MCPS plan moves forward
The Marion County School Board adjusted its school staffing to manage a budget gap.
The Marion County School Board meets in the auditorium at Marion Technical Institute in Ocala. [File photo by Bruce Ackerman]
The Marion County School Board has reached consensus to move forward with the 2025-26 Central Office Staffing Plan and the five cost-saving recommendations that were made to close the anticipated staffing budget gap.
The staffing plan was adjusted after the May 22 work session and presented to the board again at the June 5 meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Theresa Boston-Ellis shared the estimated working fund balance for the 2025-26 fiscal year based on this year’s financial records.
MCPS Chief Financial Officer Theresa Boston-Ellis. [Photo courtesy Marion County Public Schools]
Boston-Ellis said the district’s predicted beginning fund balance of $66 million will help offset that gap, reducing the expected deficit to $18 million. She added that the financial team has determined $64 million in cuts are still needed to balance the budget.
“We are in unprecedented times,” board member Nancy Thrower said. “We’ve never not had a budget by now.”
Boston-Ellis said she is unnerved by that fact and noted that Marion County, along with 66 other school districts in Florida, is concerned about its funding.
One budget challenge mentioned was inflation, which is increasing the cost of school buses by $5,000 each, Boston-Ellis said.
She said recurring costs are also large expenditures, such as Safe School hardening measures of cameras and fencing, aging building upgrades and charter school capital allocations.
Historical grant funds that normally offset some high-dollar amounts have decreased significantly. The district received $87 million last year, but this year’s anticipated funds are almost back to the amount the district first accepted in 2016-17, approximately $40 million.
Boston-Ellis compared the 2024-25 and 2025-26 upcoming general fund operating budgets. She said the projected revenue will increase by $17 million, with a majority due to Family Empowerment Scholarships, while expenditures will increase by $63 million from the last fiscal year.
The large expenditure change is due to increased salaries, benefits, health insurance and retirement costs, added staffing units and the cost of two new schools.
The budget adds 206 staffer positions due to previously board-approved ratios. This means that when a certain number of students is reached a staff member is hired automatically to fill the educational gap.
Ben Whitehouse, interim deputy superintendent, listens during a Marion County School Board meeting. [File photo by Bruce Ackerman]
Deputy Superintendent Ben Whitehouse shared with the board five cost-saving measures that will be taken, and the board supported the proposals.
The first request was to release 50%, $7.4 million, of the committed fund balance; an amount the board set aside for a “rainy day,” to compensate for the budget deficit.
Secondly, removing the seven-period day that is funded at five school sites from three of those locations. This would include Horizon Academy, Liberty Middle School, and Osceola Middle School, which was approved to start this schedule for the first time in 2025-26.
Whitehouse said the seven-period schedule requires additional staff and funding that the district does not receive from the state, so 13 teachers would need to be removed to save $1.2 million.
The third proposal was to change the ratio of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) paraprofessionals.
Currently, there is one ESOL paraprofessional for every 17 students who speak a foreign language. Under this recommendation, the ratio would shift to one paraprofessional per 15 students who speak the same language, allowing for a reduction in ESOL staff and cutting the budget by $530,000.
The fourth suggestion was to adjust the ratio for the special needs paraprofessionals from one paraprofessional per two inclusion teachers to one paraprofessional per every four inclusion teachers. This would reduce 56 paraprofessional units, gaining $4.7 million in savings. Whitehouse said this does not necessarily mean cutting positions and movement to different school sites may be allowed depending on vacancies.
The final recommendation was to adjust class size ratios for teachers.
For kindergarten through third grade, the ratio would increase from one adult per 18 students to one adult per 20 students. In fourth through eighth grade, the ratio would shift from one teacher per 22 students to one adult per 24 students. In high school, the ratio would change from one adult per 25 students to one teacher per 27 students. This would reduce the need for 157 classroom teachers, saving more than $12 million.
“This is certainly not a recommendation that Dr. Brewer (Interim Superintendent Danielle Brewer) and I make lightly, as we certainly understand the implications of that,” Whitehouse said. “And having been school principals, we obviously value having as many good classroom teachers as we can and making sure that our classrooms are staffed properly to meet the needs of our students.”
Additional cost-saving measures include postponing a $2 million salary study, reducing the percentage of funds for substitute teachers and department budget cuts, estimated to be a $10 million reduction.
In a recent press release, Brewer announced districtwide leadership changes in principal positions, which will be effective July 1, 2025, pending School Board approval.
She also sent an email to school principals to pause hiring additional teachers momentarily and shared that two summer hiring events will be cancelled.
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