By Jessica Tuggle
jtuggle@hometownnewsol.com
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - Indian River County School District officials and board members met with representatives of all four local legislative offices last Tuesday morning for a summit to talk about priorities for the upcoming year.
The gathering is annual, but this is the first time all four offices have been represented, said Patty Vasquez, public information officer for the school district.
School revenue was a major part of the discussion, with district officials citing their concern that unless more revenue sources are uncovered, drastic measures will need to be taken to meet the budget.
School board member and legislative liaison Karen Disney-Brombach said the district has cut its budget as much as possible this year, but they still expect up to $12 million more in cuts this coming year.
"We may now need to cut programs and close schools and we know it's not the best thing for students or schools," she said.
Legislators listened and offered support, but stopped short of making any promises.
"We don't want to mislead you in that we can pull rabbits out of hats," said State Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach.
Funding is hard to come by, said newly elected Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart.
"The government can't be immune to market conditions," he said.
In the state's $66.5 billion budget, 39.1 percent of the revenue goes to healthcare, while education is allocated only 32 percent, said Rep. Poppell.
"You really have to look at the big picture to get you where you need to be," he said.
"In budgets there are winners and losers," said Sen. Negron.
Over the past seven years, healthcare has moved forward in the amount of budgeted money it receives, largely because of better arguments on its behalf, the senator said.
"How you spend your money says what your priorities are. It's not an arithmetic concept, it's a values concept," he said.
To get more funding for education, Sen. Negron believes it would have to come from health and human services money.
Rep. Poppell and Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, took school district administrators to task for moving away from the original intent of a retirement program, known as the drop program.
The drop program came about as a result of the education system having trouble getting qualified instructors to replace retirees. The system allows retired individual to come back to work 30 days after receiving retirement compensation.
Participation in the drop program has increased tremendously in the past few years, costing taxpayers hundred of millions, Rep. Poppell said.
"It was never designed to extend to this degree and abuse has come up. It either needs to be eliminated or constrained to carry out the original intent," he said.
Drilling for oil and gambling are also being studied as sources of revenue for education, the legislators said.
Katie Halley, chief of staff for Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island and Kathryn Rudloff, district director for Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, were also in attendance and said they would take notes and comments from the meeting back to their offices for the senators to review.