Duval Schools\u2019 financial position is \u201cstrong,\u201d according to its CFO, and what Superintendent Christopher Bernier characterized as \u201c$100 million debt\u201d was, in reality, a \u201cprojection of a potential\u201d reduction in the district\u2019s reserves that never came to pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s finances have come under scrutiny after Bernier repeatedly invoked the \u201c$100 million debt\u201d<\/a> while encouraging the School Board to close schools over the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n State Rep. Kimberly Daniels, D-Jacksonville, this week wrote to district officials, demanding proof of the budgetary crisis that, she said, was used to justify closing schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThat number shaped public opinion and became the primary justification for school closures and program reductions,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHowever, the district\u2019s own financial documents reflect reserve levels and fund balances that do not align with the picture of a crisis requiring drastic cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniels wrote that the district\u2019s \u201cactions created confusion, and some community members now question whether a budget crisis ever existed.\u201d <\/p>\n She requested a list of documents and written responses to a series of specific questions about Duval Schools\u2019 finances and the decision process behind the recent school closures.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis inquiry gives the district a clear opportunity to address those concerns directly, explain its decisions, and provide the documentation needed for public understanding,\u201d Daniels wrote. \u201cOnce I review the district\u2019s formal response, I will determine whether any further action is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n In a board workshop this week, CFO Ron Fagan said the district \u201cgot lucky\u201d during the last fiscal year, and with the last of some one-time Covid-era federal funding, was able to \u201cright-side the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with Jacksonville Today afterward, Fagan took responsibility for the $100 million number.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point in time, that was the impression I gave the superintendent,\u201d Fagan said. \u201cSo you can put in your notes that Ron Fagan advised the superintendent that \u2018the sky is falling, you\u2019re heading for a trainwreck, based upon what I\u2019m seeing, we\u2019re gonna be in some serious trouble.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In a written statement, district spokesperson Arwen FitzGerald called the oft-repeated $100 million figure \u201ca \u200b\u200blegitimate projection of a potential shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n How much money does a closed school save?<\/p>\n Since Bernier took over in July 2024, the school board has voted to close eight elementary schools, with several more in queue for consideration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, a consultant created a list of about 30 schools it suggested closing. The communities of several of the schools were vocally opposed to the closures<\/a>. They made signs and T-shirts, protested at board meetings and asked the district to keep their schools open. Ultimately, many of them successfully advocated against closing. <\/p>\n Six schools weren\u2019t so lucky<\/a>; a year ago, the board voted to close three schools at the end of last school year and three more at the end of the current school year. Last week, a new board voted to close two more<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Since 2020, Duval Schools has shuttered a total of 13 schools \u2014\u00a0creating a total multi-year savings of about $22 million. However, district data presented to the board last month show some of the savings is negated when, on average, 15% of the students of closed schools leave Duval Schools entirely. Funding is determined according to enrollment, so the exodus reduced the actual savings to nearly $8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite Bernier\u2019s warnings that closures are necessary to avoid the loss of jobs and other deep spending cuts, the district recently cut nearly 500 positions \u2014 though the district says many of those were vacancies, and the majority of employees who lost roles were reassigned elsewhere. The exact number of staff cuts was not provided by this story\u2019s publication. <\/p>\n At the same time, the district this year spent $15 million to decrease elementary class sizes and gave employees a 2.9% raise, according to Bernier during the board workshop.\u00a0<\/p>\n A primary metric the state Education Department uses to monitor the financial health of its school districts is to watch the bottom line figure for their reserve accounts. State statute requires a balance equal to at least 3% of a district\u2019s overall budget. District data show Duval ended its last school year with a balance of 13%, which a spokesperson says was reduced to 5% when money earmarked for building construction, extended day programs and required reserves was removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to proactive steps, the district has avoided an immediate crisis,\u201d FitzGerald wrote. \u201cAs we look ahead, we\u2019re working closely with families and community partners to explore sustainable options for a system with nearly 30,000 unfilled seats, including, but not limited to, school consolidations. Throughout this process, our priority is serving all Jacksonville families with safe, accessible, and well-resourced schools.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duval Schools\u2019 financial position is \u201cstrong,\u201d according to its CFO, and what Superintendent Christopher Bernier characterized as \u201c$100…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":439285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-439284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115699018950560606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}