Opinion
By Jerry Novack, 9-21-23
Did the Nassau County School District and School Board perpetrate a Fraud against the Citizens of Nassau County with the 1 millage increase? You decide after reading below – the contact information for the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education can be found at the bottom of this article.
Please see the District marketing material below and a definition of fraud with comments beneath
Vote / Referendum
nassau.k12.fl.us
A definition of Fraud from Webster Dictionary – any act of OMISSION or CONCEALMENT calculated to DECEIVE another to his or her DISADVANTAGE specifically a misrepresentation or concealment with reference to some FACT MATERIAL to a transaction that is made WITH KNOWLEDGE of its FALSITY or in Reckless Disregard of its truth or falsity and with the INTENT to DECEIVE another and that is Reasonably Relied Upon by the other who is INJURED thereby.
****The District Material clearly states most of the employee compensation will go to teachers. Only 50.5% went to teachers. Additionally, upon information and belief from the SD budget worksheets, first year Custodians earn the same as many experienced teachers- you judge whether the SD misrepresented a Fact Material with knowledge of its falsity with intent to deceive ****
* SD Material references $13.7m from the Mill increase. However in June 2022, over 4 months before Election Day, there was a report from the tax assessors office that was well above that $13.7m ; and in addition SD had knowledge that by 23/24 the $$ involved would even exceed the June 2022 report. This SD chose not to update its marketing material thus concealing the assessors report; never made it public including the belief 23/24 would be even higher.
Additionally SD could have and should have provided a graph to the public showing
a range of property tax increases they could reasonably expect.
You judge if the above are concealments or omissions in any effort to deceive and manipulate the vote ***
**** Marketing Referendum Graph of Decreasing Millage rates for the past decade Re: state funding
While the graph appears accurate the SD purposefully omitted a like graph of actual $$ received from the state – had they included that graph one would see that while millage decreased substantially, state funding did not – you judge if this is Intent to Deceive.
In Summary:
a) The statement by the SD in their marketing referendum that MOST of the employee compensation is for teachers is just not true – it’s barely half ( see below $$ received from a SB member )
b) SD chose to IGNORE a June 22 report from the tax assessor’s office showing the $13.7 raise in their marketing materials was going to be higher based upon 22/23 estimates. Upon information and belief SD knew it would be even higher 23/24.
c) The millage reduction graph in the marketing material, ( and on the SD website ) while not incorrect, is willfully misleading. SD chose not inform citizens of the HARD $$’s actually being received from the state.
d) SD chose not to inform citizens a % range of school property tax increases citizens could expect.
All of the above swayed the vote.
Also note that the SD budget increased by approximately $25m or 10% from approximately $248m to $273m
Information Provided by SB Member
Projected Expenditures 1 mill
70% for Employee Compensation $11,358,569.00
12% for Safety $1,947,183.00
9% for Arts $1,460,388.00
9% for Athletics $1,460,388.00
Estimated Expenditures for Employee Compensation
Instructional Personnel (NTA unit – 941.5 employees) $5,736,305.00 (50.5%)
Support Personnel (NESPA unit – 681.5 employees) $4,152,238.00
Other Support Personnel (83) $506,081.00
Administration (65) $396,017.00
Projected Revenue from the 1 Mil $16,226,529.00
Contact DOE Commissioner Manny Diaz
[email protected] if you feel that a deeper dive into the millage rate is warranted.
Jerry Novack has been CFO of two public companies, currently consults, relocated locally in 2021 and has a great interest in transparency in government.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
