Bay District Schools – Up to 600 layoffs possible for 19/20 School Year

Panama City, Florida – Today, Superintendent William Husfelt held a press conference to plead for additional funding from state and federal legislators. According to Husfelt, if Bay District Schools does not receive an additional $24.8 million for next school year, then they will have to consider laying off up to 600 employees before the start of the 19/20 school year.

Bay District Schools had several community leaders who came to support the Superintendent at his press conference today in an effort to raise awareness. His hope is that every parent and student in the community, in addition to all of the concerned citizens, will reach out to the legislators who can help pass funding to help local school system that were heavy affected by Hurricane Michael. 

The following video was of today’s Press Conference.

Superintendent Husfelt sent an email out to District Employees before he held a Press Conference. This is a copy of the email letter sent out.

Respectfully, I wanted you to know that our press conference today at 2:00 p.m. will be recorded and sent to you in its entirety. We had to take advantage of the best time to gather the media outlets to make sure we would have the greatest impact, but regret that this time slot precludes your attendance.

You may hear some disturbing information on the news tonight and I want to make sure you hear it first, from me, as accurately as possible.

Despite all of my favorable feedback in the beginning, it seems our request for additional funding from the state AND federal governments for next school year (based upon our pre-storm enrollment) is going nowhere. I am extremely frustrated at the lack of “buy in” from state and federal legislators from both parties and I’m desperately now calling for the Governor to simply intervene on our behalf. Please note, however, that Representative Trumbull, Senator Gainer and Congressman Dunn have done, and continue to do, all they can … it’s just not up to them and they can’t do it by themselves.

Bay County is a strong, proud community and there’s not another group of people more willing to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” than those who call our community home. However, we have got to have some additional help in the form of funding for the recovery of our schools because, without it, the future does not look nearly as bright as I once thought it did.

This isn’t about money for trees or debris removal (although both are very important), it’s about funding for people, for our way of life, for the ability to take care of our storm-traumatized children and adults the way that we should. A strong educational system is critical to any community and we need legislators to fully fund our schools, and the recovery of our entire community, if we’re truly going to bounce back from this storm better than we were before. We are an economic driver in this community and our success becomes everyone’s success.

Without an additional $24.8 million in funding for next school year (to hold us harmless for the temporary loss of students), we are looking at having to take DRASTIC measures such as a district-wide reduction in force that could eliminate close to 600 jobs. In total, we are looking at an immediate shortfall of $12.4 million for this year and then $24.8 million for next year. There’s a bill pending that includes the $12.4 million currently BUT there’s nothing that we can see that addresses the $24.8 million desperately needed for next school year.

We are currently Bay County’s largest employer and that responsibility is not lost on us. A lot of families depend upon us for employment, for the money to take care of their families and for the funds to continue their recovery process. If we have to lay off 600 employees, the impact will be felt far and wide in our community and it will not help recovery. Our children have already suffered so much loss as a result of the storm. Losing teachers they love, and who love them, along with administrators and support staff upon whom they count will be yet another devastating blow to our youngest citizens.

The staggering number of students who have recently been baker acted is a very sad illustration of the true impact of this storm. In the past 25 school days, 44 students have been baker acted for their own safety and wellbeing. We are doing all we can to support our students, and employees, but it’s obvious that what we’re doing isn’t enough. And that’s why we’ve got to get some assistance. We have asked both state and federal legislators for more money for mental health resources but, to date, have not received what we need.

I wish I had better news. I wish I could tell you that our needs, and the needs of our people, were on the forefront of the minds of those called to make decisions on our behalf in Tallahassee and Washington. The truth is, however, that we appear to have been forgotten by most and our children and our families are not a priority for those who have the ability to give us what we need to recover from this devastation. Representative Trumbull, Senator Gainer and Congressman Dunn have worked tirelessly on our behalf but they need our support and assistance.

Given our dire situation, and the fact that we are trying to save jobs and salaries, we have instituted a district-wide spending freeze. Only essential purchases may be approved and all of those must be approved by a cost center manager. All other spending is frozen and this includes typical year-end closing of funds and budgets. It saddens me to have to take these measures but, unless something changes, we’re in trouble financially as a result of the far-reaching impact of Hurricane Michael and we are going to struggle to recover by ourselves.

I’ve been told that our state government has almost $6 BILLION in a “rainy day” fund. If this isn’t a “rainy day” then I just really don’t know what is. We need funding assistance and it appears that funding exists and I can’t for the life of me understand why those who can make the choice to help us won’t or can’t do so.

Many people have asked me what they can do to help and the truth is that nothing short of intervention by Governor DeSantis (and/or action in Washington, D.C.) is going to help us at this point. I implore you to contact the legislators highlighted on the attachment to this email to let them know how you feel and what you’d like them to do for us. You’ll also find attached a one-page fact sheet that outlines the crux of the funding issue and what we need to fix it.

We’ve been #850Strong since the beginning of this storm and I have been so proud of the resiliency of our students, teachers, administrators and support staff and, really, our entire community. We have worked together like never before to restore, recover and rebuild but we need help. I don’t think for one second that money can fix everything that has happened to us but without the right funds being channeled towards our needs, our recovery process will be slower and even more painful than it has to be. We need our school system to be fully funded for the next school year to keep the stability in our community and we need your help to make that happen!

Respectfully,

Bill Husfelt