School Board Audit and Budget Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Welcome to the July 28th School Board Audit and Budget Advisory Committee meeting. Could we start with introductions?

Walter Harvey, General Counsel. Ron Steiger, CFO.

Jose Bueno, Chief of Staff.

We have Mr. Norwood.

He's not outside. Juan D'Arce, ABAC member.

Blanca Malagon, ABAC member.

Jerry Donatas, ABAC committee member.

My name is Beverly and I represent area three, Joe Gala.

Sharon Watson, committee member.

Anthony Atala, ABAC vice chair.

John Goodman, chief auditor. Good afternoon, everyone. It's nice to see everyone.

Norwood, if you want to introduce.

Christopher Norwood, ABAC member.

Thank you, everybody. Welcome. The second item on the agenda is the approval of this meeting's agenda. Mr. Goodman, are there anything to add to your knowledge?

No.

Do I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda? Second. Second. ALL THOSE IN AGREEMENT RESPOND BY SAYING AYE. AYE. MOTION PASSES. THIRD ITEM ON THE AGENDA, ITEM NUMBER 3, APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE SCHOOL BOARD AUDIT AND BUDGET ADVISORY MEETING OF MAY 19, 2026. DO I HAVE A MOTION?

SO MOVED.

ANY SECOND? SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR RESPOND WITH AYE. MOTION PASSES. Agenda item number four, the presentation of the fiscal year 2026-27 executive summary tentative budget. Mr. Goodman.

Through the chair, Mr. Ron Steiger is going to present this. This is his last ABAC meeting. The district is losing him. I've really appreciated and enjoyed working with him over many years, and I wish him luck in his new position. With that, I'll turn it over to, through the chair, Mr. Steiger for the presentation.

Okay.

Hello, everyone. So, yes, I am. This is my last ABAC meeting. I'm taking the position of CFO of Barry University, starting in two weeks. You know, there's never – I've learned this now – there's never really a great time to step away from MDCPS because – MDCPS never stops being very interesting, and there's always another issue that we're dealing with, always another struggle. And I looked back for decades, so Dr. Hines, when he was this... I read this presentation he gave in 1991, when, by the way, we were... The district was thriving in terms of number of students, but yet still things were extremely bad. We were on the verge of bankruptcy. In fact, Lawton Shiles had to come into this auditorium and give a speech to the school board talking about how he had to veto the budget because the budget was going to lead to bankruptcy for school districts across the state. So there's always something else. The budget that we're dealing with today We're certainly in a stronger financial position than we have been the last few years, so I'm happy about that. But it's certainly not where the district would love to have it. The budget that will be approved by the school board tomorrow is a budget that assumes another loss of students of a little over 8,000 kids to our schools. This coming off a year where we lost about 14,000 students. A lot of this, as we've discussed in the past, due to a change in the federal immigration policy. Because Miami-Dade County Public Schools always has students who leave the district. But historically, we always have students who come in as well. And that's not necessarily the case right now. So anytime you're losing students, it puts the district in a tough financial spot. Obviously, this past year was a very difficult year given a lot of the mid-year reductions we had to make, but it put us on a slightly more financial footing. We're going to end this year. As you see, we have a beginning fund balance that was a drop from prior year, but it still reflected an ending fund balance of 2025-26. That looks like it's going to come in over 4%, which is good. Obviously, the minimum is 3%, so we're still... Okay, the board's policy is to have a 5.5% fund balance. We're not there, so we're going to have to try to strengthen our reserves moving forward, but it's difficult when we are losing students. So heading into this year, sorry, into 2026-27, we had to make reductions in central office substantially. We reduced over 10% of central office. That takes the total reduction from, so when I first went to the budget office in 2008 to now, central office has 51% less positions than it did 18 years ago. both in terms of dollars and number of positions. We are a 50% reduction. There were reductions in the amount of schools that we have open for next year. There are reductions in certain allocations. All of this was discussed over the last several months by the principal's budget committee, the parent's budget committee, which Ms. Heller serves on, in fact, is our chair of the budget committee. The cabinet the board through numerous budget workshops, so it's a community We as a community have come to this place on how to balance our budget and the budget is balanced But it's certainly not any of the ones any budget that we would like to be ideal Ideally, we would love to be able to talk about what investments we've been able to make And our investments this year have been limited. It's about managing reductions as the district slowly shrinks So It is a, I wish that I was, I wish that I was leaving a budget similar to the ones that we had when we had federal dollars from COVID-19, the ESSER money, because then it was a conversation about investments, but unfortunately that's not the case. However, the district, despite where we looked, like we might look in January, so this past January, if you remember, we lost $111 million because of the unexpected drop in kids, and we had an, about an $89 million fund balance, so that looked like we were gonna be underwater, and we made substantial mid-year reductions to make sure that didn't happen, it worked. Again, we're gonna have a reserve that's over 4%, which is great, but still, we have to be very cautious moving forward. That's my presentation, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Steiger. Well, before I turn it over to my colleagues, you saved your biggest presentation for last in terms of the size of this, I think. But thank you very much. Any questions?

Mr. Chair? Ms. Heller?

Go ahead, Beverly.

I don't have a question. I just want, I had to say something. I don't know when it's appropriate or not, but I'm going to do it now. I know I will miss you. I know we will all miss you. You have been supportive. You have been kind. You have worked with us, and this is a big loss for us, but I know that if we really need you, I know where to find you. So I... I truly wish you great success, happiness, and everything that you want.

Thank you, Ms. Heller. Mr. Darcy?

I was going to say the same thing, Mr. Steiger. It's always been a pleasure to work with you. Sorry, through the chair. You're a great guy, and I love your smart sense of humor. And, you know, maybe there's an opening on this ABAC for you in the future. I mean, that might be... I'm just... tossing it out there for uh future us you know super i know uh mr harvey wouldn't mind and uh considering the fact that that you are a gentleman and a professional we're gonna miss you and i say that wholeheartedly i'm i'm shocked but you know good luck to you and as my colleague said we really appreciate all the work you've done thank you so much

Yep, Mr. Chair, so I appreciate that. And what's funny is I was going to say the reverse, which is I still have an audit committee over at Barry University, so I might be calling on some of you to be involved in that audit committee.

Are you taking nominations? Ms. Watson.

I always thought you were one of our superstars. We're truly going to miss you.

Through the chair, just to echo my colleague's comments. You know, best of luck. You've been amazing and a great supporter. We'll miss your thorough assessment of the issues and support. And I also want to commend your work in coming to this budget development, which I know has been a challenge, as it has been for many other organizations across the country and in the state. But coming up with a 4% reserve fund balance, I think that it's really outstanding under the circumstances that the district as well as other organizations have to function. So this is the new status quo for the time being. Things will get better, you know, everything is a pendulum. So this is sort of like stabilization for everyone, not just the district, but everyone else, every other organization. So best of luck and stay in touch.

Mr. Steiger, so sorry to see you leave. You know, I have to admit, your sense of humor is, it catches on after, you know, I don't know how long I've been here, maybe 10 years I caught on to it. But, no, you've always been a straight shooter. I think that's what you always want in these sort of environments. And you've always done it with a smile in the toughest situations. And I wish you well at Barrier University. And, you know, you've spent a lot of time here at Miami-Dade Public Schools. And you've been a champion for the children of our district, for the finances that supports their education. It reminds me of the 1997 University of Michigan football team. You know, they won the national championship that year. I was at that game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, they kind of didn't win the national championship. Got a sort of Nebraska call. But we won't talk about that. But as you move on to Barrett University, good luck to you. And Godspeed on your journeys. Are you related to Scott Norwood? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Chill out, chill out, chill out.

Any other questions or comments? Mr. Saigra, on behalf of Mr. Johnson and myself and everybody here, we really do appreciate what you've done for this committee. We wish you the best of luck. There is a big void to fill now here, so we wish you the best of luck, and we will be missing you around here. So thank you for your service to Miami-Dade Public Schools. With that, is there any questions on the budget or a motion?

Move to approve.

Do I hear a second? All those in favor respond with aye. Motion carries. Moving on to agenda item number five, the planning communication to the members of the school board of the Miami-Dade County, Florida Audit Committee and Management for the fiscal year ended June 30th, issued by the district's independent external auditor, Forvis Massar's LLP. Goodman.

We're very excited to have a new audit firm coming in, and they're going to present the planning communication document as part of the, you know, to get the audit started. Well, they've already been working on it with our team, but Mr. Joel Knopp, partner and Mr. Eddie Castaneda is a director and with that through the chair I would turn over the presentation to them.

Good afternoon, committee members. Pleasure to be here. And as Mr. Goodman said, my name is Joel Knopp, an audit partner with Forvus Mazars. And we are very excited to be working with the district this year. And there's always some initial challenges in the first year of an audit as we kind of learn you all and you all learn us. But looking forward, we've already had some very productive meetings with Mr. Goodman and the finance team and looking forward to really digging in in the coming months. The purpose of this meeting is really just to give you kind of an overview of our audit approach and kind of go through some of our required communications as it relates to the audit. I do have Eddie Castaneda here as the director, so he'll go through more of the details. And then I also want to make sure to introduce Sarah Afghani, who's a senior with our firm, and then Tanya Davis with S. Davis & Associates be handling the single audit component of the audit. Just real briefly, we have a few components to go through as it relates to the audit itself, the scope and objectives. First off, as it relates to the scope, our responsibility is to issue our opinions under generally accepted auditing standards. And so we'll be expressing opinions on the district's financial statements related to fiscal year 26. We'll also be performing our audit under government audit standards as well. And then of course the single audit falls under the uniform guidance rules. And we'll also be issuing an attestation examination as it relates to the rules of the auditor general and the AICPA attestation standards related to the district's compliance with its investment policy. uh... really the first part of our audit is is really focused on the planning and understanding of the district so we've already delved into that but as once we kind of get a good feel for the district understanding internal controls that you all have in place and there's a lot of documentation that goes into play there we'll really get into our risk assessment and that's really the key component of our audit as we try to focus our audit efforts on those areas that are significant to the district as well as there's a risk of potential misstatement. So one of those areas is management override of controls, so there's definitely emphasis on that. Grant revenues is always pretty significant in our audits as well as payroll being the largest kind of functional category for the district. The other thing I want to stress is the timing of the audit. We're getting a little bit of a late start, but we're committed to making sure the district gets its reports in the timeframe that it's used to getting it, and we're committed to making sure that you all receive those timely deliverables. So that's the commitment from our team, and I want to turn it over to Eddie now to kind of go through the details. Thank you, Jill.

Joel stole my thunder a little bit. I was gonna go over our risk assessment. So some required communications that we as your auditor are required to communicate to you and to governance is our risk areas and our assessment of risk. The two key risk areas as of right now, we could add more, we haven't really into the district's financial records and policies and procedures yet, but management override of controls is a significant risk, as well as revenue recognition will be a significant risk in our audit for this upcoming year. Some other areas of risk that may pop out is payroll and related expenditures, just like Joel said, just due to the large amount of transactions in that area, as well as the ultimate dollar amount at the end of the year, which is the highest expenditure of the district. So that is definitely a risky area for material misstatement. And lastly, we'll also look at compliance with any laws or regulations, Florida DOE, the Red Book, Yellow Book, as well as the Uniform Guidance will be doing compliance work testing as well. As Joel mentioned in the internal control procedures, this pushes our risk. We want to go in, we want to see what processes and policies are in place, what procedures are in place over significant risk cycles, significant financial statement cycles such as cash and investments, disbursements, payroll, any capital outlay, as well as the district's procedures over its financial close. We'll definitely take a look at that, as well as the grants and the SIFA. Our required communications, again, just to sum up, is our risk assessment, which we have given you, as well as the timing. We have gone back and forth. We have settled, and we're confirming here, mid-September as our start of year-end field work. We already have it on our schedule. We have it for weeks. We have staff. So that is the plan as of right now to get, and We're gonna confirm to that unless anything changes from now and then, but we'll definitely let you know. One thing that I know I pride myself and Joel prides himself in, no surprises, as soon as we find out something, trust me, we're picking up the phone, we're gonna let management know, let finance know, and if needed, let this committee know anything that would change that timeline or change the expected issuance of the audit reports. Here's just a timeline just illustrated as to what activity and where we have it slated right now. Like I said, final field work is gonna start mid-September. Planning and preliminary testing is already underway. We're gonna send, we've had some back and forth trying to get this agreement signed, but I think we're in a good place. And we're gonna send, and I've already committed to Daisy, who is here, to send her out our preliminary interim request list so the district can start providing those documents this week. And then expected deliverables that the district will receive are our audit reports, obviously, on the opinion of the financial statements, our internal control report, which we assess internal controls of the district over financial reporting. We're gonna also, issue our single audit reports through S. Davis, as well as the AG management letter and any required letters that they need, such as the management letter and the examination report with the district's compliance with Florida statutes, investment statutes. And so I'll leave it up to any questions to the committee. That's our presentation. If you had any questions on our risk assessment, proposed timeline, internal control procedures, feel free.

Thank you, Mr. Castaneda. Thank you, Mr. Knopp. Any questions on the committee? Ms. Maladon.

Thank you, through the chair. So you're starting final field work in September, and you're in the planning stage now, so there's no interim field work for this new first audit. Is that where we are? There's no opportunity for interim field work?

No, there is. It'll happen, right? It's happening between now and that. Okay. We just don't want to overburden finance because they're very busy through like that August, September period. So we're trying to get those initial requests out this week so they can start providing.

So there's an opportunity to do interim field work. Absolutely. Okay, good. Because that always facilitates with your final field work at the end. 100%. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions? I just have two quick questions. I know that you mentioned this, Mr. Castaneda, in your presentation, but first of all, congratulations and welcome. Maybe congratulations or condolences, I'm not sure yet. Definitely congratulations. Since you came in a little late to the party, more than this committee expected, do you foresee any issues with your timeline? Are there any... possibly unforeseen issues that could be, that could come up from taking over a project this size this late?

There's always unforeseen issues, sure, that I can't predict right now. There should be no new GASBs that should significantly impact the district's financial statements this year. I don't, and I say this with please don't take this the wrong way, but we have a lot of knowledge of just Florida school districts in general. I know Miami-Dade is different from Broward, which is different from Hillsboro, which is different from Orange, but at a minimum for our interim testing, well, they all start from the same place in terms of an audit, a Florida school district, and then we build from there. So yeah, there might be some unforeseen circumstances, but like I said in my presentation, if anything were to come up, we'll pick up the phone immediately if it's gonna affect any issue in timeline, for sure.

And have you reviewed what our previous external auditor has done kind of as a benchmark to what we have, what we expect, what we've done in the past?

We have through conversations. We've had a kickoff meeting with finance already, I believe last month. So we were, yeah, they gave us what the previous auditors looked at, their timeline, how they kind of worked, and we'll make adjustments as needed. But yes, we do have that information, and we do have the... how it was presented so hopefully nothing gets lost in translation coming in with a new firm. Thank you, sir.

Any other questions? Mr. D'Arcy.

Mr. Chair, congratulations on being awarded this contract. Just wanted to point out that one of the issues we had was timeliness, and I know you communicated that you will communicate, so just keep that in mind. I mean, that was basically, I think, a sticking point that we had on, you know, the last contract we had, which obviously wasn't a big problem to our last auditor. So I'll just go ahead and put that on the record that, you know, communicate with the district, let us know, and please don't bring something that's not signed to us because, you know, we will go ahead and talk about it for an hour and a half again and not pass it, which obviously seems to be, Not common to understand, but congratulations, and I love the timeline. I will actually save it. So I look forward to working with you guys. Congrats.

Thank you, us too.

Thank you, Mr. Darcy. Any other questions?

Do I have a motion? Is it second? All those in favor respond aye. Aye. Motion passes, thank you. Thank you, good afternoon. Agenda item number 6A, the internal audit report selected schools and centers. Mr. Goodman.

Ms. Tamara Wayne, Assistant Chief Auditor, CPA, will make the presentation. Thank you. Welcome, Ms. Wayne.

Good afternoon through the chair. Our office is presenting the July school audit report which includes the audit results of 65 schools and centers. In this report two of the schools and centers were the audit scope was two fiscal years ending June 30 2025 and for the remaining 63 the audit scope was one fiscal year ending June 30 2025. Included in these 65 schools there were nine changes of principal or administrators since the prior audit. Audit results show that the financial statements are fairly stated for all 65 schools. However, at two schools, we cited noncompliance and inadequate internal controls in the areas of disbursements, receipts and deposits, and student activities, which are all part of internal funds. Our office and district administration are available to answer any questions.

Any questions? Um, I just had a question with regard to the Benjamin Franklin K eight center. Um, two questions with regard to the, I was concerned with item 1.6 on page 39 where there was a vendor that was paid twice. Um, has that money come back to the school of the district? Do you know?

I would have to defer to the administration for a follow-up.

Dr. Lewis?

Through the chair, first of all, thank you for the question. But as of today, no, that hasn't been reimbursed to the district or the school as of yet. Let me also point out that in reference to the audit itself, If you look at the time frame in which the school is audited, there was a previous administrator there who has retired from the system itself. So there is a new principal there as well and a new treasurer. But we are actively working to try to get that reimbursement.

All right. I'll just – yeah, that caught my attention. vendor that was paid twice. I'm hoping that we can get a follow-up with regard to getting reimbursed if we did pay somebody. Is that vendor still an active vendor for either the school or the district?

Through the chair, to my knowledge, yes, they're still an active vendor.

Through the chair, I think it would be wise to put that on the next ABAC meeting as a follow-up. to make sure we get the money back.

Do I have a motion to include that? So moved. All those in favor? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay, Mr. Goodman, let's put that for the next follow-up on the vendor reimbursement, and if we could get information on who the vendor is, et cetera, that'd be great. I don't have any other, any other questions?

Ms. Heller?

Do I have a motion? So moved.

Second. Second.

All those in favor respond with aye. Aye. Passes. 6B, the internal audit report for property inventory at selected schools and centers. Mr. Goodman.

Ms. Wayne.

Our office is presenting. Good afternoon through the chair. Our office is presenting the property inventory audit results of 210 schools and centers The property inventory audit identified six schools and centers with one to six unlocated items with individual book values ranging from $0 to about $1,300. The remaining 204 schools were found to be without exception and in compliance with the procedures established in the manual of property control procedures. Our office and the district administration are available to answer any questions related to this report.

Thank you, Ms. Swain, any questions? Ms. Malagon.

Through the Chair, and this is more of a policy question. What is the threshold for capitalizing and tracking inventory and capital assets, just for my knowledge? Do we know?

Through the chair, since October, sorry, July 1st, 2024, the threshold increased from $1,000 to $5,000 after changes in the Florida statute.

Thank you. And that's just as a follow-up, that's in line with most thresholds for other organizations of $5,000. But as a follow-up, if I may, you mentioned that some items were from $0 to $1,300. So are we focusing when we're doing the inventory review on items that are less than the threshold?

Through the chair, items that were previously tagged are still in inventory, and those were tagged at a cost of $1,000 or more. So until the location decides that they are obsolete and removes them from inventory, they are still included in their total inventory for that location. Makes sense. Thank you.

Any other questions? Do I hear a motion?

Moved.

Second. All those in favor respond with aye.

Aye.

Motion passes, and I will turn it over to our chair, Mr. Johnson.

Hello, and good afternoon, and apologize for the accident on 95. Item seven, Office of Management and Compliance Audits, 2026-2027 Audit Plan. Mr. Goodman.

This is our annual audit plan that we discussed extensively over the last several months, including the last ABAC meeting. So this is the final one. And I'm available to answer any questions that you may have or comments.

Any questions? This is an action item. I'll entertain a motion.

So moved.

Then properly move to second it. All those in favor respond by a sound aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. Eight, evaluation of external auditors, fiscal year reporting period ended June 30th, 2025. And the internal audit team, fiscal year ended June 30th, 2026. This is an informational item.

I'll weigh in on it through the chair. So yeah, this is the evaluation survey that the ABAC members completed for my team and the external auditors, the previous external auditors. So I very much appreciate The ABAC, I've said that a million times, I think. It's a very strong ABAC, and I very much appreciate the excellent reviews and comments that you gave us, my team and I. and especially the ones that went into some level of detail in their comments. So greatly appreciated, and that's all I have on that.

Thank you.

Moving on to... Can I ask a quick question? Go ahead. Through the chair. John, first of all, you should frame this as a love note for you, I think, here. And thank you for you and your team. I think we could all attest to how hard you guys work. We're very appreciative of your team. The one thing is with regard to the last one, the superintendent select cabinets and senior staff, I realize that it's only two people. I'm not gonna ask for identity, but I think that this is one that maybe can we expand on this like for the next year that it's not two that we send it to more seniors so that we have kind of a bigger representation.

So through the chair, so that the ABAC, was surveyed in its entirety. So I think there were like nine responses from the ABAC. But yes, from other, we can expand that for next year and make sure that more senior staff responds to the external auditor. Thank you. Yes.

Any other questions? Moving forward. Item number nine, Office of Management and Compliance Audits Activity Status Report. Mr. Goodman?

I stand ready to answer any questions or address any comments that you may have. Do we have any?

Hearing none. That's informational only. Item 10. Office of Inspector General Report, Report of Investigation, Review of Marketing Class Instructional Staff at William H. Turner Technical Arts High School. Do we have Mr. Jose Gonzalez?

Yes, sir.

The floor is yours, sir.

Good afternoon. We're going to go home. Through the chair. My name is Jose Gonzalez. I'm the Supervisory Special Agent with the Office of the Inspector General. This is a informational report that was provided and in essence this investigation was based on a complaint that was received by our office. There was a legend that a teacher had been listed on the electronic grade book for marketing essentials to class at William Turner Technical Arts High School that did not actually teach the class. The OIG investigation substantiated that in fact a non-certified but degreed interventionist who per the job classification could not teach the class was a teacher of record on the school's master schedule and taught the class. The OIG also found that there had been no evidence that the teacher that was listed in the electronic grade book knew about their assignment to the marketing class until the second semester of that school year. Furthermore, an out of field waiver had not been completed for the teacher who was also not certified to teach the marketing class prior to the February FTE period. That's basically it. If there's any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Mr. Atala? Yes, through the chair. Mr. Gonzalez, I read it in detail. It read like a novel, to be honest, like a drama novel. But my question is, it's a two-part question. What is the outcome of all of this? If it's an ongoing investigation, I understand. And secondly, what made it rise to the level that the OIG had to get involved? Because I read potential perjury slash... being false information to a Leo, which I hold to a high regard, and that should not be permitted by any stretch of the imagination, but it almost sounds like there was a detriment obviously to the district by allowing this person to teach students that he wasn't that neither teacher really was was allowed to teach but what's the outcome of this and Why does it raise the level of an a back committee?

issue As far as the a back committee issued that is defer that to mr. Goodman Yeah through the chair all all IG reports on

come through the ABAC.

Thank you. And follow up to the chair. So what is the ultimate outcome of this report? Because I read it and I know that it's a problem. It shouldn't happen. We have a lot of people who are no longer affiliated with the district involved in this. We have state attorney's office that didn't want to accept prosecution. I do see potentially riddled here, false information to a law enforcement officer, potential perjury. I don't know if it was under oath, a sworn statement or not, What's the ultimate outcome out of this, is I guess what my question is.

Well, through the chair, I would ask the senior administration to weigh in on this. But I think, from what I understand, this would be handled at an administrative level.

Anybody? Through the chair, any type of disciplinary action that we took with the employee, we obviously cannot share with the committee. That's about as much as I can say at this point in time, but please be assured that any type of instance like this, we do take immediate and swift action, and we take the protocols that we have to in reference to our OPS and PIM manual.

Ms. Norwood? Thanks, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is, so it's really just a check down. This is about one employee, right? Sir, this is about one employee.

No, it was a total of three employees. Three employees. Yes. Okay. You had the principal, you had the teacher, and the grad book, and you had the interventionist.

But if I'm reading correctly, the complaint was about a teacher not being certified.

A teacher, right, that wasn't certified, that was on the gradebook and on the master schedule.

Got it. And I guess I'm not asking what the intent would be, but how does something like that happen? I see there's some administrative systems that's quoted in the report, but how does that happen that someone would be teaching in a field that would be in a classroom, teaching a class that they're not certified to teach for?

This was a master schedule matter, and if the administration would like to go ahead and address how the master schedule is prepared, I would defer to them to go ahead and answer that.

Thank you. Through the chair, if I could ask Mr. Bueno, how did something like this happen?

Through the chair, when you schedule, and I'm gonna speak as a principal. When you have 15, 16, 1700 students and you're doing a master schedule and you're putting people into that master schedule, unfortunately mistakes can happen. This is obviously something that fell through the cracks because we should have had a system in place. We do have, let me rephrase, we do have a system in place that would catch it along with us and certification. This was unfortunately something that went through the cracks, and we obviously acknowledge it, and we looked into it, so we took the action that we needed to do. But I can tell you that unfortunately with so many students, Mr. Norwood, things can happen.

I understand. I guess my follow-up question would be, maybe not in this situation and not necessarily trying to even deal with this situation, but a teacher who's not certified in a particular subject might acknowledge that they're not certified in a particular subject. Would that not be correct?

Through the chair, At times, it's a little bit difficult. So I'll give you an example, sir. I hold a political science degree. You would think that I can teach most social studies courses. However, I cannot due to my degree. I would have to take a test in order for me to be able to teach politics. those other social studies courses. So I don't remember specifically what the certification was, but I can tell you that the certification, just because you have certification in a certain area doesn't necessarily mean that you can teach the whole gamut of it. So I'll give you another example. If you have a mathematics teacher, that may have triggered, that may have graduated with, I don't know, civic, not civics, physics, and science, I mean, that individual may not be able to teach a simple science, believe it or not. They would have to take a test and pass the test to be able to have that type of certification.

Got it. And then I guess my last question, if you'll indulge me, Mr. Chair. You know, what would be the, I understand that our kids must be in classrooms with teachers that are certified to teach the subject matters in front of them because that's the way curriculum works. But what would a principal or a teacher, not necessarily in this situation, but what would there be to gain to have someone teach a class that they're not certified to teach?

Mr. Norwood, I wouldn't be able to answer that question. I'm not quite sure that I would be able to answer that question. I don't believe that there's much of a gain. It would be a dis-gain because we, through FTE, we can lose FTE dollars for that.

Got it. Okay, thank you very much. Yes, sir. Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Bueno, I want to follow up to one of Mr. Norwood's points. Was there anything that affected now our students with regard to this by having this class? And if I read it correctly, the report correctly, I think this is a course, a class, this marketing class was taught to a group of students in the fall semester and then a different group of students in the spring semester. But either way, we know that based on this report, that neither one of the two teachers were certified to teach that subject, the interventionalist or the assigned teacher, but was there anything that jeopardized our students or the students that took this class from getting proper certification for taking that class?

Through the chair, Mr. Vice Chair, off of the top of my head, I would say no, but I do not want to 100% bet on that. I believe this is an elective class. So if anything at worst case scenario, it would have been substituted with another elective class. So it wouldn't have hurt for graduation because it would have been considered an elective class at the end of the day.

Anything else?

Through the chair, thank you. Just trying to discern what the issue was here, and I think maybe that could have been a little more clear in the report, that the underlying concern was noncompliance with a policy and procedure within the district, right? That is the underlying issue here, not financial. The person who was listed as teaching the class didn't get paid for work not done. The person who was the quote unquote substitute didn't get paid more because of doing that, so there was no underlying financial impact as a result of this situation, but I think in the report, it could have been a little more clear so we didn't have to kind of like assume or reading between the lines where the potential implications were. Obviously there were situations where there's contradictory statements provided by the various parties that need to be looked at at an administrative level as to what that entails and why that happened. But still, if there's no benefit for listing a teacher who's not teaching the class, it's a noncompliance with a policy, but there's no financial gain on either party. It just makes one question demoted as to why, other than human error and oversight, what would be the reasons for doing that. um so i think my my overall comment is maybe future reports could make it more clear that the underlying issue is not financial and it's clear that the issue is non-compliance with district policy or district procedure or what have you thank you thank you yes sir to the chair um

analyzing and having sat in that teacher chair, when you don't know, you don't know. And same thing as my colleague just mentioned, I feel the only hurt party is the students on the fact that they maybe didn't learn anything if these people were not certified or knowledgeable in the field. So it was a waste of their time in the classroom, but I don't see any malice. I mean, I'm also confused as to the monetary and the licensing, the certification. And just like Mr. Bueno said, you know, when you're approached to teach something and you're in a jam as principals, because I knew when I was teaching, I was asked to teach science. I think I'm pretty good in physical science, but the book didn't think the same way. It's a difficult thing, and sometimes you step up and you say, yes, I'm going to get certified. So I think it might be an oversight, it might not be, but the question from Mr. Otala was, you know, if there was anyone hurt, I think it was just maybe the lack of knowledge that occurred. And if it could be a little bit more clear, I mean, we always appreciate your reports. I was confused, too. What was the actual issue? But thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Norwood.

I just want to ditto Ms. Malagon's, Malagon, right? Commentary to the Inspector General and just ditto what she said about how the summary, you know, what it speaks to, because, you know, we get a report from the OIT, and so, you know, we get it because that it's required that it comes here, but in the description, knowing... listening to what Ms. Balagan said, the way she describes it as a CPA, I think would be very helpful in the future. Duly noted, thank you.

Anyone else? This being an informational item, we'll move forward to old business. First old business, payroll update, management's response regarding Dade School's sign-in application project, timeline and phased rollout timeline.

Through the chair, I have Mr. George Fernandez who is over information technology that can further speak to this.

Good afternoon. Through the chair, we provided the committee with the timeline. If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Through the chair, before you do that, just let me give, if I may, just a little bit of background. So we did the payroll audit about two and a half years ago, I think it was, and we're planning to follow up on that audit this fiscal year. But in the meantime, at the last ABAC meeting, the administration provided you with a status report on everything. At the last ABAC meeting, you had some follow-up questions. And this is one of them where you ask for specific timelines on the implementation of the sign-in app and some other things. So they're moving towards automating it, and the committee wanted some follow-up. And they were going to give this to us, to the ABAC, at the December ABAC meeting, but they did it early. So this is responsive to the conversation you had at the last ABAC meeting where you wanted more details on the timeline of further automating that process.

And just reviewing it, I see that the digital time sheet, I assume, is going to be rolled out at the beginning of school?

Through the chair, that's correct.

Mr. Tala?

Mr. Goodman, when is the next audit for this in application? Do we know?

When are we going to do the follow-up?

Yes.

Within fiscal year 26, 27.

Okay. So presumably, through the chair, presumably by your next audit, the first four phases should be completed, because I think that ends June 2027. Is that fair?

Based on what I'm reading here, yes. Okay.

And lastly, through the chair, phase five and six, I know it's a TBD. Is there any indication of when this entire program is going to be fully implemented?

Through the chair, no. Okay.

All right.

Thank you. I actually have a follow-up question. I noticed that the digital timesheets and department tests, seeing as we're at the end of July, is there any update on those tests?

Through the chair, the tests have been completed. There are no issues. The decision has just been made to wait until the start of the school year to turn it on for everybody.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Just to clarify with Mr. Goodman, so within this next year, internal audit will be conducting a follow-up to see if these implementations are working effectively. Is that what the plan is?

Yes. Okay, thank you.

Anyone else? Through the chair, I just want to assure the committee that Our system is currently working. People are getting paid. So I understand the concern, but the systems that we have in place are working. People are getting paid on a biweekly basis, and everything's according to plan. Unfortunately, with technology, sometimes there's hiccups. We need to make sure that those hiccups are addressed before we move on. But I just wanna make sure that everybody understands that there's nobody, There hasn't been a check missed.

Understood. Anyone else? Mr. Talley.

Yeah, through the chair, Mr. Bueno, and I appreciate that. I think that we also, when this audit came to the committee a couple of years ago, the concern also was that everything, including for overtime for some of the non-educational staff, was kind of still an honor system by calling or cards, if memory serves me correct. Is that not one of the things that came up during our audit? And I mean, I'm going two years ago, so...

Through the chair, there's really, I mean, I don't wanna say that there's no honor system, but it's not an honor system. If I ask an employee to work overtime, I expect that employee to be in the office working overtime. For an example, as a police officer, If there's a police officer that we asked to work at Traspow and he or she's got a station, the supervisor at that point in time would alert and say, hey, you know, Officer Atala is not there, and obviously you wouldn't put in for that overtime. Somebody else would be doing that overtime. So there are checks and balances to that, so it's not necessarily an honor system per se.

And forgive me, through the chair, forgive me for the choice of words. I think it was more so to make sure that when... employees were doing things when they're hourly employees or what have you that they would be able to check in and check out or time in and time out from their phones and that wasn't happening across all of our district employees and that's what my recollection is of what happened two years ago Is that not right?

Through the chair, as it is right now, they are not doing that as well. They are still signing in and signing out and you have a supervisory principal or whoever it may be, sir, that actually checks to make sure that those individuals work those hours and then those hours are inputted into SAP and then the employee is paid. So there is paper background and paper trail behind that. What we are trying to do is automate the system. But there is, but at the end of the day, there are checks and balances, and those checks and balances are very good. We are trying to catch up with technology. That's what we are trying to do. And I just wanna make, I just wanna clarify that. We may be a little bit antiquated, and I will say that. However, our folks are getting paid. Will something slip through the cracks? Absolutely. However, at the end of the day, Those individuals are getting paid, and we have a system in place that's approved by the board and followed up by Mr. Goodman and his folks to verify that those hours have been worked and paid.

Mr. Goodman?

I think the main issue here is our audit report from two and a half years ago, one of the main themes was it challenged... administration to become more automated in all payroll functions okay and they are doing that they are working on that and so this is a matter of we want to make sure it happens it does as mr. Bueno mentioned these types of things can take a while to you know to fully automate something at a district this size But they're in process. But our initial report, one of the main points was let's get automated on all this. We shouldn't be filling out paper leave forms like vacation or whatever. And the district has taken it seriously, in my estimation, and they are working at it. It doesn't happen overnight, but this whole follow-up process that the ABAC is asking questions about right now, that's to make sure that it happens sooner rather than later.

I mean, to that point, I do notice on the timeline that There's a note here, regions have chosen to bring school sites in at phase three. So just so we're clear, the digital timesheets, certain of our regions won't be switching to them until phase three being somewhere between October, January, or February of 27.

Through the chair? No, the schools already have a digital version of the timesheet. It's the update that we're doing now will allow employees to pick whether they're gonna be here half a day, a full day, or out a whole day. And it gives them the options to select the type of leave they're taking. However, after speaking with the regents, And discussing this, they felt that giving this feature to the teachers would make it a little cumbersome with the current process of how teachers get a substitute to cover for them when they're out. So the decision was made to make it easier for the teachers, less weight until the leave card function is available, and then we'll give it to the teachers and they can do everything. So it'll be smoother for the teachers in that regard.

So that the two work hand in hand, the leave and the timesheet. Correct. Mr. Tell.

Oh. And through the chair, keep in mind that Two years ago, three years ago, like Mr. Goodman said, our board took the decision to do this in-house. We had the option of purchasing something out there, but as you know, our board and administration is always constantly looking at being able to place all the dollars in the classroom. So what we did was we had our ITS department develop this. So this is a major development for the ITS department. And they do a whole lot of other things. So we're trying to keep track. And that's why I said, is there an end date? And I kind of said, no, maybe not. We're working at it. And we're toggling on it as much as we can. But please keep in mind that this is something that our ITS department, this is in-house, created in-house. And my goal one day is to maybe sell it to somebody else.

Through the chair, I was going to say that. That way we could up our budget again. Maybe that will entice Mr. Steiger to leave Barry and come back if we get a couple of hundreds of millions of dollars for an app that we sell.

Yes, sir. Through the chair. Quickly, if you could share, is this like the Disney Cruise app that once you're within Disney property or whatnot or that it kind of like catches your phone and you're able to like log in and check in? And then my other question is based on the fact that, you know, they have their own app and it fails, What human process do you have for when failure occurs, Wi-Fi goes down, internet goes down, whatnot?

Through the chair, so there have been discussions regarding geofencing the app so that, you know, we make sure that an employee is at a certain location when they sign in for the day, at least a district location. The app works on the phone and on the web browser. So with this new change that we're doing, the app will now be native on the phone. So what it gives us is it gives us the ability for the employee to clock their time. And if there's any latency in connectivity or an issue with connectivity, the minute the employee picks up that connectivity, it'll push their attendance to the system. In addition to it, if it fails on the phone, the employees still have the ability to go through a web interface and sign in that way. So there's other ways to sign in. that they can't, if none of it's working, then there'll be a paper process that will have to be used until the system comes back online.

So follow up, can I log in from my house and still get paid?

Today, through the chair today, yes. But that's something that's being discussed.

And is metadata collected at all on these eventually? That's gotta go ahead and say, GPS and information, if you do geofence.

Through the chair, yes. If we do geofencing, we'll pick up where they're coming in, what IP address they're using, where they're located. We'll be able to pinpoint it on a map. That will all be part of the geofencing feature when it's in here.

And last question, and it would be limited access to their data on their phone. Just basically, they will be able to share that information just to keep it, I think like the song says, keep it honest?

Through the chair, yes. We will pick up, it'll all come from their phone.

Great, congrats.

Anyone else? Thank you very much. Appreciate that update. Moving on to follow-up requests to the FDOE for technical guidance regarding charter school fund transfers and financial transparency. Mr. Goodman.

We sent a memo to the school board per the a backs direction and so this this again relates to the transfer of public dollars with it between charter schools and their parent companies and this kind of thing so we've talked a lot about that over the last several months or more and

So if you have any any further questions or comments on this I'm happy to weigh in Before you do that I know your update was that we sent a follow-up request in May and have heard nothing Did we see see anyone on that are we just dealing with the one office we're dealing with well we sent

Okay, let me back up. We initially, the committee directed me to send to the Auditor General a memorandum asking for their opinion on whether we're privy to certain transfers and financial information from charter schools, right? They sent back an answer that said, We'd like, we suggest that you follow up with this with the Florida Department of Education, because we don't really audit charter schools directly. But they also did say in that, that it may, they made a comment in their response to us that it may, they kind of hinted at, it may, it may interfere with us doing our monitoring process. But they didn't come right out and say that. Anyways, we forwarded a letter to the head of the Choice Division for the Department of Education. We did not hear back. After about a couple months, my team and I followed up verbally with documented phone calls. twice. We didn't hear anything back. Then we sent another letter to the Department of Education, that same division, and we didn't hear anything back. So then at the last ABAC meeting, the discussion was, you all directed me and my team to write a memo to the school board And it could be the memo was like this is this is for your information or action as you choose and We're just surprising you that we're not able to get any any direction from the Department of Education on this and so that's that's where we are right now and So let me add, so yeah, I haven't heard anything from the school board, of course. Not of course, but.

I'm going to suggest making a decision on the course of action and informing everyone on what that decision is. And then see if anyone decides that they would like to weigh in.

Can I respond?

Sure.

So we also explained last time that we compromised with the particular management company for these charter schools. And they did a, for this last charter school year, if you, and we accepted that they hired their own auditors to provide assurance and attest that the monies, the $50 million collectively, were in certain accounts, And they were not being further used for anything Inappropriate and so rather than give us rather we wanted we asked to see the documents We wanted to see their bank accounts where the monies were transferred to we wanted to see the financial statements where Of the parent companies this kind of stuff and they they did not where they refused to provide us that after a lot of back and forth We agreed for last year we're gonna let them hire their external auditors and, you know, Certified public accountants license that have if they have an opinion, you know, it's it's an opinion So we did that for last year now going forward You've got these audits for the next year they're due For the fiscal year that just ended in September mid-september of this year so we're gonna need to look at those new audits and see where they are, see what kind of disclosures they have in the audit itself, and then my team and I will have to make a decision in conjunction with the ABAC as to how we want to go forward with it next year, for this coming year, as far as are we happy doing that compromise again, or are we like, We're privy to the information. It's public dollars. So that, in the next several months, we'll have to address that and make that decision for going forward next year.

Yeah, that's my point, is that at this point, the FDOE has told you to choose your own adventure. We've gone to the school board, and the school board, at least up to now, has not decided to weigh in one way or the other If it's choose your own adventure, then choose it, standardize it across because this issue of the charter schools is a growing issue within the district. And then see if anyone makes noise or responds from there. But I think everyone's silence has put the ball back in your office's court.

Correct. Mr. Norwood? Yes, sir. Mr. Chair, I think what our auditor has done thus far and what this committee has done thus far has been, to me, extraordinary by, A, contacting Tallahassee and asking for direction. receiving the initial letter from the Auditor General saying that we should go to Department of Education but in that letter mentioning that this may have some negative impact or some sort of impact on our reporting to them and then reaching out to the Department of Education hearing nothing from them informing the school board that we have heard nothing from them And now having done all of that, we've sort of, in my view, I think we sort of exhausted, I think what we can do other than have this on our agenda as something that has not been resolved. And I think by having it on our agenda until it's resolved, I think it's saying something in and of itself. And I think that's kind of like all that we, All that I see that we can do at this point, we are making the public aware that we have a question that we've asked DOE and DOE has refused to answer us. I think that is a statement that is a public statement from this committee by just having an agenda saying that this is what the situation is. And then hopefully at some point in time, somebody will do something about it or DOE will respond to us. But I think that's kind of like, in my estimation, I think that's kind of where we are and where the situation is.

And I don't disagree with what Mr. Norwood said. I would add though that if we are auditing multiple charter school companies, which we will be doing, we need a policy to deal with this particular question. And in the absence of guidance, having sought guidance from everyone you've been directed to seek guidance from, you have to, I don't think it's wise or fair to ad hoc it, to do it based upon how it is the communications go with each individual management company. Well, this one's willing to do this, and this one's willing to do that. You've accepted something in the past, you can use that as precedent to say, we have accepted this, but we are asking for this Because I think if you make the question a question, someone will come up with an answer for you, is the only point that I raise, is your office needs guidance on how to handle this question.

Yeah, point well taken. And I think at the end of the day, it needs to be a statute, a new statute that tells us what school districts are privy to. So I think that would be the authoritative source on what we're entitled to or not. In the meantime, the leverage that our office has, and me, using professional judgment, and following auditing standards is if I see something that I think is going to, without being privy to something or having transparency, if I think it's putting the district and the taxpayers' funds, public funds, at risk, and there's a higher chance, a higher risk of fraud, waste, or abuse, for example, then that will be reported in our report, in our audit report, which is in accordance with government auditing standards. So we have that ability to do that. But I agree fully with your point that it should be standardized. And I don't think the school board can do a policy on that because It goes beyond, it needs to be the state telling us what the law is on that. Are we privy to this information or not?

The only point that I'd raise is you asked for the information. It was the management companies that said, no, we don't want to give you the information. We will give you this information. There was a negotiation that was had. Those negotiations should guide you moving forward. because I don't think anyone here is telling you not to continue to ask for the information. In the absence of being told that you can have the information, then ask for the information.

Keep asking for it.

Correct. And then, because one, someone's going to complain to their lobbyist friends, and then you will get the answer you're looking for one way or the other. But I think, too, because we owe it to everyone we interact with to at least be standardized in our approach to how, hi, we've asked everyone for this information. You're not special. You're not unique. We're asking you for this information, too. And each time that you negotiate a resolution to that, as you just did, that's a benchmark. Here's what we have negotiated in the past so that you're creating your own standardization is what I'm suggesting. Meaning the office can take the position, we would like the information, we need the information for full transparency. Short of that, we've done this and leave that particular ball in the court of the management companies who are absolutely at this point taking more and more and more of the district's resources. I think with more resources comes additional responsibility, transparency, and openness personally. So what I'm encouraging you to do, I'm just speaking for myself here, but what I'm encouraging you to do is to keep asking. and deal with it that way.

I think you've already given us that in the sense that the direction that you've given my department and me over the last six months, eight months, has been very assertive as far as we want an answer to this. And so I think you've already done that. Not at this point. But your points are taken. And let's see how we go forward with this. I do think that a standardized process is better. But in the meantime, myself and my office have never been shy about asking charter school companies for information. Going back 20 years, we've had some Fireworks going back with them, you know for many many of them So we've never we've always been right out there asking whoever it is If it's public money, we want to get we want to see we want transparency to it So I'm fully intending to keep pushing on this and not and not stop but I think we'll we'll We'll end up talking about this at the next several a back meetings as it evolves

Through the chair, and I just wanted to see if we could have Mr. Harvey chime in on this. I think you did when we first brought this up, Mr. Harvey. And I agree with what this committee has done historically since at least March, from what I recall, with regard to this. But if we require something... And Mr. Johnson and I sit on separate sides of a litigation table, but if we require something that the law, as we know it, is silent on, we agree to that. are we exposing the district to, I don't know, potential litigation, or do we have any recourse that we could take legally at this point as the district's attorney? What is your recommendation? What do you believe, or not what you believe, but what does the law permit us to do absent having a clear guideline for this?

yes through the chair I think that's a great question so in the past we've had instances where we have requested information regarding let's say financial statements or documents that were generated by an entity that's affiliated with the charter school or in some instances as you recall a charter school that may be outside of the district or something of that nature and we The statute used to be very specific with regard to where the funds, when you had FTE funds and where they would have to go, et cetera. So based on that statute, we used that as a basis to request the information. Now those statutes were changed shortly after we got that information. So now we're in a position where, you know, It's information that we're requesting because I guess this chief auditor wants to make sure that it's being used for proper K-12 purpose. But unfortunately the law is not clear that we're entitled to that information. So in light of those changes to the statute. So I think what you're asking, at least as I interpreted it, is that we should continue to request that information I think that with regard to potential liability for the district, there's no liability concerns I would have unless you took a step further than that. I don't think that's being contemplated by the audit committee.

Mr. Harvey, through the chair, I think that answers specifically what my concern is. We know that the law as written is either absent or unclear or ambiguous, so we won't have any issues by requesting this information that we are doing something that's contrary to the statutes that presently exist. There's nothing specifically on point that says don't do it.

Through the chair, that's correct. As long as it's being done for a legitimate auditing purpose, because you're trying to determine whether those funds have been expended for a proper K-12 purpose, if it's being done for that purpose, then it's certainly appropriate to make that request. Again, the response might be another question, but, you know.

Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Norwood. I do have, because there is actually, well... I think there's actually a real solution that could happen, but we don't have the authority to do that, which through the chair, Mr. Attorney, I mean, the school district, not this, not the audit committee, but the school board could petition for a declaratory statement, could it not?

Yes, through the chair. on this issue, I'm not, I mean, when you're saying declaratory statement, you're at declaratory statement to say that you're entitled to this information? No. And ask a court for that?

No, no, no, ask an administrative judge to provide a declaratory, ask an agency through an administrative judge to provide a declaratory statement as to what the rules are as it relates to this particular set of circumstances.

Yeah, through the chair, I mean, with regard to any question, if there's a question, I mean, you can go to court and ask for a declaratory statement. Of course, you know, you would need to establish standing and so forth. And of course, the board would have to take that formal action.

It's not for us to seek that. Right. Yeah. So what I'm saying is that, I mean, I don't want us to think that in this committee to think that ultimately when one government may have a different opinion about something as it relates to administrative rules and as it relates to whether any of this is administrative rules, you know what I'm saying? But you can always, or a person can always ask an agency to do an administrative action to tell us what this means. Meaning that if there's something in an administrative rule or an administrative procedure and you think it means one thing and someone else thinks it means another, there is a remedy through administrative means to go to an administrative court, not a civil court, but an administrative court, and say, please tell us what this means. And so there is actually a process. But that's not a process, and I'm not saying we should raise this to that level. And it's not our job to do that. That is a decision of the school board to make those decisions as to what Mr. Harvey does, because he is their attorney above all else. But I just want you to know, ultimately there is a remedy other than them just telling us or the DOE and giving us guidelines. We could actually do that. But I'm only saying that because I see minds,

sort of muddling over this and as if there's nothing ultimately that can be done there is something ultimately that could could be done philosophically in in the absence of a law a direction or a rule i'm all for it asking for the most you're going to get the litigator thing so i i so i get it i appreciate the issue but i also appreciate the accounting quandary it puts you in And we're going to see more of it because of the size of some of these management companies and the scope of some of these management companies that we are giving significant amounts of money to. Anyone else?

Hearing nothing, can we leave this on for old business though?

Because it is an open question to Mr. Norwood's point. C, update concerning the transmittal of the educational facilities impact fee study, pursuant to state legislation and prior board action.

I'm not sure if anything has happened in the last several months regarding this, but...

Yes, through the chair, not much has happened. Again, I think the committee that addresses this issue with the district and the attorneys, they meet on a biweekly basis and discussing a number of issues, but this is one of the issues that comes up. The dispute has been, once the impact fee study was transmitted to the county, they felt that SB 180, which was passed a couple years ago, which was to basically limit post-hurricane regulations, that that somehow impaired our ability to get those fees passed at the county commission. Now, I should say, even though there is a dispute about that, it's pretty clear that that statute does expire in December. So there's always an opportunity there to revisit this issue. And then, by the way, in January, we have a board member that sponsored the item who will be a county commissioner. So that might help as well. So we definitely plan to continue to at least, you know, unless I receive other direction, we plan to continue to pursue this as far as we can. Thanks. Anyone?

Go ahead, Mr. O'Dell.

To the Chair, Mr. Harvey, I was going to ask this during the presentation of the budget, but it kind of all goes hand-in-hand with B and C of old business today, because obviously this would assist with our financial situations if we're able to increase this. And I know that at least I've been on this committee for years, four years and it's still kind of in limbo. But I also wanted to tie this in with B when it came to charter schools. It was one of the things I read in the in the budget presentation that Mr. Steiger gave was with regard to how much time your office has to deal with charter school issues. So while it's not completely on point with item C, it just begs the question to me right now is we have a financial situation. We don't have the funds that we had during COVID relief. Your office is spending time on charter school issues, and we still don't have an answer on the impact fee study, which I think has been going on, I think longer than even I've been on this committee. It's not really a question, it's more of a commentary, but to me, these three items are, are an issue that have come before this committee now for several years we have issues with this with the charter schools we have issues with these impact fee issues um and the level of transparency so i i would just ask you sir you know to see how we could kind of put this all together because we're having we have a problem with with with we have a problem financially i see from year after year potentially going getting smaller and smaller on a financial issue We're spending money on charter schools from your office. I know that the report said that you spend time with that, and we still don't have an issue, a resolution with this impact fee issue. So I would just ask you, sir, to, and I know that you work hard at it, so let's land these planes. That's my point. Thank you, sir.

Yeah, well, through the chair, so with regard to impact fees, so we're talking about an increase of about, maybe $100 per application. And by the way, impact fees are not taxes. They are fees that have to be used for new school construction. So... With regard to this, of course, with regard to impact fees, that's not something that is within the control of our office. It's within the control of the county. And the county has taken a position that in light of the statute, that they feel that they can't move forward at this time. So perhaps if we can't move forward prior to January, we should be able to make some movement in January on that issue. But we've again adopted policies with regard to this. We've provided support legally with regard to the impact fees. Now charter schools is a different issue. Charter schools we have, and by the way, it's one of probably 30 or 40 different areas that our office addresses. But with regard to charter schools, we do have two attorneys that are dedicated to that. They basically review charter school applications, they review the applications from the time they come in. If you've ever seen a charter school application, you know what's involved. There are a number of issues that have to be negotiated by a full committee of individuals that are negotiating those charter school applications. So, This issue with regard to whether the school district is entitled to funds that, I'm sorry, not the school district, but the state is entitled to funds that have been, I guess, placed in an account that's by a management company, I think, in many respects, I think the legislature made that clear that that's not our issue. the school district because when the school district did address that issue in the past, the state made it very, very clear that that's not the district's money. That is the charter school money or the state's money. But again, I think from an auditing standpoint, it's worth something, it's worth looking at and I think This district, I'm sorry, this district and this audit committee has looked into that issue and made requests, and I think that's more than appropriate. But, you know, so I just wanted to say that for the record.

Thank you, anyone else? Hearing none, this too was informational, new business. Yes, sir.

I'm going to do this, Mr. Hunter. To the chair, I want to go ahead, and we haven't met in a while, so happy 250th anniversary to the Declaration of Independence. I know we missed that meeting here. We weren't here, so I want to say happy birthday. With that said, I wanted to bring up something really special. I want to congratulate Jude Bruno, the 61st president of the Florida PTA, a millennial, and the first Haitian American that I believe sits on the floor of PTA as president. I met Jude Bruno back when he was a student, and it makes me feel really old, but very proud. He's a very good young man. With that said, also I wanted to congratulate Lions Clubs International Florida District 35N Governor Gaston Correa was the first Ecuadorian that I believe president of Lions Clubs International District 35N. And lastly, I'm gonna go ahead and brag a little bit. It is the 52nd anniversary of the Spanish American League Against Discrimination, which is July 10th. We turned 52. And as you may recall, Paul Cejas was our second president, and he served on the school board five years as a chair. And I believe he was the first Hispanic elected countywide. And Rosa Castro Feinberg, who passed away this year, the first female Hispanic to serve on this board. Also, she was the director of SALAD. So I want to bring that up. because history is important and very proud of Jude and his accomplishment. I look forward to his leadership and continued involvement, my good friend. And thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to say that.

Listen, I love good news. So that actually brightened my day. Anyone else? Absolutely happy birthday, Ms. Watson.

And lastly, Mr. Steiger, we bid you farewell and best of luck to you, sir.

Is this our last meeting? Oh, wow. All right. Well, then I will entertain a motion to adjourn.