of-county parents.
“But that doesn't leave any room for our growth,” Jackson said. “We have 300 more kids now than we had three years ago. How many more classrooms do we need?”
The “controlled open enrollment” statute takes effect in the 2017-18 school year, for which school districts must have a plan to accept out-of-county students.
“Here we are faced with this law, and we've got to figure out how we can control that,” Jackson said.
The one saving grace, Jackson said, is a provision that out-of-district students can’t transfer into Okaloosa schools if they are at capacity.
The Okaloosa school board is working on a policy that will give priority to county students.
“If you live here and you pay property taxes here, you get to come here first,” Jackson said.
“It's going to make counties fight; that's what it's going to do.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County schools' 4 biggest challenges