County and school officials agree to a joint task force on the issue.
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 12, 2005
TAMPA - Against a backdrop of growing rancor, top Hillsborough County and school officials agreed in principle Tuesday to create a joint task force to address crowded classrooms.
The tentative accord calls for the creation of a 15-member task force that would suggest ways to deal with exploding growth. The group would include representatives of the commission and school board, the county's three cities, a planner, parents, and construction and business interests.
Participants in Tuesday's discussion said they expect the group to finish its work by the end of the year. That would leave enough time to craft a possible referendum in 2006 seeking public support for a school construction spending plan that could include sales tax and impact fee increases.
"I think the effort will result in positive solutions," said school superintendent MaryEllen Elia.
Tuesday's hastily called meeting included Elia, County Administrator Pat Bean, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms and one of her aides, and took place in Bean's office at the County Center. Last week, Storms blasted School Board members and the district's past administration for failing to show leadership on the school crowding issue.
Storms proposed and won support for a task force to address the issue. During the meeting, she could be heard reiterating the same concerns she voiced last week: That School Board members are failing to address crowding, are assigning blame to the county and are attacking her.
After more than an hour of sometimes heated exchanges, Elia and Storms emerged and exchanged kisses on the cheek.
Storms then distributed a letter that asks the School Board to support letting the county refuse development proposals where schools are over capacity, or to form a plan for at least considering school space when reviewing rezoning proposals.
The back and forth between the two boards comes as the school district wrestles with a projected $364-million shortfall for new classroom construction over the next five years.
Elia said the task force will analyze ways to create additional school space, how to pay for it and how better to time school construction with new residential development.
Storms, meanwhile, said she will not serve as the County Commission's task force representative to avoid appearances that she is using the issue for political reasons.
At a School Board meeting Tuesday night, board members took several steps to raise public awareness about their concerns over growth.
They created a position: manager of growth management. That person, who will earn $77,468 annually, will coordinate growth-related activities and serve as the liaison with local governments. Applications for the job are due by Friday.
Hillsborough is among six Florida school districts serving as a testing ground for the state's school concurrency law, approved by lawmakers earlier this year. The law could give local governments the ability to deny developments where schools are too full.
School Board Chairwoman Candy Olson asked that a letter be mailed to commissioners making them aware of routine audits of the school district's financial practices since some of them said they want to make sure the district has been properly spending taxpayer dollars.
She said the letter also will make a more explicit request for a discussion about a year-old study recommending higher developer impact fees that could raise money for school construction.
Last week, Olson wrote County Commission Chairman Jim Norman and called Hillsborough's $196 impact fee "inordinately low." An increase, she said, is "justifiable."
"Apparently," Olson said Tuesday, "our first letter to commissioners wasn't specific enough."
