Guest column: FSDB should comply with interlocal process

Guest column: FSDB should comply with interlocal process

By S. Walter Sauls
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/16/03

Open letter to Education Commissioner Jim Horne:

Dear Mr. Horne:

For more than three years the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind has pursued a quest to incorporate a city block of taxable historic St Augustine real estate into its campus infrastructure.

Our mayor, with the unanimous backing of our City Commission, recently sent you a letter outlining the city's concerns and asking for intervention in hopes of delaying the project long enough for good sense and rational planning to enter the equation. As an individual citizen I am asking you to intervene now.

Last year the Attorney General for Florida notified our city that FSDB qualifies as a school district and must interact with us through the "interlocal agreement" process. In response the school has accorded itself a special exemption and ignored the interlocal requirement.

The St. Johns County School District is having open discussions with the county concerning a new high school proposed at a sensitive site. Shouldn't the city of St. Augustine be afforded the same consideration? The law says "yes."

The FSDB board says "no." Even if an interlocal agreement process were not mandated by statute, wouldn't it make sense to fully vet the school's plans in order to gain local support?

The board of FSDB has shared little to none of their plans for the next five years with the city, county or local citizenry. If the school plans to grow, then where will that growth be? Are we to have a block by block battle every few years?

Why can't a comprehensive needs and enrollment presentation be made and all alternatives reviewed with the public? It would seem to me that this approach, as laid out in statute, would save lots of attorney fees.

The sad fact is that this FSDB board unlike its predecessors is not interested in balancing growth and harmony.

Just a week ago the FSDB board voted to proceed with construction plans despite a zoning denial by the city Planning and Zoning board. Dr. Bill Proctor is again advising the board to move forward. Could it be more obvious that the city, neighborhoods and regulatory boards are against further expansion into city neighborhoods?

The Board of Trustees, the president and Dr. Proctor refuse to consider any models for growth other than the destruction of neighborhoods.

Why is that? For that matter, why is Dr. Proctor advising the FSDB board rather than the Department of Education staff? I would suggest to you that there are other motives at work. Why would an independent living facility for adults need to be next door to the main campus?

Harvey Simms of our Planning and Zoning board put it best when considering the proposed rezoning. "The city's tax base cannot continue to afford uncontrolled expansion by nontaxpaying institutions. If left unchecked the FSDB and Flagler College would be fighting for the last piece of taxable real estate between them. Would the last taxpayer in the city please turn out the lights?"

We have been told by President Dillingham that the reason for this expansion is to comply with the new requirements of IDEA and FAPE. Your office has told us that there is no provision in either requiring housing of 18 to 22 year olds.

Why has your office not clarified this issue on a statewide basis? If the FSDB proceeds with free housing for 18 to 22 year olds, parents in other school districts will charge that the state is discriminating against their children by not offering equal treatment.

Better yet, what would it cost the state if a parent prevailed in the quest to house all students that receive a less than standard diploma? The state now has more than 15,000 of these older students in all school districts.

Mr. Horne, a little collaboration, flexibility and public input might create a win-win for all.

If the school is to grow, alternate strategies must be considered, and they must be considered before we build on the land under dispute.

It makes no sense to build housing for 48 when housing needs for hundreds might be on the horizon. Let's have a growth strategy for five years nailed down and agreed to by the City Commission before we turn a stone.

We have a rich and diverse educational system in our county, but we also have a fragile tax base and beautiful old historic neighborhoods.

The purpose of interlocal agreements are to allow the best ideas and compromises to float to the top. It is a process not a document. If properly used interlocal agreements prevent a single-minded strategy from dominating planning. Please help us make collaboration and review a cultural capstone for the FSDB board.

Mr. Horne please stop the FSDB board and force them to comply with the interlocal process as all of the other school districts are required to do. Actions taken today cannot be undone in the future.


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