The Leon County School Board’s latest meeting covered a range of topics beyond the budget, including GED programs, administrative staffing, teacher compensation, and academic progress across the district.
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Leon County School Board discusses GED programs, teacher pay, and school grade improvements
The board welcomed its newest student representative, Rylee Gautney, who highlighted growing student interest in GED programs as a pathway to careers.
“People, not only at Leon High School but other high schools across the district, see that if you want to do a sort of hands-on job or career, that GED is the fastest way to get you there, and it’s just a fast track to start their life,” Gautney said.
Board members also discussed reconsidering how the district labels students who leave high school without a diploma, particularly those who go on to earn degrees or credentials through programs like Lively Technical College.
“I don’t really even like that word ‘dropout.’ They’re really withdrawing to go to career technical education. I’ve told that story about the kid that was at Leon, left his junior year to go to Lively, to pursue a degree or plumbing certification and a GED. And to Rylee’s point, there may be a number of students now that are bypassing the traditional high school experience and moving in that direction,” Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna said.
The estimated budget also prompted questions about teacher pay and staffing. Leon County Classroom Teachers Association President Scott Mazur questioned whether the district is investing enough in its classrooms.
“Does the budget provide the staffing that students need? Does it provide the compensation and recruiting and retaining of great educators? Does it provide the support necessary for those educators to succeed?” Mazur asked.
Hanna said the district is taking those concerns seriously and is reviewing its administrative staffing decisions.
“Those were done for reasons that we felt like schools needed a little more administrative support. We now understand that it’s become an issue and are looking to address that issue, but just wholeheartedly, we have not changed our philosophy when it came to staffing administrative positions in our schools,” Hanna said.
On a positive note, district leaders recognized principals and their staff for helping students improve their grades. District leaders say the 2025-2026 school year had the largest number of school grade improvements in Leon County Schools.
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