Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia says his Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, or FAFO, will soon begin to audit school districts. Previously, audits were focused on local government spending.
Ingoglia also proposed legislation that would formally establish FAFO in Florida statute and give the office greater oversight into local government spending.
The move to focus on schools comes amidst widespread funding problems in Central Florida's K-12 school districts.
Ingoglia says he's already had conversations with stakeholders and the Florida Department of Education about the methodology his office can use for school audits.
"School districts are some of the most wasteful spenders in government, and they also make up some of the largest portion of your property tax bill. We should not hold them harmless for wasteful and excessive spending," Ingoglia said.
Orange County schools is considering the closures of seven schools in the district due to low enrollment and a budget shortfall. Ingoglia is calling that plan to close the schools, "scare tactics."
"So if you think about it, if the school population, students are going down, why are their budgets continuing going up? Doesn't make sense. It will make sense after we start shining a light on their excessive spending," Ingoglia said.
But the district says a combination of factors including low birthrates, under enrollment, and the voucher program, not fiscal irresponsibility, are to blame.
In fact, the district currently expects to have a budget shortfall of $41 million this year alone.
At a work session earlier this week discussing the possible closures, OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez said if they don't close the schools, they would have to start cutting back on crucial services at these schools.
"So we were presented with a choice to either look at consolidating schools in order to be able to continue to provide supports, programs and services to all of our children, or look at reducing the number of programs and support at these under enrolled schools," Vazquez said.
She also said the district would have to consider layoffs of teachers and other staff, if schools aren't closed.
"One at first glance, might say, well, you know, we really love our school, and we can run the school, maybe without an assistant principal, without a guidance counselor, without a media specialist, just to name a few of the positions that we would need to look at eliminating, however that would put those schools in further decline or offering more opportunities for families to leave, because those services would be available at neighboring schools," Vazquez said.
Earlier this fall, Central Florida Public Media reported that every district in Central Florida but one had experienced under enrollment this fall compared with last.
And a recent audit of the state's universal voucher program found problems with bookkeeping, especially when students returned to public school from a private one, which led to funding inequities in some public schools.
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