Seminole County school board race

In Seminole County there are three districts electing school board members this year. Here’s a look at the District 5 candidates.

Jeanne Morris is running for re-election after serving as chair and vice chair of the board during her tenure. She was named to the Florida Task Force on Public Education Funding.  On her campaign website she told potential voters, “We've accomplished so much at Seminole County Public Schools, however, there is always room for more."

Morris’ competitors are Becky Erwin and Dr. Tina Calderone.

Becky Erwin describes herself as a parent, business owner and active school volunteer. She says she is running “to bring a business perspective and fresh leadership to our school board and make Seminole County Schools even better.”

Dr. Tina Calderone is the Former Executive Director of The Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools. She tells voter she is running for District 5, “Because I believe our schools are our most important local resource.

News 13 asked the candidates for insight on the following issues. Morris did not respond to repeated messages and phone calls.

Do you support the proposed sales tax increase for schools?

Erwin : I do not support the sales tax increase.  Now is not the right economic time to ask our families for more money, our families who are struggling every day.

Calderone: While I agree to go to the voters and feel our students deserve the revenue, I would have preferred to wait a year to ask the voters with the county and cities on another ballot. Of the revenue the school system is hoping to raise through this initiative, approximately ¼ will go to technology and ¾ will go to construction and security.  We must provide the technology to our students for them to succeed in this global economy and we must provide a safe, secure and healthy building environment to allow for learning.

With or without that money how do you plan to balance the budget?

Calderone: As a school board, we must balance the budget.  It is my hope that the citizens of Seminole County will agree that a quality school system is the biggest economic driver for success in the county.  Families choose to move to Seminole because of our high quality schools and businesses choose to relocate and open here because of our schools.  Our property values remain higher than surrounding counties

Erwin: I want to implement zero based budgeting and push our administrators to examine and justify every expenditure every year.

Do you feel Seminole County is poised in a proper position for Race to the Top funding? Is that the proper initiative to be seeking?

Erwin: I do not support Race to the Top. I oppose federal and state unfunded mandates.

Calderone: In concept I agree with any plan to help increase graduation rates, help our struggling schools and reward our top teachers.  The problem is that the devil is always in the details.  SCPS signed the agreement to consider joining the state in its quest for funding.  If the state of Florida is awarded this funding I would be very hesitant to accept them without full investigation.  I would want buy in from all stakeholders and be assured this was not another unfunded mandate. Given the current environment I am sure we will be visiting the issue of merit pay and increased standards for graduation in some way, shape or form.  I just don’t want to give away our ability to have a voice.

What is the biggest issue facing Seminole County Schools and students today?

Calderone: Funding.  We are about to face the largest funding cliff in education in our generation.  We must comply with class size amendment with the need to hire at least an additional 112 teachers, we have lost over $51 million in capital outlay funding in the past two years, property values have dropped leaving us with less revenue in property taxes and lastly the poor national economy has hit our state hard -in part due to the tourist industry and the oil spill crisis.

Erwin: Dedicated and consistent funding is our biggest issue in addition to improving communication between the school board, parents and the community.