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Minutes 06-06-96 MINUTES OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1996, AT 6:30 P.M. PRESENT Nellie Denahan, Chairperson Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant to the Anne Centi, Vice Chairperson City Manager Margaret Newton Dawn Russell Renee Stern Ronald Ehster, Alternate Falechia Price, Student ABSENT Rhona Schneider David Weinstein Irene Mandel, Alternate Ben Demaline, Student I. GREETINGS Chairperson Denahan called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. and welcomed County Commissioner Karen Marcus and School Board member Jody Gleason. II. ROLL CALL The Recording Secretary called the roll. Chairperson Denahan welcomed Ms. Price to the Board and asked her to tell the board a little about herself. Ms. Price attends Santaluces High School and is in the tenth grade. She has been playing the flute for eight years. She thanked the Commission for asking her to serve on this Board. IV. MINUTES APPROVAL No additions, deletions, or corrections were made to the minutes of the last meeting. Motion Vice Chairperson Centi moved to approve the minutes of the May 2, 1996 meeting. Ms. Stern seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. V. PUBLIC AUDIENCE None. VI. INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKERS A. Karen Marcus, Palm Beach County Commission, District I B. School Board Member Jody Gleason, District 3 Chairperson Denahan introduced Commissioner Marcus and Ms. Gleason. She advised that they have both been working tirelessly to find a solution to the problem of overcrowding in our schools. Ms. Gleason said school concurrency is essentially having schools in place before development is approved. It is very similar to all the other parts of the concurrency ordinances. There are currently requirements for water, sewer, drainage, libraries, fire, and police. The County Commission and the School Board meet twice a year to work on things they can jointly support. They have worked on making the Palm Tran system available for students, and locating parks. About two and a half years ago, Commissioner Marcus and Ms. Gleason brought up school concurrency. It is the responsibility of the policy makers to work out the details and make sure everything is in place. The County Commission and the School Board established a Task Force which met for about 18 months. They first established level of service (how large the schools can be), which took about six months. They looked at the design capacity of the school (the core facilities--the cafeteria, the library, and the rest rooms) and how many students could be put into a school before it would be too overcrowded. After the level of service was developed, they had to identify the backlog and how much funds it would take to rectify the problems with the backlog. In addition, they had to identify the future growth expectancy, and how to fund that growth. The final task was to draft an ordinance. Commissioner Marcus stated that drafting the ordinance was probably the most difficult task because it had not been done before. No other local government in the State of Florida, nor the County, had attempted to tackle school concurrency. Broward County is looking at it in a different fashion from us. In order to have this as a County-wide ordinance, the first step that we would have to take is to amend our Charter form of government. We became a Charter County in 1984 and that allows us to make rule changes locally instead of going to Tallahassee. We have 38 cities in the County. In order to have a County-wide school system and a County-wide rule, we have to ask the public to vote for a Charter amendment that would allow us to have one County-wide MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 ordinance that would apply in the City and the County to have this concurrency process. We tried not to make the ordinance too cumbersome in terms of a development project. Right now when a project comes into Palm Beach County for traffic, you have to go through a concurrency permit review process. We want to include schools in this process. There is a phased-in period for the ordinance. We realize that if we were try to implement concurrency tomorrow to achieve our desired level of service and try to have no school more than 110 percent over capacity, that we would shut down many areas of Palm Beach County for development. So we took the first 7 years which we felt was practical in terms of being able to physically build and financially raise the money to address the backlog. We started this two years ago and at that time we were about $350 million behind. Now we are about $400 million behind. New growth is about $60 million annually. At the end of that seven year period, we allowed for percentages of degradation of the schools. In other words, they could get over capacity to a very high level to the point of 250 percent in the first three years. No one likes that, but we decided it is something that hopefully would give the development community comfort that no building permits would be denied while we start catching up. In the fourth year, the capacity would decrease to 200 percent. In the fifth year it would decrease to 180 percent and by the eighth year, we should all be 110 percent or less at capacity. We tried to phase in the ordinance so that we do not affect development permits or approvals in Palm Beach County. Commissioner Marcus advised that the developer has to go through certain tests (Test 1 and Test 2). The developer has to look at his assigned schools (a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school) and if there is capacity at all three of those schools (under 110 percent), then the project can go. If there is no capacity at any one of those three schools, the developer then goes to Test 2 which is to look at the next three closest schools. If there is capacity in any of those three schools, the project gets to go. If there is no capacity, then the project has to wait. This would allow the School Board, in a five year construction program, to start putting in schools that they know are going to be needed because a development project is coming through. Therefore, by the time the homes are built and the children arrive, the schools would be under construction and would be available. We felt it was a very important element of the ordinance that the School Board have a five year construction program that is fully funded every year. Right now, they would have to budget about $60 million annually. In the fifth year, they would add schools where the growth is occurring and where projects are being approved. They would monitor the school capacity by the second nine week count of students in each school. As schools 3 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 started moving towards the 80 and 90 percent capacity, they would hopefully have a school in the system to relieve that overcrowded school based on permit activity that was going on. We feel it is a fair process and an easy process. The development community does it now for roads and for water and sewer, and we think they can do it for schools too. One of the other components of the process is the one cent sales tax. The Task Force was not created to talk about a one cent sales tax; however, you cannot have concurrency unless you have funding. We looked at several funding sources, including the one cent sales tax. The Task Force felt that this was the fairest way to fund it. We looked at increasing impact fees. We looked at the School Board doing more COPs. We looked at municipal service taxing districts. We looked at the County Commission raising one mil. We looked at all sorts of things and offered those, but the one cent sales tax was selected because you cannot do school concurrency unless you have the funding. The State of Florida says it has to be financially feasible and even though they do not fund education the way they should, we are prepared to look locally for that. So we see it as a two pronged approach. We will also have a management tool to make sure we spend the money where we are growing and not get into the situation that we are in today. Mr. Ehster asked if there are currently any areas that are under capacity and if any of the schools meet the 110 percent capacity. Ms. Gleason advised that Jupiter High School, Palm Beach Gardens, and Belle Glade High School are under capacity. She believes Woodlands Middle School, which opened this year, is under capacity, but it is not anticipated to stay under capacity. Mr. Ehster asked if an additional 5,000 students are expected this September and, if so, will those schools still be under capacity. Ms. Gleason said the high schools will, but the middle school will be close to capacity. Starlight Cove Elementary School, which opened this fall, was predicted to open at 85 percent. Right now (ten months later) it is at 115 percent capacity. The only elementary schools that are under capacity are those in the Glades and those that are brand new. Waters Edge in West Boca, which opened in April, has not had time to fill up. Mr. Ehster asked how the one cent sales tax compares to the annual cost for another bond issue. Ms. Gleason said the average family, with an income of $38,000, would spend around $300 for sales tax. Commissioner Marcus advised that we would have to do about a $500 million bond issue. When we did the $100 million bond issue for environmentally sensitive lands, on a $100,000 home, it is about a $30 line item annually for a 30 or 20 4 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 year period. The Task Force was interested in the sales tax because 20 percent of that is paid for by tourists. It will have a sunset provision. It will only be for seven years and can only be extended by another vote of the public. To make sure the money goes for school construction, the language in the ballot will be worded specifically for construction of schools only, which binds us legally. The County Commission would collect the money, the School Board would prepare the schools, and then we would turn over the dollars. Ms. Russell asked when this vote will take place. Ms. Gleason advised that parents and community leaders are going to rally the School Board on Tuesday at 10 o'clock. In addition, the School Board has scheduled a special meeting on June 26 to vote on a funding source and whether or not to support a November ballot or a March ballot. After that meeting, the County Commission and the School Board will meet to decide whether or not to proceed. Commissioner Marcus was in favor of a November ballot because the public is being educated, the Task Force has been meeting for two years, and there is some interest and momentum by parents who are willing to do a sales tax if they have school concurrency. She pointed out that even if we adopt this and put it on the ballot in November, we do not start collecting the tax until January 1st. It will take us another six to nine months to adopt the ordinance to put it in place because we first have to do a Comprehensive Plan amendment and when that comes back, we have to do the ordinance itself. Every year we put it off, we get $60 million more behind. It has taken two years just to get to this process. She advised that the Municipal League is in support of the one cent sales tax, but not school concurrency because they do not think you need the regulatory process to stop development to build schools. She hoped people would ask their individual cities to support school concurrency. She said she would not support the sales tax without the concurrency because she thinks you have to have that management plan. She stated that she has been in government for a while and if you do not make us do it, we will not do it. We have had the ability to communicate, plan, and coordinate for years now and we have not done it. Ms. Russell teaches in Boca Raton. She said they have three high schools, but Boynton Beach does not have any. She knows that the growth in Boca Raton was more rapid for a while than in Boynton Beach. However, somebody needs to be maintaining that and making better decisions. She thinks some of it is political and we need to eliminate that factor out of it. 5 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Commissioner Marcus said we cannot turn down a project in Boca Raton or Boynton Beach because of schools being overcrowded. We have no legal premise to do that. Only with this ordinance could we do that. It allows you to get in line as you grow. It allows you to have funding for a school and not have to wait year to year to see if there is going to be money and if you are going to be one of the lucky ones. Ms. Gleason said Mayor Graham of West Palm Beach did a press conference about a month ago supporting school concurrency and the sales tax and their Commission will be adopting a resolution in support of school concurrency and a sales tax. Lake Worth is expected to follow suit. The Mayor of Lake Worth FAXED her a letter today, indicating he was supporting school concurrency. If we do not have school concurrency and we pass a $500 million bond issue or sales tax, Ms. Gleason cannot guaranty that five years from now she will not be back here saying that another $500 million is needed. She cannot see why anyone would vote for something if you cannot have that assurance that we are not going to fall behind again. The number of schools built in the next ten years without a sales tax or bond issue is zero. There are no capital dollars for any new schools. We have a little more PECO money coming in that will fund the next school in line, but that is it. Ms. Newton was interested in concurrency as far as it affects the coastal schools and the racial makeup of our schools. She asked if this would leave those of us who live along the coast, since we are not a part of the building boom, out in the cold as far as equal access to the new facilities that are being built. She asked if most of the concentration would be in the western communities, and if a plan was developed to keep the east coast in mind. Ms. Gleason said, "Absolutely". She said that was part of the concern of the entire concurrency Task Force, no matter where people came from. The district she lives in is east of I-95 from Belvedere to Yamato Road, and her children went to Lake Worth North Grade, which is east of Federal Highway, a 1926 coastal school and the most overcrowded school in the entire County. She started working on this ten or twelve years ago. They are going to build a two story addition at North Grade and South Grade. This was something that was in the back of our minds all along, but it had to be built into the plan. The survey that we are working on right now to update the capacity needs of all the schools will upgrade every single school that is in existence right now. There is a definite plan for renovating and remodeling the schools. When we looked at the sales tax, the Task Force recommended extending it one year so that there would be enough money to also renovate and remodel. We do not have to wait for the eighth year to do it. It is built right 6 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 into the concurrency plan. The concurrency plan has a capital improvements plan which will show which schools will come on line when. Additionally, we have a strong commitment from the Board that we are buying up properties around older coastal schools. We are buying every property that becomes available. It is standard operating procedure. Ms. Gleason did not think the school concurrency plan has anything to do with racial balance. The Office of Civil Rights does not really care if the schools further west stay white. We want to make sure that the programs are here to stabilize the families who want to live here. She thinks that equalizes the population. She said we cannot bring children back to the neighborhoods. There are about 4,000 children, mostly black children, who are being bussed out, but there are no spaces to bring them back in yet. They are in Delray, Boynton, Lantana, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach. We are all aware of this and are trying to fix it. Each year, the boundary cycle is moving one or two SACs back here as we find the space. Commissioner Marcus said the ordinance specifically states that coastal schools that are at capacity will receive priority in terms of getting into the five year plan. We feel coastal communities should not be put on the back burner. Ms. Gleason advised that the word "coastal" was changed to "older" because we did not want everything to happen east of I- 95, acknowledging that the next corridor is the next to be impacted. Mr. Ehster said it seems obvious that this would include the Boynton Beach high school. Ms. Gleason said, "Absolutely". Mr. Ehster asked if there is any guaranty that class sizes will decrease. Ms. Gleason stated that there is no guaranty of that. She advised that school concurrency and building schools have nothing to do with class size. Mr. Ehster asked if there is any way it can become part of the dollars associated with all of this. Ms. Gleason advised that the money we raise from the sales tax or bond issue cannot be used to pay teachers in the classroom. The number of teachers we need to hire would come from the operating budget, which is established by the State of Florida. We cannot change that funding. They tell us how many mils we can raise. To lower the class size by one would cost $7 million for teachers. We can build the buildings but we cannot hire the teachers to lower the class size significantly. She thinks the entire structure of funding education in Florida needs to be changed. Right now we fund 48th in the nation. Citizens need to be aware that you cannot fund at 48th and expect to be first. 7 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Ms. Gleason advised that the Broward County sales tax failed by an 80/20 margin, as did six other counties this past fall. Only 16 percent of the people came out to vote. The parents whose schools were being impacted did not come out to vote either. It is going to take the effort of the entire community to make sure everyone votes to support the tax. Commissioner Marcus said everybody assumes that the School Board has total control over what they are doing, but they do not. They get funds from the State and are told how to spend them. Overcrowding is just one of the problems we have in education, and this is a solution to that particular problem. However, the Task Force recognized that the State of Florida needs to get serious about funding education so that we can have smaller class sizes. Perhaps an organized effort from the County to do that afterwards also would help. Ms. Stern asked if there is an education program in place to inform the voters of the purpose of concurrency and the one cent sales tax. Ms. Gleason stated that the County Commission and the School Board have to decide that they are going to do this before advocating it. Commissioner Marcus added that the County Commission and School Board representatives need to have the public's support to move forward so we can put together a public education campaign. Chairperson Denahan asked them to define the regulatory component of the concurrency. Commissioner Marcus said that would be the ordinance that the County Commission would adopt, which is the process wherein you would have a higher level of service during the first seven years. You would have the 250 percent capacity, which means the developer would have to do an impact study to see which schools are at what level of service and at what capacity to see if the project would be approved. That is the part that the Municipal League does not like. They do not like making a developer have to go in to see if there is capacity. They think if we just build the schools, that will solve the problem. They do not want to make the development community go through that regulatory process. Ms. Gleason said it is like operating under a "trust me it will all work out" premise. Unless you can actually start counting the developments, you will not know where it is taking place and you cannot make those long-range plans. When Starlight Cove opened, it was under capacity, like it was supposed to be. Then a low income housing project came in and asked to be approved. The County Commission had no way to turn it down. That changed the whole picture of what was going to happen at that school. They expected 47 children and got 156 elementary school age children within six weeks after the project was 8 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 completed. Instead of having a school that was under capacity, based on good planning and the best numbers possible, it was over 100 percent capacity before Christmas. This happens up and down the coast every time development is approved. Ms. Russell asked if other states have done this. Ms. Gleason said it has not been done anywhere. Utah has come up with the closest thing possible, but it is not really a total school concurrency. They do not work under the same county-wide unitary system. No one else has tried it, partially because it is so complex and requires multiple government agencies to work together. Although the sales tax is not the only way we can fund it, 51 percent of the municipalities have to agree that the entire penny will go for schools. Jack Simmons was in the audience and asked if there is some set of criteria that he can refer to so he knows what the rules will be if school impact is part of the concurrency in the future. He said not all residential projects have equal school impact. He referred to square footage, sales price, restrictions on age to communities, etc. Commissioner Marcus answered affirmatively. She advised that the School Board has a student generation rate based on multi-family and single-family. Ms. Gleason said he can get a copy of the draft ordinance, including the other documents, from Commissioner Marcus' office. Commissioner Marcus said there is already a student generation rate depending upon the type of housing it is. If you come in with a multi-family project, and you have 60 units that will generate 2.5 children per unit, you will be able to see whether the school has the availability. Mr. Simmons asked if they differentiate between 800 square foot units and 2,600 square foot units. Commissioner Marcus believes it is based on housing size. There are two formulas. One is for impact fees and one is for housing type. Mr. Simmons asked if this problem will be addressed and start to subside by the time the schools are built if it takes five years to build these schools. He asked if the school population in the elementary schools is such that you anticipate the problem will stay the same or get worst, or if it is already starting to reverse. Ms. Gleason said it is not starting to reverse. You are looking at the year 2025. We have about 5,600 seniors graduating this year, and we have over 11,000 kindergartners coming into the system the same year. We took the same figures that the County Commission uses for growth population and we 9 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 took our figures and superimposed them on each other to make sure that they are exactly the same numbers. We received some numbers from the Department of Education this week that showed the student growth for this year. It showed 2,000 less students than we actually have sitting in the classroom. So there is another set of numbers being generated and we have to figure out where they are coming from because it projects a slowdown in growth. Also, this program is reviewed every year and if you see that your growth projections are going to slow down, then you adjust your building plan accordingly. Therefore, we are not going to continue to build the same number of schools every year. It will be adjusted for growth. Commissioner Marcus pointed out that we currently do this with transportation. We started out having to have a huge budget to catch up and now we can pretty much survive on a $35 million annual budget. If the demand were to lessen, then we could reduce that, and if it increases, we would have to try to stay current. Ms. Gleason stated that Broward County is $1.5 billion behind in school construction, and elementary schools are going to double session kindergartners this year to compensate for the overcapacity. Hillsboro County has several high schools going on double sessions and they do not even have the capacity for Certificates of Participation. However, we would still have some ability to use that funding source. Howard Corwin was in the audience and stated that according to the Sun-Sentinel, the school concurrency program cannot be implemented until the current problems are resolved with the schools. In addition, the developers who have already received approvals for building, would not be bound by concurrency. He asked if this is true. Commissioner Marcus answered affirmatively. She said those are vested units, but they are counted in the current backlog number. The sales tax is designed to correct the backlog and take care of our annual growth for the next seven years. We will build our backlog and our annual growth at the same time. Mr. Corwin said concurrency does not address the backlog. Commissioner Marcus advised that the sales tax addresses the backlog. Ms. Gleason added that the capital building plan will address both elements, and we can use other funds to address some of the backlog. It is not the only money available, but the whole building plan will address backlog and growth. Mr. Corwin asked if developers will have to pay any money. Commissioner Marcus 10 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 advised that the developers pay impact fees. Mr. Corwin asked what percentage of the impact fees paid by developers is used to buy land and build schools. Commissioner Marcus advised that we generate $6 million annually, county-wide. We believe that this could be increased to up to $13 million county-wide. Mr. Corwin asked if the County has the right to increase the one cent sales tax during the 7 year period. Commissioner Marcus advised that the sales tax can only be increased by a public referendum. Harriet Rosen was in the audience and asked why the Municipal League is opposed to concurrency. Ms. Gleason said there are 38 municipalities and 195 elected officials within the Municipal League. Therefore, there is going to be a lot of disagreement, even within the Municipal League itself. She thinks they are afraid of refusing any permits. Ms. Rosen asked why the Municipal League is concerned about the regulatory process. Commissioner Marcus said the County Commission would not regulate. They would pass a law that all developers would have to comply with. They would not deny the development order. It would just state that all the cities and the County cannot issue development orders if there is no school capacity, and will have to phase the project or work with the School Board to get it into the construction program. Ms. Gleason stated that only 19 out of the 38 municipalities have any schools built within their municipal jurisdiction. She would think that those 19 cities would want to be assured construction in a five year plan. Boynton Beach would not be asking for a high school again because they would have been guaranteed that this would happen, and no other person could come in and move them out of that process. This year we have 13 projects on the capital improvement plan that would bond issue schools out of Ms. Gleason's district, east of I-95. Three are funded on this year's project that still have to be built. The Boynton Beach High School is the only one that is not funded right now because the School Board ran out of money. They spent a total of almost $900 million during the bond years, and a lot of that money was spent chasing growth and a lot was spent on high schools. She pointed out that Olympic Heights and Dwyer High School cost $42 million each, and Dwyer High School was not needed in that location. Ms. Rosen asked why Boynton Beach did not get a high school as promised in 1986. Ms. Gleason stated that Boynton Beach did not have strong lobbying power. Other people came in and moved them out of the process. A lot of schools were built that were not part 11 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 of the bond issue plan. The first schools that were built were in the North County area, and the next ones were built in the South County area. There is a lot of money spread across the County. Some was spent here, but it was a disproportionate amount and it was also for unplanned projects. Ms. Rosen did not understand why the Municipal League has taken the position that concurrency would do very little to prevent overcrowding. Neither did Ms. Gleason. She stated that Dr. Jim Nichols developed the student generation rates. We spoke to him and Tom Pelham to try to identify how the student generation was determined, and he issued a written statement that 50 percent of the new students come from new development, through his statistical analysis. Mr. Corwin said Dr. Jim Nichols came up with an impact fee study that was presented to the County Commission in August of 1994 wherein he said that the County was collecting not quite half of what they should be collecting in impact fees for new development. He asked why this study was never acted upon. Commissioner Marcus explained that the County Commission was attempting to be sensitive to affordable housing. Mr. Corwin asked why they could not be given a waiver. Commissioner Marcus advised that impact fees cannot be waived. However, there are programs that pay impact fees for affordable housing projects. She felt impact fees for schools is one of the things that we could be doing when the School Board starts to address the dollars coming out of their capital budget. She said we need to increase the impact fees to the full amount and, hopefully, the County Commission will do that if the people let them know that this is what they want them to do. She said the County Commission does not hear that much from the general public. The County Commission tries to raise impact fees slowly. The development community feels that they are much higher than they should be, and they are higher than most other areas. We recently increased impact fees for schools and parks. Mr. Corwin said the one cent sales tax will cost the average family approximately $300. If you had a proper impact fee from the start, it would cost the average family less than $300 a year on their mortgage, assuming they had a 30 year mortgage. In addition, you would have the money and not have to wait and beg for it. He said the children have no books or paper, yet the developers keep developing and do not pay their fair share. Commissioner Marcus stated that growth does not pay for itself. Even if we did the full $13 to $16 million, that is not enough because you have to give credit for bond issues that 12 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 have been previously passed. Also, if the sales tax is passed, you have to give deductions for them. Mr. Corwin asked why we cannot tie in the school concurrency program with a drive to increase the impact fees so that we do not have this backlog of schools. Commissioner Marcus stated that the Task Force chose the sales tax as a funding source, as opposed to increasing impact fees. Mr. Corwin asked why you cannot have both. Commissioner Marcus believes you could. Mr. Corwin asked her if she would bring this up to the County Commission, and she agreed to. She said we are too far behind to be worrying about that and was agreeable to increasing school impact fees to the full amount now. She said there are a great number of vested units, but a lot of them will not be built because the County Commission has a use it or lose it provision so that if a development is approved and is not used after a certain period of time, the zoning will be revoked. This gives us an accurate account of what is going on. Sometimes they will ask for five units an acre and build at three. We still count those five units because one day they could change whatever amenity they put there and put in the rest of the units. The Commission has found a way to legally revoke or take those units back. Ms. Gleason advised that both school concurrency and the sales tax or other funding source have to be passed by the voters in order to implement the concurrency ordinance. A lady in the audience asked if that is because if you do not pay the sales tax, you will not catch up and, therefore, concurrency cannot start until you are caught up. Ms. Gleason answered negatively. Commissioner Marcus explained that the State of Florida says you have to have a financially feasible plan. This plan has to show how you are going to achieve your level of service. The ordinance states that in the first seven years, we will have a very high level of service. This is not acceptable to most of us, but we will be able to start counting the development orders. In the first three years, schools can go as far as 250 percent of capacity. We do not expect most of them to do that, but that way the development community does not have to worry about permits being denied while we are getting started building the schools. We do not want to slow down development or affect the construction industry. In the fourth year, the capacity goes down to 200 percent. In the third year it goes to 180 percent, and at the seventh year or in the eighth year, we should be at 110 capacity or better, County-wide. That is where we want to be in level of 13 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 service. That is when the School Board has to start annually kicking in their $60 million from their own funds and not from the sales tax, whether it is impact fees or whether it is PECO dollars. We would start concurrency immediately. We can start counting the development projects and the children, and start building schools at a rate for that seven year period that we would not thereafter. Ms. Gleason clarified for a lady in the audience that you cannot deny any permits the first three years unless the school is over 250 percent capacity. However, we are counting those children so we know exactly where the development is in order to plan in years seven and eight where new schools will go. The schools will be built in the most overcrowded areas first. The next elementary school to be built is in West Riviera to relieve Washington, Lincoln, and Northmore. Those are the three most overcrowded schools in that area. The most overcrowded high schools are on the coast. They are Lake Worth, Santaluces, and Atlantic. Therefore, Boynton Beach is the next high school that is built. Someone in the audience asked how long it takes to open a school. Ms. Gleason said it depends on the type of school and location. Some of the design built schools were built in 286 days. Some schools built under traditional design took two years. If you build in the western communities and have to go through environmental regulations, those can be delayed even further. One of the advantages of speeding up the process is having cities and governments willing to work with us. Poinciana would not have happened as fast as it did without the assistance of the City staff and City Commission to make sure that properties were obtained, etc. Mr. Ehster asked if portables will be eliminated when a school reaches 110 percent capacity. Mrs. Gleason said not necessarily. She said the intent was never to do away totally with portables because you can use them as the population moves around. Also, some schools can be under capacity but can use portables for the many special programs that they have. Also, portables could be used for a temporary increase in growth. Mr. Ehster asked if the measurement is based on portables. Ms. Gleason answered negatively. She said it is 110 percent of permanent capacity. Ms. Stern asked where on the list of priorities is the Boynton Beach High School. Ms. Gleason stated that it is on top of the list. Virginia Farace, Director of the Boynton Beach Library, was concerned that the sales tax 14 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 will still leave us needing a lot of money. She asked how the schools are going to be staffed and where the equipment and supplies are going to come from. She also asked how we are going to get the public to realize that we need more money to fund schools better. Ms. Gleason said it is going to take the entire community to do that. She advised that the money follows the students. Every student generates a certain dollar amount. So all schools, whether they are overcrowded or under crowded, still need the same staffing allocations from the State. More teachers will not be hired. The new building dollars include the supplies, seats, books, libraries, and tech labs. All that is built into the price of the school. We have been working on a plan to upgrade all the older libraries to make sure every library in the County has at least ten text books per student in their school. We have the same number of computers in every school. With regard to textbooks, we are not going to be ahead this year. We will not know exactly how much we are getting from the State for textbooks until the end of the summer. $7.8 million for textbooks will buy our reading series for Kindergarten through fifth grade, which has not been replaced since 1983. It will not buy our lost textbooks, which is usually around $4 million every year. Therefore, we funded another $2.5 million out of the operating budget. We still need another $12.5 million just to catch up to what we need to put textbooks in the classroom today. The cost of paper increased by 300 percent this year. Some states charge a fee for textbooks and paper. She did not think a larger dollar amount is going to be put into school supplies and books. She said you have to buy the teachers and the books. Teacher Aides is often one of the suggested solutions to putting more adults in front of the classroom. Her problem with this is the quality of the aides you get when you pay them $5.50 an hour. We have some incredibly good aides who have been with us a long time. However, in some communities the teachers spend a lot of time training aides and then they leave. It costs $3,000 to hire a new employee by the time you do background checks, physical exams, etc. Ms. Gleason said it is going to take dollars to reduce class size. Mr. Hawkins asked if the County Commission has the sole authority to decide whether or not the one cent sales tax is going to be placed on the ballot. Commissioner Marcus answered affirmatively. Mr. Hawkins asked if concurrency needs a one cent sales tax, or if the one cent sales tax needs concurrency. Commissioner Marcus stated that concurrency needs a funding source. If this community decides that the one cent sales tax is the funding source, then concurrency needs the one cent sales tax. The one cent sales tax does not need concurrency. 15 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Ms. Price asked how many schools we are behind. Ms. Gleason said about 22. Mr. Ehster asked how concurrency looks at private and charter schools. Commissioner Marcus advised that concurrency is silent on them. Ms. Gleason added that the ordinance can be changed. We will be writing the rules for charter schools as we do them. Commissioner Marcus pointed out that you cannot rely on private schools always being there. A lady in the audience asked how the School Board feels about putting the one cent sales tax on the November ballot or the March ballot. Ms. Gleason said the School Board is having a meeting on June 26th to decide whether to approve the sales tax as a funding source and whether to put it on the November or March ballot. She thinks it is more likely to pass on a March ballot. A lady in the audience asked what other measures could be taken in lieu of the one cent sales tax. Ms. Gleason said we could use a bond referendum. Commissioner Marcus was in favor of a November ballot because she does not know what we can do between November and March that is going to make anybody accept more willingly what they want. Also, this process will take a year to implement, which means we will be $60 million more behind in schools, and that much more overcrowded in those facilities. We spent two years putting the information together and two years educating people. Commissioner Marcus thinks there is a group of anxious parents who are willing to be educated so that they can educate people. A lady in the audience stated that more people come out to vote in November than they do in March. She asked what impact this would have on the vote. Ms. Gleason pointed out the pros of cons of a November election and a March election. She said some people look at presidential elections as being negative because people tend to vote for what they support. This year, in addition to the presidential election, there are a lot of Senate house races and school races. In March it becomes a municipal election. Commissioner Marcus expects the development community to oppose this because of their concerns about development permits. In 1988, they were successful in defeating it at the polls in a March referendum by telling people that we were trying to have metro government. 16 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Ms. Gleason said you have the dynamics of children involved, so a March election could pass just because parents will finally get it together. She thinks you can build a momentum from parents which is not built into a municipal planning or a County-wide planning ordinance that people do not attach that element to. Chairperson Denahan thanked Commissioner Marcus and Ms. Gleason for their presentation. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. Committee Reports Santaluces High School The minutes of the April 16, 1996 SAC meeting were attached to the agenda packet. Vice Chairperson Centi highlighted some of items. The objectives concerning the CTBS Reading Comprehension and Florida Writes have been combined to form Objective 6. The principal reported that half days have been successful. Fifty students went to Tallahassee to meet government officials. The Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce held a Scholars Breakfast on May 24th Chairperson Denahan was impressed that the SAC is still making adjustments to their School Improvement Plan. Atlantic Community High School Ms. Centi reported the following: 1. The principal asked this board to host a School Improvement Plan Night and invite all the principals and SACS of the schools that the Boynton Beach children attend to present their School Improvement Plans to the community and the parents. The Boynton Beach Woman's Club have offered their facility for this event. 2. Volunteers are needed for Project Graduation this weekend. Over 374 17 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 students are graduating this year. 3. The Boca High School Parents' Organization is trying to return the driver's education program to the schools. Chairperson Denahan stated that the principal, Carole Shetler, felt it would have a great impact if the schools could present their School Improvement Plans to each other. Ms. Shetler was able to implement strategies in her School Improvement Plan to help Congress Middle School because their students were moving onto Atlantic High School. Chairperson Denahan said each school will be given 10 minutes to make a presentation. She asked if we should hold this in the fall or next spring. Ms. Russell pointed out that the fall is a busy time of the year for teachers. Ms. Stern did not see how the School Improvement Plans would impact each other since they are supposed to be pertinent to each school. Also, she did not think it would be fruitful to include the elementary schools. Chairperson Denahan pointed out that one school could be impacted by another school's ideas. Mrs. Newton advised that Rolling Green Elementary School has been added to the Governor's list of schools in trouble. They are having academic difficulties and it may be helpful for them to see what the other SACs are doing. Chairperson Denahan said it was also suggested that each SAC present a certificate to the person they feel was the most instrumental in developing their School Improvement Plan. Ms. Farace asked if the schools are going to present their plans to each other or if it is going to be a presentation for the public. If it is a public presentation, then it should be held in the spring when the plans are being finalized and the public's input is mandated. Chairperson Denahan stated that this would be in addition to the School Improvement Plans being presented at each particular school. Ms. Farace said if it is a public presentation, the Commission Chambers would far outweigh any other facility in which to do that. It is set up for presentations. It has audio/ visual and sound equipment. The sound at the Woman's Club is not very good. Also, if the plans are going to be analyzed and public input given, she suggested that the elementary schools make their presentations one night, and the middle and high schools another night to give them a little more time. 18 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Mr. Hawkins asked if the purpose of presenting the School Improvement Plans is a marketing tool for the schools, a way of getting support, or a way of getting more parental involvement. Chairperson Denahan said it is a combination of all those things; however, it is mainly to get more parental involvement. She believes Ms. Shetler wants to have the opportunity for everyone to meet and to bring more continuity to the City of Boynton Beach. Motion Vice Chairperson Centi moved to hold a School Improvement Plan presentation that includes all the schools which the Boynton Beach children attended. Mrs. Newton seconded the motion, which carried 6-1. Ms. Stern cast the dissenting vote. Christa McAuliffe Middle School Mrs. Newton reported that the end of the year SAC program was held Monday evening, at which time the members of the SAC were recognized. The principal held a dinner for the SAC members. Also, Christa McAuliffe was the highest scoring middle school on the Florida Writes test in Palm Beach County, and made the most gains. Ms. Russell felt the board should do something to recognize this school for its achievements. Mr. Hawkins suggested that an awards presentation be arranged at one of the City Commission meetings. Forest Park Elementary School Chairperson Denahan reported that construction is on schedule. She spoke to Larry Zabik yesterday, and he was very pleased with everything that is occurring at the school. The entire school is pleased that the SAC was able to get a crossing guard on 2nd Avenue because the safety of the children is no longer in danger. Poinciana Elementary School Mr. Hawkins reported that several tours are being given through the new building. The 19 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 SAC had a little social early this week where they summarized what was done this past year. The principal is very happy with how construction is moving along. Everything is on schedule and they should be in the new school when this school year starts. Ms. Farace advised that there will be a symbolic move-in on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. She hoped all the members of this board would attend. Hagen Road Elementary School Ms. Stern reported that Hagen Road Elementary School had its last SAC meeting. She had furnished the members of the Education Advisory Board with a copy of their School Improvement Plan at the last meeting. She will continue to attend the SAC meetings when they recommence. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Anne Centi/Margaret Newton - Report on Boynton Beach Vision 20/20 Mrs. Newton said it was a privilege to attend Vision 20/20. Many knowledgeable people were there. The education section was very informative; however, she was a little perturbed that it was last on the agenda. This gave her the impression that the planners of the program may be rating education below other needs. They very strongly approved the need for a new high school. Our new Police Chief, Marshall Gage, gave a very impassioned speech concerning the youth and imploring us to come up with some ideas about what to do with the children this summer. Mrs. Newton was very impressed that several people in her group knew about the Education Advisory Board and were impressed with what we are doing. Mrs. Newton had mentioned that the Education Advisory Board did not have funding and asked them to consider funding. This was received with mixed views. Some people felt that since it is an advisory board, no funding should be given. Others felt you have no credibility unless you have dollars behind you. The major item that came out of her session was a very strong support of the new Boynton Beach High School, and a very strong impassioned support for Chief Gage and volunteers working with the children this summer. Vice Chairperson Centi said it was an excellent meeting. We were divided into 4 pods of 25 people each. With regard to Chief Gage's speech about what to do with the children 20 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 this summer, she asked the Recording Secretary to copy and distribute a booklet titled Youth Involvement Program which lists volunteer opportunities for youth this summer. Vice Chairperson Centi advised that everyone was in favor of education and a Boynton Beach High School. Some of their suggestions included using the City bond to fund the high school, explore lobbying to obtain certain lottery funds, and evaluate the feasibility of a charter school in Boynton Beach. Vice Chairperson Centi was in possession of all the legislation that has been passed regarding charter schools and asked the Recording Secretary to copy and distribute them to the members of the board. In her group, some people thought we were entitled to a high school and that if we had to, we could sue the School Board for nonperformance. There was a major consensus of opinion that the City Commission work towards a revenue bond to fund the high school at Quantum Park with the repayment by the School Board. From reading the policy statement, Chairperson Denahan stated that the participants at the visioning conference agreed that the boards should work together. She was pleased to see Ms. Farace here this evening. Ms. Farace chairs the Business Education Partnership Division of the Chamber of Commerce. Chairperson Denahan attends those committee meetings. She also attended a meeting of the Advisory Board on Children and Youth and the Chairperson of that board has accepted her invitation to work with this board. With regard to Mrs. Newton's concern about where education was on the Visions agenda, Mr. Hawkins stated that it was originally scheduled for another day. However, it was rescheduled to accommodate the people who wanted to go back to City Hall to hear Dr. Kowal's presentation. It was also rescheduled to accommodate Dr. Kowal's schedule, in the hopes that she would attend the education component at the assembly. We were not trying to prioritize the level of importance of any of the topics. B. School Improvement Plans/Ideas for Future Presentations See discussion under Item VII.A (committee report on Atlantic High School). C. July 4th Holiday - Discussion for Date or Cancellation of July Meeting Chairperson Denahan advised that our next regular meeting date falls on July 4th. Motion 21 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 Vice Chairperson Centi moved to cancel the July 4th meeting. Ms. Russell seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. D. Rolling Green Elementary School Chairperson Denahan stated that this school has been added to Brogan's list of critically low scoring schools. She asked the board for ideas on how to help this school. She stated that the staff there is above reproach and works diligently, and pointed out that we have not had a committee report on this school for over 12 months. Vice Chairperson Centi suggested that we hold a meeting at the school to meet the principal, see the facility, get a handle on what is happening, and find out how we can help. Ms. Stern said the first step would be to find out where they feel we are needed. Mrs. Newton suggested that one of the members of the board start attending this school's SAC meetings. E. Board Recognition of Others Ms. Stern suggested developing congratulatory letters that could be sent out under the board's stationery when we want to recognize someone or something. Mr. Hawkins suggested that instead of sending someone a form letter, the board recognize people in person at City Hall. He felt this would be more formal and have more meaning. F. School Liaisons Vice Chairperson Centi suggested reassigning this board's members as liaisons to all the schools. Chairperson Denahan reminded the board that at the April meeting, we discussed the need for a workshop to define the responsibilities of a liaison. Motion Mrs. Newton moved to hold this workshop on Thursday, July 11th, at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room A. Mr. Ehster seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 22 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 IX. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS A. Correspondence 1. Santaluces SAC Minutes of April 16, 1996 Meeting This minutes were attached to the agenda. 2. Newspaper Article of April 17, 1996, Miami Herald - "Charter Schools Bill Passes" The Recording Secretary will copy and distribute this newspaper article to the members of the board. B. Announcements 1. Representative John C. Rayson, Author of The Lottery Accountability Bill, to be guest speaker at the August 1, 1996 meeting Chairperson Denahan made this announcement. 2. Reminders Chairperson Denahan thanked all the members of the board for helping to spread the word and coordinate the School Board rally that was held last night. She appreciated Commissioner Matt Bradley for attending a PTA meeting. She advised that three members of Poinciana's PTA were there last night. Also, the Poinciana tour was a success and she was pleased to have been able to participate in that. Chairperson Denahan reminded the members of the celebration move-in at Poinciana on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Also, on June 13th at 6:30 p.m. in the Library, the City Commission is holding a workshop to discuss the high school. She asked Mr. Hawkins to let the board know when the School Board is going to meet with the City Commission. Chairperson Denahan advised that since Paulette Burdick was unable to attend our May 23 MEETING MINUTES EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 6, 1996 meeting, she will be speaking to us about "children first" at a later date. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Eve Eubanks Recording Secretary (Two Tapes) 24