Submitted by Dr. Kathy Burns
Nassau County School District Superintendent
August 21, 2018 – 2:00 p.m.
This is the first in a series of three articles Dr. Burns has prepared addressing the FY2018/19 School District Budget.
On September 13, 2018 the Nassau County School board is scheduled to approve the District’s 2018-19 budget which was tentatively approved on July 31, 2018 in the amount of $168,753,798.02. The board will also be asked to approve the final required local effort millage as 4.069 mills. The Discretionary Millage is being recommended to continue at 0.748 mills and the Capital Outlay Millage is being recommended to continue at 1.500 mills. The millage rates set will generate the following in school district funding:
Required Local Effort will generate $35,918,799
Discretionary Millage will generate $ 6,602,915
Capital Outlay Millage will generate $13,241,140
While the overall proposed millage rate of 6.317 is less than last year’s rate of 6.598, the District will generate additional dollars because of the increase in the taxable values across the district. The required portion of the millage was set by the state to generate approximately the same dollar amount as was generated last year and thus the required portion of the millage rate has decreased by 1.29 percent and represents approximately six-tenths of the total proposed taxes.
The Required Local Effort millage is a portion of the total tax levy which is required under state law to fund the Florida Education Finance Programwhich is the formula by which the state funds school boards. The school board will receive $47,337,234 from the state under this formula and the local tax payers will raise the balance of funds by levying the Required Local Effort and Discretionary Millage rates. The Capital Outlay Millage is levied by the district for construction, renovation and remodeling, maintenance of facilities, school buses, and technology needs of the district.
Some of the projects identified for the coming year from these capital outlay funds include:
- Parent Pickup and Drop Off Improvements at Hilliard Elementary School and Callahan Intermediate School
- Safety and Security Improvements to Schools such as Front Office fortifications and fencing of schools.
- Reroofing projects across the district, Replacement and Repair of HVAC systems across the district, Replacement of Football Field Lighting at Fernandina Beach High School.
- Purchase of Seven School Buses and Four Vans for Student Transportation
- District Wide Technology and Telephone System Replacement.
- Starting to save for the construction of the next new school.
It was necessary to reduce fund balance/reserves to balance the budget. The board policy outlines that the Board’s preference is to maintain a 3% reserve as desired by the Legislature. The recommended budget will only retain approximately a 2% reserve of revenues. This will require that the District notify the Florida Department of Education of this circumstance. The school district staff and the Board will continue to review the budget to ensure that we meet the State requirement by June 30, 2019.
What does the proposed millage rate mean to you the taxpayer? See below for some examples.
