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The School District of Lee County will not share voter-approved sales tax venue earmarked for new schools and other infrastructure improvements with the city of Cape Coral.
A letter of request asking for a portion of the half-cent sales tax for the City of Cape Coral Municipal Charter School sent to the school district in July was addressed by the school board Tuesday afternoon
By a 5-2 consensus, the board instructed Board Attorney Kathy Dupuy-Bruno to draft a letter to the city to decline the half-cent sales tax share. The drafted letter is to come back before the board for further discussion and adoption prior to its submission to the city.
Board members Gwyn Gittens and Mary Fischer dissented on the decision, stating they needed more information.
The city formally outlined its request on July 9.
"We are aware that even though the City of Cape Coral’s municipal charter schools are considered 'public schools' the school district has no obligation at this time to share the revenues from the current half-cent sales tax with the 23 charter schools in Lee County. On behalf of the four schools within the City of Cape Coral's Municipal Charter School System, we are asking the school board consider doing so," the letter signed by Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter states.
Gunter said as far as he knows, the city did not hear from anyone with the school district when the half-cent sales tax referendum was discussed. He pointed out that charter schools are classified as public schools and the district does have the opportunity to share the money raised from the sales tax.
Among the issues, according to District officials, are two things: one, the resolution brought to voters countywide when the half-cent local option tax was proffered and charter school capital funding, which the city already does receive.
District Chief Financial Officer Dr. Ami Desamours said the half-cent sales tax resolution did not specifically include charter schools.
Desamours said one of the reasons they did not include charter schools is many such systems do not own their own buildings.
"The state provides PECO (Public Education Capital Outlay) dollars to charters, which is another form of capital," she said, adding the schools have received that funding since 2018.
Between the years of 2015 to 2018, Desamours said the state provided charter schools PECO dollars ranging from $182 per student to $343. Traditional schools received capital ranging from $16 to $20 per student from the same funding source.
"So there was a wide gap from what traditional schools were receiving," Desamours said.
In addition, a law passed in 2018 mandated that school districts share their property tax dollars with charter schools where PECO dollars were not as high.
"The school district is growing at a rate of 1,400 students a year over the last five years. In that same time period charter schools population has been declining," Desamours said.
Budget Director Kelly Letcher said when the 2018 legislation passed, the PECO rates went way up for charter schools. She said it's been more than a $1.5 million every year since for the Cape Coral charter schools alone.
Letcher said they only charge the City of Cape Coral Municipal Charter School for a total of 250 students, which has put about $229,000 into their pot every year. She said their last survey showed there were 3,200 students.
Board member Cathleen O’Daniel Morgan said original estimates into new construction and maintenance were considerably lower than what the market place states.
"We may not be able to complete what we promised the public of what we could do when passed the referendum. The problem is we don’t need the seats," she said of the charter schools. "We really can’t be in the position of providing taxpayer investment in seats we don't need and probably can't use."
District staff said if the decision to share was made, they did not know how that would happen if equity were to be part of the equation.
"If the decision is made to share, we don't know how we would just share with the City of Cape Coral. Twenty-two schools qualify for charter school capital outlay. We don't know how to define the difference and not share with all," Letcher said.
In addition, Desamours said they have a sales tax plan for the next five years and will still be receiving that funding a few years after.
"Changes to this could result in additional unmet needs for our traditional schools based on how our plan is rolled out here," she said.
Cape Coral Councilmember Gloria Raso Tate, a founding member of the charter school, said she was on the council in 2005 when the school district was not able to build enough schools.
"We began our own school system. Our charter schools are considered public schools and as such have the same needs as your public schools. Charter school buildings, grounds, technology, and school buses all require regular maintenance, repair, replacement and upgrades," she said at the meeting. "Currently about 48 charter school classrooms need carpeting. We need a new air handler in the middle school and we need to purchase more buses.”
Tate went on to say that the Oasis Charter Schools have a fabulous PTO and fundraising department of parents who go out of their way to raise funds for the charter schools, and recently raised $40,000 at a golf tournament.
"These parents are working hard and not receiving any sales tax in which they are paying every day in their tax bills. Charter school students and staff have the same needs, but we are not receiving the funding. We are here to ask you to share that," she said.
Tate asked the board to reopen their minds and have a second look at the request, as they have more than 500 students on the waiting list to get into the municipal charter school system.
Charter school Superintendent Jackie Collins also spoke during public comment to share that although charter schools operate on less funding than traditional counterparts, they contribute to the academic success of students.
"We are at full capacity and have a waiting list of over 580 students. We are a prominent part of the Cape Coral community. There is not enough educational funding to meet the needs of students," Collins said. "I know we receive $1.7 million in PECO funding, the highest it has ever been, but when you consider $1.7 million divided by four schools it is not much funding."
She said with the city charter schools not able to raise taxes on their own, she simply asked the district to share a portion of the half-cent sales tax.
School board member Chris Patricca said she loves the Cape charter schools and thinks they are phenomenal and provide an outstanding service. With that said, she said they did approach the City of Cape Coral, both as individual people, elected officials and community leaders and went through a financial analysis.
"I am concerned about the lack of equity in terms of Cape Coral charter schools receiving more capital dollars than public school students receive," Patricca said.
She said she does not know how they can break a promise to the taxpayers, as the district laid out exactly what the sales tax would include, which was not funding for charter schools.
"I am not supportive of sharing the half-penny sales tax," Patricca said.
Dupuy-Bruno said the referendum was presented to the public detailing exactly what the money was to be used for, a very specific project list.
"When you pass a resolution, you have very specific projects on there. That is what the public voted on," she said. "It stands firm because that is what the public voted on."
Dupuy-Bruno said the school district would have to open sharing revenues with all of the charter schools if they decide to share the revenue.
"A charter school is a charter school. If you share the sales tax revenue with a municipal charter school, you still have to share it with the other charter schools," she said.