One item conspicuously absent from the School Board's agenda this month: the vote on the layoff of 96 capital project managers, 71 administrative assistants, and some 280 Information Technology specialists, 200 of whom will be rehired on temporary, one-year contracts...much like SB 736 would do to us if we lost our contracts. Confronting the budget cuts ahead, will Miami-Dade go the route of Broward and lay off several hundred teachers, only to rehire them before school starts? Only now, thanks to SB 736, they would be hired on annual contracts at whatever the new annual contract salary schedule says they should be making.
This item passed on consent agenda through committee meetings prior to the general School Board meeting, undoubtedly to minimize protest and to save board members face in personally discussing the fates of the affected employees.
Will there be any transparency in the process, a public forum, when and if the administration asks the Board to lay off teachers?
H-25: Showdown with the Office of the Inspector General over raises
Board member Carlos Curbelo introduced "good cause" item H-25, asking the Office of the Inspector General to reduce charges and rates for services, after examining salary increases among OIG staff that he says are inconsistent with the current District administration's human resources compensation and procurement policies. This led to a quite lengthy debate between the School Board and the Inspector General, Chris Mazzella, over whether or not the OIG should be considered a "vendor" and whether the salaries were out of line with the district's salary policies.
Dr. Feldman said that he could not come to UTD and tell us that he could not approve our raises if he had agreed to OIG raises.
"I don't think we lose anything by sitting down and talking. We are partners in this venture, and anytime that one partner is upset it doesn't hurt to sit down and talk," said Curbelo.
The item passed 8 to 1, with Raquel Regalado voting against it after the failure of her amendment to push the conversation back sixty days to see who the new mayor would be and what the odds of renegotiation would be at that time.
It was reported afterward that Mr. Mazzella's salary is $234,000. The county pays the salary; the district pays a reimbursement for fringes and additions to his salary. Including everything his salary and benefits come out to $317,000.
In item E-66, the School Board discussed the opening of a new medical clinic in Miami Jackson Senior High School, operated by Cigna Onsite Health, LLC, to provide basic medical services for students and employees who may not be getting adequate primary care. Renier Diaz de la Portilla voted against it.
Board member Raquel Regalado introduced an item that accepted donations through Leadership Miami to build a new playground for Citrus Grove Elementary. The donations came through several private donors. As required by Leadership Miami, $606 of the donations went to the Miami Greater Chamber of Commerce as an "administrative fee" for handling the donations.
Apparently even charitable donations are not exempt from the long arm of the Chamber of Commerce, which has worked actively to support anti-union legislation, from SB 736 to SB 830.
H-19: Suing BP?
Raquel Regalado brought forth an item asking the School Board to join a lawsuit against BP for the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, should Florida file it, so that if Florida gets any money from it the schools can possibly recoup any losses they may have faced. "It would be a zero cost for Miami-Dade County School Board to join this litigation, as the cost would be rolled into the contingency."
Renier Diaz de la Portilla asked the School Board Attorney if this case would be something that would have to be supervised, or if it would just be turned over to the law firm Morgan & Morgan.
"This item wavers from our educational mission. We're now becoming plaintiffs in a lawsuit. That's my first concern. My second concern is that I fail to see the nexus between what happened in the Gulf Coast and how that has affected our district."
Regalado clarified her case: "I think it's imperative in these financial times for us to secure our position in every way possible. This isn't the first time I've asked us to join a lawsuit. There is an issue about the time-sensitive nature of this. So many of the issues we're dealing with from Tallahassee are from a decrease in sales tax revenue and tourism. Obviously once we enter into the lawsuit we'll be able to talk about the litigation strategy, but the way that our funding paradigm works, we've been very impacted by what occurred during that period. Specifically, what this lawsuit looks at is the loss in revenue in sales tax and also the long-term effects that it had. There is lots of evidence from the Miami Board of Tourism that people believed what was happening in the panhandle was also happening in South Florida. There was an impact on tourism. In the panhandle there was reemployment of a lot of people by BP who were unemployed due to the oil spill, but that didn't happen in South Florida. We're joining an existing lawsuit."
Diaz de la Portilla countered, "I don't see what our standing would be in this case. I see Florida joining it and putting that money in the general fund and redistributing it. I see this as unnecessary litigation. There is always a cost involved, through the School Board Attorney's office. He doesn't have a very large staff; there's just enough to deal with the enormous caseload he already has. It's a very hard case to prove. How do you prove that a drop in tourism was due to the oil spill and not a declining economy? How do we prove that this district was harmed by it? If we had some kind of statewide funding system that would directly benefit us, then maybe you could make this case. I see this as a specious argument as best."
Regalado responded: "There's been lots of discussion. I understand the hesitation by different boards, but at the same time, a lot of the school boards I've spoken to are interested in joining. As the fourth largest school district in the country, because of our size, even a small drop in revenue represents a lot of money for us. I would ask you not to be so myopic about the evidence. Experts do what they do, there are lots of plaintiffs involved, there are lots of findings, there are lots of interests, we would be just one more plaintiff."
The deadline for joining the lawsuit is April 20.
The School Board Attorney said, "Our office has not performed an independent evalulation of the claims; the law firm of Morgan & Morgan has done an independent evaluation of these claims and they have that information, but I have not evaluated it."
Diaz de la Portilla went on: "I don't want to be in the role of ambulance chasing. I think it's a specious argument. I don't think it's meritorious; I really don't. I can't support this item."
Regalado countered, "The court set a deadline of April 20 for parties to join; the trial is set for February 2012." Morgan & Morgan has already paid for the expert advice.
Board member Dr. Marta Perez said, "It's my understanding that an expert economist said that school districts have a great opportunity. Why have only two school districts joined if that's true?"
Regalado responded, "I've only met with the districts in the tri-county area and they are interested."
Marta Perez asked how many plaintiffs were currently litigants.
Regalado replied, "Right now, there's a few more that joined today--we have Polk, Leon, Martin, Lee and Volusia--those are the school boards that have authorized it. I think we're over 35. That's Florida. There are also Louisiana plaintiffs."
Perez continued: "The only downside if we decide to join would be that our attorney has to supervise...how much is that going to cost the district in time, or are we going to have to hire a special outside person to monitor that...?"
The School Board Attorney, Mr. Harvey, answered: "We at least touch bases with them once a month, sometimes more often depending on the complexity of the case, and we usually have quarterly reports."
Perez concluded, "Given that times are such...It doesn't seem to me that it's a great burden on his office. Given our economic situation, we probably won't recover a great--we probably won't get a lot, but if we could get something, we shouldn't leave it on the table. I understand Mr. Diaz de la Portilla's point that we don't want to become ambulance chasers but it might not be a bad idea to see...it's unfortunate that there's a deadline because maybe we could have the opportunity to speak to the attorneys at Morgan & Morgan, but this is where we are I guess..."
The School Board Attorney specified, "As I indicated at committee, I think there are some pros and cons to joining the litigation but I think one of the pros that has been presented to me by the attorneys is that it is a pure contingency case. As with all litigation, there are pros and cons. The cost to us as a district would be very little. My recommendation is that we should strongly consider any revenue option that warrants it. Like I said, the Morgan & Morgan attorneys have performed an evaluation; our office has not performed that evaluation."
District CFO Dr. Richard Hinds, when asked for his evaluation of the lawsuit, replied, "I cannot determine any measurable impact to Miami-Dade County Public Schools. I have sent that memo several times. They solicited my opinion, I gave them my opinion. I cannot determine any measurable impact to Miami-Dade County Public Schools as a result of the BP oil spill."
Regalado asked him, "Have you considered--because I think it's outside of what that memo requires--the loss of revenue from sales tax?"
Hinds responded, "The memo sought my opinion of whether there was measurable impact to the district. I personally could not see any measurable impact, period."
H-19 passed 5-4, with Diaz de la Portilla, Karp, Curbelo and Perez voting no.
H-22: Challenging the findings of the US Census
Regalado then brought forth another lawsuit: challenging the results of the US Census. She says that the findings endanger Title I, II and III status.
Diaz de la Portilla again challenged the merits of the case. "I don't see where we have enough evidence that we have a case. I'm willing to support this item if we get an evaluation from our attorney's office that says we have a case. Are you actually talking about sending School Board employees out in the community to do a headcount, or are we talking about partnering with some other organization to offset the cost?"
Regalado clarified: "We wouldn't do a recanvassing. The census would look at everyone in the area that had similar concerns. If our School Board Attorney sees that other municipalities in Dade County had already put in their demands, we would just endorse those. There are several cities that are actively working on their applications. I included the challenges in 2008 so you could see the impact that it had, the different municipalities that challenged it. It ended up being a 4% increase but it had a major impact on their funding. I said the School Board would not initiate litigation, we're just talking about the ministerial aspect of submitting the claim, seeing who else submits the claim, seeing if we can just ride along with an endorsement."
Diaz de la Portilla demanded, "Why is the school district well suited to do this? Isn't it the responsibility of the county?"
Regalado responded bluntly, "I have serious doubts about the leadership of Miami-Dade County. In a perfect world, I wish that every municipality that was part of Dade County would put in their claim. In these economic times it's indispensable to stake our claim."
Diaz de la Portilla shot back, "It's good to stake a valid claim; it's not good to be litigious. I don't want to spend another hour debating this item. If the county is not going to challenge this, I don't know why we should do this. I think we're ill-equipped to do this."
Regalado argued, "Regarding the leadership of the county, there's no way for us to control what the county does. I think that historically we've looked to the county for certain issues and it has not worked out. I think it's about time that, if it has an impact on our school district, which I think in this case it does, I think it's time we step in front of the issue. We can disagree ideologically on the role of the county and the school board, but what I don't see the benefit in not participating in the sense of, it's an administrative proceeding, if it is determined the count was correct, it ends. We're not going to litigate it further. If a determination is made that the count was incorrect, then we get the federal benefit of it. Given the impact it could have on our federal funding, I don't see why we wouldn't do it, just waiting for the county or every municipality to do it. I think that's something we've done historically and that's something that should change. I do believe in our leadership and in our ability to make a dramatic difference, even when other government entities can but don't."
Diaz de la Portilla said, "You don't need all 34 municipalities to do this. What are we doing here today? We're suing BP, now we're doing a census count...we're wavering way way way afield from our education mission. It just has nothing or very little to do with education and it has a cost, and we don't have the money. We're throwing things on our School Board Attorney's office; this isn't even within his expertise. There are demographic issues involved here. I think it's well-intended but this is not what we should be doing. We should be focused on education. We shouldn't be suing BP with a 0.001% chance of winning anything. We shouldn't be burdening our School Board Attorney's office with these issues. I was ready to amend your item in a way that would have been acceptable but I'm not able to support it at all anymore."
Regalado fought back. "We're just going to have to agree to disagree. I do want to respond to the nexus to education. I wish that Tallahassee saw the value of public education. I wish we got the funding we deserve. I wish we got the recognition for the job we are doing here but we're not. Earlier today we had to affect the lives of 598 employees and I don't take that lightly. I will always do what I think is necessary to make sure the district gets the money it needs. I think that there is a direct nexus to education. We are being forced by Tallahassee and by our circumstance to go a little beyond what we're accustomed to. It's not something we do lightly but I do think it is something that is necessary so that if we are in a position where we have to affect the classroom, we can do it knowing that we've done everything in our power to prevent it. And that's why I brought these items."
The room erupted in applause, but Ms. Hantman reminded the audience not to clap.
Board member Dr. Tee Holloway then spoke up. "I applaud Ms. Regalado for thinking outside of the box. This forum that we use now as we go through our agenda items certainly is where we should be, but this is not the court of law that we're having this kind of debate on particular items. Either we've got to set aside time for workshops like we used to do, to try to address these items, because it's difficult to focus and to spend the amount of time that we've spent on the podium today on one item, now two items, and we have two more to go, all relating to outside the box thinking. We've got to find ways to address these issues in a timely manner, and I don't think we are there today."
Hantman said, "We meet once a month; the meetings are shorter than they've been in a long, long time; I always like to treat my Board with the respect that as elected officials they deserve. Yes, it's lengthy, yes I get tired too, but I should allow them all to speak. I think it's the appropriate thing to do to allow our Board members to speak. I had a problem with receiving this item at 9:45 AM. I almost didn't accept this item but I decided to accept it, but I hope it never happens again. Mr. Harvey, exactly how much do we stand to gain relative to the cost?"
Mr. Harvey said he did not know.
Board member Dr. Martin Karp then spoke up. "My concern with this item, as with the last item, is that we've been on the other end of things where we've been sued, and a lot of these things are out of our hands. What goes around comes around. I'm very cautious in engaging in matters where we're going through legal avenues, but with that said I'm going to listen to what the amendments are."
Hantman proposes an amendment that the school district would just endorse a challenge that the county or other municipalities are pursuing.
The amended item passed unanimously.
A-1: Superintendent's announcements
Dr. Richard Hinds spoke to the budget: "The conference will not begin until after the holidays. The Board will recall the House and Senate positions are the same as before the Board briefing. In the Senate instead of a flat 3% employee contribution, there is a staggered contribution. We will be facing a $12 million increase in medical insurance costs.With no change to the program, no change in terms of cost-shifting, we're facing a solid 9% increase in self-insured insurance costs."
School Board lobbyist Iraida Mendez discussed different positions on funding issues. "The House's position for School Recognition is a lower dollar amount, meaning there would be more money to boost the per-student base allocation, so this is our preferred option. Under the Senate position, there is a requirement to use supplemental dollars for D and F schools to have an extended day. It is not included in the House version so we support that version. HB281/SB880, the Value Adjustment Board Bill, could mitigate the damage. We're still pushing that, we've identified vehicles where we could be able to tag it onto a moving bill.
HB1255/SB1696 Accountability would change the threshold and require a minimum reading proficiency of 30% or else a school would automatically get an F."
More good news on the homefront...(sarcasm). Yet again the state sets public schools up for failure, through simultaneously raising the bar, moving the target and slashing the budget.
Term limits for School Board members?
Raquel Regalado introduced an item that would ask for an analysis of governance changes for the School Board, including creating term limits.
Diaz de la Portilla said that this was not a new thing, that this was something that had been "brung" up before (his words), that they would put it on the agenda. He had some biting words for Regalado. "It is not responsible as an elected official to conduct business this way. We have conducted our business in a responsible way. I can offer a friendly amendment to put this on our legislative agenda. On this board, we have seven members who have been here less than eight years. I think you're applying these broad brush strokes to everyone here. Your intentions appear to be good but if you keep doing these things over and over again, I have to question whether you are ready to work in a collegial environment."
Regalado responded, "I'm grateful for your advice though a little wary of the paternalistic nature of it. I'm very aware that term limits would require a constitutional amendment. The item requests an overall analysis of all governmance changes by our attorney and recommendations as to the implementation of those, which include term limits, which include countywide representation. It is a comprehensive look at governance changes so that they may report back to this board, as an entire board, so that we may discuss changes. Given what is occurring not only in Miami-Dade County but in our state, that this is a necessary exercise. I respectfully decline your amendment. I do not want Tallahassee to tell us how to govern ourselves. If as a board we decide that whether it's term limits or district representation, we seek to put it on our legislative agenda, if that's the best way to do it, but it may not be the best way to do it...I want to clarify, as the item states, I think it's important to discuss this now. The bill has support in the House. It has been put on the agenda for discussion for April 14 in the Senate; it's moving. It's not just about term limits. I'm asking for governance changes overall, which include district-wide representation, which include different issues. Term limits is just one--I'll strike that if it will make you feel better."
Perez said, "We've taken those votes before and I've been supportive of it. The problem is that there's something wrong with the Board--if you wanted to do something, maybe the governance structure in Tallahassee--what's wrong with them? I think that would be a good cause item, not this."
Regalado replied, "We have no control over the structure of governance in Tallahassee. This is just to give us an overall idea of the changes in governance structure. It lays the foundation for a conversation that we should have because we're the ones best positioned to have it. It really bothers me when in Tallahassee and in our community people are speaking to what's best for school board governance. We have already taken a position, despite the position we have taken as a Board, it is moving."
Curbelo responded: "When we talk about Tallahassee it's important to distinguish there are some people in Tallahassee who do try to do the right thing. I remain somewhat confident that it is not going to pass, based on conversations with leaders in both chambers, but we have discussed what we would do if it does pass, and we have looked at all options. On items where there are legal implications, I really think we need memoranda from our School Board Attorney; we need to put them through the process. I can see myself supporting this item, but after it's been vetted, after the different angles have been explained to us. If you bring good cause items that have legal implications that we have not had the chance to discuss extensively, it is going to be very difficult for me to support them. So a lot of these are good ideas, but until we develop a less chaotic process for considering items that are sometimes complicated, I am not going to feel comfortable supporting them."
Holloway came to Regalado's defense: "I feel compelled to give my legal opinion, because the item simply says to direct the attorney to explore the process to implement...that's all it begins by saying. It doesn't say we have term limits, we don't have term limits, we will have governance...it only says explore the process to implement. When he gives us that information, we should be able to have that discussion and strategies and implement whatever we think is necessary as a board. That's why I support the item. All the other ramifications, we haven't even gotten to that yet, but thank you so much for bringing this."
Karp agreed. "I support the item for the same reason as Dr. Holloway. I think the action proposed is very clear."
Feldman added: "A couple of comments. The first one would be, you are the chair of the board, you are elected by us because we had faith in you; if you decide to have a good cause item five minutes before the meeting starts, you have a good reason for that and I trust you enough to believe you do what you think is correct. You have my support on this; I wish it were even broader. I think it should be more than legal issues, it should be a best practices issue."
Diaz de la Portilla quickly asked: "Is there anything in HB307 or SB778 about term limits?"
Iraida Mendez replied that there were no term limits in the bill.
Diaz de la Portilla said, "As a courtesy to Regalado, I make a motion we debate it in committee, maybe there we can come up with the best way of proposing this, but this is not a properly placed good cause item on the agenda; this has nothing to do with the Senate bill, the House bill, they do not talk about term limits."
All members except Regalado voted in favor of the motion to defer the item to the next meeting.
The air got tense between Regalado and Diaz de la Portilla when she proposed a 5-year ban on lobbying by School Board members once they are out of office. Diaz de la Portilla continued to say that Regalado was introducing items the wrong way.
The item failed 6 to 3.
Public hearing: SB 830 is designed to silence us.
UTD Vice President Artie Leichner followed up with a reference to Poetry Month even as warning legislators working against public schools: "Everyone here is waiting for the tolling of the bell and the terrifying announcement that service is no longer needed. The security monitor, the clerical, the paraprofessional, the guidance counselors and the teachers, all waiting for the Tallahassee bus to roll over them. Tell your legislators that 2012 is coming, and it's their turn to listen for the bell."
