Educators from rural counties will host a breakfast at the Governor’s Club on Thursday morning. The event, scheduled in the midst of Rural County Days in Tallahassee, will touch on concerns for Florida’s small School Districts.
“In rural school districts, everybody knows each other. These are truly community schools,” said John Selover, Executive Director of the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium. That consortium is one of three such regional entities hosting the event, along with the Heartland Educational Consortium and North East Florida Educational Consortium.
Jim Norton, Gulf County Superintendent of Schools and Florida’s longest-serving Superintendent, noted that rural counties more often have long-serving, elected Superintendents who boast a particular understanding of families’ educational needs.
“Small county educators are convened to discuss things important to education,” he said. “One size does not fit all.”
Selover said the event created an opportunity for Superintendents and officials from Florida’s 37 small counties to come together in the state’s capital city during the Legislative Session.
Education consortiums are authorized by statute and allow smaller counties to share resources and services, such as risk management pools for property and casualty insurance, financial administration, professional development and cooperative purchasing.
The Panhandle consortium, for example, includes 13 county School Districts, along with a pair of schools run by Florida A&M University and Florida State University in the region. Those university-headed schools and other ones around Florida operate independent of School Districts and thus are able to participate in the consortiums.
The meeting also occurs as lawmakers tackle a number of issues surrounding education and policy in public schools, including the impact of universal school choice and the expansion of Schools of Hope charter school operations, matters that have financially impacted districts of all sizes.
Officials said the breakfast marks a chance for lawmakers to communicate directly with school leaders on policy, and many Superintendents plan to visit with lawmakers in the Capitol during the trip as well.
