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By Patricia Hawke
Since the year 2000 when the Martinez Doctrine was promoted by
the Orange County School District, of which Orlando schools is
a part, and adopted by Orange County as a planning tool,
problems have been building between the schools and the
developers across the county. The Martinez Doctrine ensures
that growth cannot take place if it overcrowds a current
school
or near an already overcrowded school. For the Orlando
schools,
their adversary is the Metro Orlando Home Builders Association
(MOHBA).
Further strain was put on this tense relationship by the
state’s growth management law, which requires an
infrastructure
be in place to take care of new residents needs, such as
non-overcrowded schools, roads, police, fire and so on, before
development can commence. This slowdown of growth is good for
the Orlando schools, allowing them an opportunity to catch up
to the current level of growth and development.
In 2002, a halfpenny sales tax for Orange County and the
Orlando schools was passed to provide $2 billion over a
13-year
period. The plan was to build 25 new schools and renovate 136.
According to the MOHBA, only three renovations will be
completed by the end of 2006 at the cost of $50 million; and
several renovation projects now have been converted to
building
replacements.
According to the Orlando schools, building and renovation
efforts have been hampered by the state’s class size amendment
law, soaring construction and labor costs (which are expected
to double), and state requirements for extensive background
checks of construction laborers, which holds up building
permits from three-to-six months. The class size amendment hit
the hardest. The original plan was to eliminate the portable
classroom buildings with new construction. The amendment
created a need for 32 new schools instead of 25. In the
meantime, it means seven additional portables at every
elementary Orlando schools, putting the schools plan in chaos,
taking money away from new construction and renovation funding
to purchase additional portables, and increasing the number of
Orlando schools students in portables to 40 percent.
The MOABA is charging that the school board is sitting on
unused money, due to poor financial management. The
association
says that 10 new schools were not built and renovations not
made
for this reason.
According to the Orlando schools, the funding was separated by
the district schools by applying the halfpenny sales tax money
to renovations and ad valorem funding to new construction. (Ad
valorem is bondable revenue funding for new construction,
based
on the year-to-year difference in taxes collected.)
Kirk Sorenson, president of Government Solutions, a consulting
firm hired by the association, says that the school district
had $22.5 million in ad valorem taxes and $282 million in
unexpended sales tax revenue not being used. According to
Orlando schools, much of this money is not yet received but
expected over the next few years.
The MOHBA has proposed a new plan to expedite new building and
renovation construction for the Orlando schools, called the
School Express. Though hiring the consulting firm and
proposing
the plan comes from self-preservation (many developers are
leaving for friendlier-building areas in the state), the plan
has its merits and could enhance the Orlando schools current
program.
If the two groups can be brought together, the School Express
will allow the following:
• Approved developers will borrow money for new school
construction from local banks, extending a line of credit to
the Orlando schools, who will pay them back as the money is
received from state taxes;
• Developers will get fast-track permitting for the Orlando
schools construction, and
• They will build each school within two years.
The school district held only one informal meeting on the
proposal and may convene a panel to review it and make
recommendations to the district’s board. Orlando schools will
surely participate in the process.
If the district approves the Express program, further approval
will be required by the city of Orland, Orange County, and
various other municipalities. If they do not approve it, the
efforts made by the MOHBA at least opens dialog with the
Orlando schools about solving the school construction problem.
About The Author: Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools
K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and
private K-12 schools. For more on Orlando schools visit
www.schoolsk-12.com/Florida/Orlando/index.html
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