Fiscal Accountability and Government Relations Committee - Regular Meeting

11 o'clock, sorry. Welcome to the Fiscal Accountability Government Relations Committee meeting for Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. I'm now calling the meeting to order. Can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Board Member Espino. and justice for all. We can remain silent for a moment of silence. Okay, before we get started, I'd like to state the committee membership for this committee. You have myself, Roberto Alonso as chair, Mr. Danny Espino as vice chair, Ms. Luisa Santos as a member, Mr. Joseph Geller as a member, and Dr. Dorothy Bengios-Mendigo as an alternate member, together

All in favor? Aye. Okay. Our next order of business is to move to our E items to the floor. Can I get a motion to move our E items to the floor?

Okay, our first item is E1 being presented by Mr. Ron Steiger. E1 is the monthly financials for the period ending May 2026. Okay. Do we have any questions or answers from any of the board members? Okay, with no questions, we move to E2.

Okay, thank you. Our next one is now E106, Mr. Bueno.

Any questions or comments on board meetings? Seeing none, E141, Mr. Steiger.

I do have a question. How many remaining windows ACs do we have throughout our district? Through the chair.

I think it'd be interesting for us to just kind of have an evaluation and if there's any plan on what the future looks like as we continue our renovations and look at the consolidation of what we're going to do with all these window units, at least the window units, if they think it's important. Dr. Dorch, we excuse him because he's fixing the clock. Oh, the minister picks it up. And we appreciate that. That's a true maintenance leader that he actually gets up and takes care of the watch. So thank you so much for that.

Thank you. I'm just going to put on the record, and I'll do it obviously at the board meeting, and together with Mr. Harvey's office, I'll be abstaining from E148.

Thank you so much, Mr. Steiger. Chairwoman Rojas, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and I think it's important that we recognize that, right? I think just a few months ago, many in our community were asking us to create noise, right? And to maybe overreact at times when there was rumors about cuts to federal programs and this board, Stayed focused, right? Stayed focused on our mission, which is educating students and not getting involved in the outside noise. And in turn, we see the results. Programs are not being cut. There have actually been increases to programs, specifically, as you stated earlier, on Title III, when we talk about English l

All right. So with no further questions, all of our items have now been discussed. Mr.

Thank you. So we'll now take a motion to recommend the E items to the board meeting of July 22nd. Move it. Second. All in favor? The next order of business is to move our H items to the floor. Can I get a motion? All in favor? Our first item is H4, presented by Mr. Danny Espino.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, this is something we've discussed over an extended period of time as a result of the health care procurement. I think that none of us questioned that the policies were followed. We just questioned the merit of some of the policies where we can't fully understand how this election committee had voted upon them. And as the ultimate decision makers up here, I think that that's something that we should have as decision makers, but also for the sake of transparency. I've done a lot of procurement law in my career, and it's not uncommon to have a metric against whic

Okay, I see that Board Chair Rojas has a question. You're recognized.

community and and those that are trying to um understand how with a procurement of such a large magnitude we reach that decision so that's my recommendation thank you thank you any further questions or comments okay i i too um thank the maker the item board member spino i think it's important that we always review these processes um i think there's a lot of other procurement processes that we also need to continue reviewing um we are in the 21st century, and I think a lot of things just kind of stay stagnant, right, over the years, and then questions come up when we go there, so I welcome this

So this is for all procurement recommendations that fit the box of where we have this selection criteria that travels to a presentation. I highlight it. I mean, we discussed it pretty significantly last one where the health care one was the impetus behind it. It hadn't been an issue for us before that because we've been able to track and understand. especially when it becomes based on both quantitative and qualitative issues. When it's quantitative in its values and its ITBs and RFPs that are very clear, we follow the numbers, right? Even like on food, when we did the food approvals, we saw to

Okay. No, and the reason I say that is because we're going through some other complex negotiations now, too, in procurement processes, both from the outside and the inside. You just look at our enterprise office. There's a lot of committees and procurement processes going through there as well. So I just wanted to make sure that those were also going to be reviewed with this board item. My other question, and this is more to the superintendent, I know that it's, I think it's public and we've all seen it. Our CFO will be leaving our district and we're asking for a September report. With the tra

Excellent. Okay, just wanted to make sure that that was there. Thank you for the consideration. As the board item was probably filed before the news came out, and that way it just gave... an opportunity to do it. Okay, so that is the item with no further questions. Are there any co-sponsors to H4?

Okay, we now take the motion as recommended in H4 to a board meeting. All in favor? As amended. Okay. Our next board item is H5, and that is presented by our board chair, Ms. Mari-Tere Rojas.

Okay. We'll now take questions and comments from our board members. That first one I see is Board Member Danny Espino, recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, Madam Chair. Thank you so much for bringing this item. As we say, you know, District 5 of the City of Doral became the epicenter not just of the relief efforts with the Global Empowerment Mission located in the city of Doral, but also because of the community that's there and the ties. Many people from that community have family that were affected by it. And I spoke to Jeff, the COO of Global Empowerment Mission, and he said to me that he's never seen a community mobilize for a disaster like this one, like has happened for Miami-Dade County. And that's something that we s

Thank you so much, Board Member Spino. I next have Vice Chair Colucci, and then we'll have Dr. Ventos Mendigo.

Thank you so much. Board Member Blanco, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and to Chair Rojas, thank you for the item. I just wanted to really kind of echo the sentiments of Board Member Colucci. You know, when we talked recently with our strategic plan and the portrait of a graduate, there's a lot of talk in there about service, community awareness, giving back to the community, and just today I had a meeting with Mr. Rios because I have some ideas of how we can maybe strengthen that. So it's items like these. There's so many opportunities to help for our students to get involved in and help, but it's our job to make them aware of the need and

Okay, thank you so much. I'll go to you right now, because I actually had a question for you, so that way you can answer both. First of all, thank you, Board Chair Rojas, for bringing this. And thank you to Board Member Espino. I've seen you out there on social media and the Mayor of Doral. Everybody's just been amazing there, and it's just been incredible to see how our community has come together for the Venezuelan people who are suffering so much. And I think this is a great item to get things started, right? But I always like action first. with board items, and one of the questions that I

Well, thank you so much. And one of the things that I would add, and maybe we can have as a friendly amendment here, is for the superintendent to reach out to the commissioner of education or the superintendent of education. We are an educational institute. And just reach out and say Miami-Dade County Public Schools is here. Can we help from an educational standpoint? We are an educational institution. And can we offer any support for education? I mean, we We saw it, right? We see it through in all the big crises, whether it be COVID or it be earthquakes. These children are now not going to be

Thank you so much. Superintendent Dorchess, you're recognized.

Thank you. If you guys need to come back to the board, or maybe even as you review this over the next week before a board meeting, if we need to give you any support or any additional language here that the board chair can add to her board item to be able to give you that power, let us know so that we can support the folks here. So thank you so much, Board Chair Rojas, for this incredible item. And we continue to pray for all the people in Venezuela that are suffering so much. So with no further board members to comment on the item, I'll now open up to any co-sponsors. Second. All in favor? Ay

Okay, as amended. Before I move forward, I think Board Member Dr. Bendos-Mendigo, did you have a comment?

Okay. So we'll just finish off with the H's and then we'll come right back to you. All right, so the H items have now been discussed. We'll take a motion to recommend the H items to the board meeting of July 22nd, 2026. All in favor? Okay. Dr. Bendos-Mendigo, you're recognized now.

Thank you so much for the question. I'm happy to take them on. Do you have a series of questions that we want to ask? I do. Do we want to ask them and then we can get a response for all of them, or do you want to go one by one? It's up to you because this is important to your community.

answer them rather one by one or sure okay that would be fine so um so for so for efficiency we don't have to do through the chair or you guys can let's let's move through the questions and that way we can go and you'll recognize mr steiger to respond to the questions of uh board member dr bendos mendigo okay thank you um so yeah dr bender's mendigal for for all of the unsolicited proposals we have a strict

Absolutely, you can continue through all your questions.

You're recognized to answer that question.

I just wanted to add, Dr. Bendos-Mendigo, and if the superintendent can share, we recently did a survey because there was some of these questions in my community that I represent, which is all of our communities, and the district, through the work of Dr. Cabrera, did a really detailed survey of our employees and asking them if they were interested in living in workforce housing within our district because there was some national studies, but we wanted to also get a pulse for our own, and it was very eye-opening because we talk about our teachers, but we have custodians, we have bus drivers, we

Thank you, Dr. Bendos-Mendigo. And just to leave it kind of as a thought for all of us, right, as this conversation came up, I was just at Milam Elementary with our staff the other day walking, and Mr. Bueno was with me, and the principal was mentioning that they didn't have a registrar. And I was like, well, how much does a register make? What do you mean we can't hire someone? A register at a Miami-Dade County Public Schools makes $30,000 a year. They work 52 weeks out of the year, mostly. That equates to about $576 a week. Rent in Hialeah right now averages about $3,000 for a two-bedroom ap

Okay, seeing no questions. Congratulations, Mr. Olivares on your first session. But as you said, that one's passed us. It's now time to start rolling up our sleeves and working again. So thank you, looking forward to working with you. The next item on the agenda is new business from any board members. Do we have any new business? Okay, seeing none, that exhausts today's agenda. There's no further discussion. Yep, yes, Ms. Blanco.

New business, thank you. It's actually a comment on old business, but I think our next budget meeting is the first public budget hearing, correct, right, so I wanted to get some clarification. I know Chair Rojas sent out a memo asking some questions, right, for no response from a board member at that time, but I wanted to get some clarification. When we talked about the budget, and one of the things that we were doing was looking at the small school allocation, right, to do some of our cost savings. And I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that the K-8s, because they have suffered, would, becaus

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I understand that, and that was expressed. We know this isn't final, and like you said, it's the hysteria that builds, right? Before we vote on the budget, will some of that be finalized through the chair?

And a follow-up. And I understand that. But so some of the concerns that the principals may have had in this first round before July 4th, right, can we expect that a lot of those conversations, like you said, for specifically the K-8s and the money that's being set aside, should some of that worry be eased somewhat before? And I know numbers can change, right? I get that. But that overall picture, right? Should some of that be eased before we get into finalizing and voting on the budget through the chair?

And just to give me an idea, how many budget conferences are there before the start of the school year? Are they ongoing? I don't know.

Next we have Chair Rojas, you're recognized.

Thank you so much. I think we then had Is it Board Member Colucci?

Yes, thank you. Okay, Dr. Bendos-Mendigo, you're recognized next, and then I'll go to the other board members.

Thank you so much, Dr. Bentos. I'm going to go to everybody else, but I'm always confused also when we're doing our class sizes and we're talking about 0.5 students. I never knew that there was half students, but I understand that those are calculations. And I think there's board members that follow us, but I have one question. I've never been a school principal, never meant to be one. but I've run large organizations, and when we have reductions, we have reductions across all areas of organizations. And I think it's important for our principals, our schools, and our community to know what are

Thank you for the follow-up, and I understand there might not be a formula, but I can tell you from optics, from the community, from principals, from teachers that I talk to at Publix, at Sedano's, and throughout our community, The cuts don't seem very visible at the central office, just being clearly transparent. We still have the same size cabinet. We still have the same size administration in many ways. And many of our regions have actually somewhat looked like they've grown, at least to the optics of others. When we look out there, I don't have an exact staffing number count. I think maybe

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up on some of the questions that Board Member Colucci was asking. We do have a school allocation plans in place. I was referring to the conversations that we had at our budget hearing, right, where we talked about that the small school allocation was always or was created originally for those smaller schools. But because of enrollment, so many more schools fall under that small school allocation plan that we had to make some changes. to that plan. So I think to the point that Board Member Colucci was making is my understanding is through those conver

Okay. But, and thank you for that follow up again. So the reason I asked the question is when board member Colucci said, are we following the school allocation plan? Not really because the approved allocation plan that's been in place, we have. kind of agreed to, hey, that might be somewhere where we can save $10 million. And so what we're going to be approving is where we've said we're kind of okay with that. And the conversation, like you said, the conversations have been taking place in January. I think you called us in, I don't know, June or something, right, to explain these are the bucke

And I know I understand it, and I appreciate it. The reason I brought it up is because I think Board Member Colucci's question needed a clarifying response because her question was, Are we doing it based on the school allocation plan that's been approved? The answer really is no. We're doing it off when we've had conversations that will be modified from what we've had in the past that will be approved.

through the chair, and I understand that, but I think in the way that Board Member Colucci asked her question and the response, I don't, maybe she understood it, but the way it was asked and answered, I think needed a little bit more elaboration, and so that's all that I was hoping to make sure that her question was clarified. Thank you.

Thank you. We now move to Vice Chair Colucci, and then I have Chairwoman Rojas.

Okay, thank you. And I think we're all put in a very difficult predicament as Mr. Steiger was saying, we're having to, do budgets without having a budget approved and our principals need this. So I think it's important to clarify that we've all been having conversations. We had some meetings. So I think it's important to clarify we have conversations. And look, these are difficult times. Our principals have to realize this. Last year, all of us here on this board together with the superintendent had to go to Tallahassee and say that our numbers were off and the state also took some fault on it

Thank you. With no further questions, yes, Superintendent Dorges, you're recognized.

Thank you. I'll go to you. I just wanted to circle back on the superintendent's point and when you mentioned a school having just a principal and not an assistant principal and that just really reinforces the urgency and importance of consolidation. We have schools out there with less than 200 students that we are having to staff and that is not a realistic formula. It is impacting students across our entire district because dollars are having to go to those students. And then at the end of the day, they're still not getting a good education because they're not receiving top notch education. I

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. And with no further discussion, I move to adjourn today's committee meeting. All those in favor?