Leon County School Board discusses possession of a charter school building and the budget ahead of Tuesday’s board meeting.
Superintendent Rocky Hanna wants to file a complaint against the owner of the Renaissance Academy, Charter USA, over the possession of the property. The Leon County School budget has been drafted for the upcoming year, it will be discussed at Tuesday’s board meeting. Watch the video to hear more about the agenda items for Tuesday’s meeting.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Leon County School Board in discussion over the Renaissance Academy Charter School Building that closed at the end of the 2024/25 school year.
Attorney for the District, David Willis, said ownership of the property and its furnishings should be transferred to the district.
Willis said CharterUSA, who owns Renaissance Academy, said there are liens, but he added that details of these have not been provided.
Superintendent Rocky Hanna wants to file a complain with the Leon County court to ask who is entitled to immediate possession of the property, worth anywhere between $9 and $16 million.
School Board members are divided over the decision, with some worried about the cost following recent budget worries.
“Not willing to invest in this time of money in a lawsuit where I feel like we’re fighting a losing battle,” said Board Member Alva Swafford Smith.
With others unsure but wanting to find out more information in discovery.
“I don’t know if what we will recoup is equal to what we potentially may spend or the liens that have been levied against that property,” said Board Member Marcus Nicolas.
Up next at Monday’s discussion, the tentative budget for the upcoming school year.
To make the budget balanced, Hanna said they had to use capital outlay funds to pay for bus driver salaries to make up fro the $6 million short fall, a move he said he didn’t want to make because they can’t play that card again next year.
“If the legislature comes back again this year and keeps us at level funding and we have an increase in expenses there’s nothing else we can do except for cutting programs,” said Hanna.
On top of using capital outlay funds, Hanna said they’ve made cuts including reducing district costs by 10%, freezing positions that have been vacant for 6 months, and freezing positions of people that have resigned.
Hanna said while they can breathe a sigh of relief this year, knowing they can keep staff, he said the worst is yet to come.
“Moving forward over the course of this year, we’re going to have to identify again internally how we can cut five or six million dollars more to accommodate for what we know is going to be a revenue shortfall next fall,” said Hanna.
These items will be discussed at Tuesday’s Board meeting that begins at 6pm.
Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website.
Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.