JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Chapter of the NAACP invited parents, educators and students to come together for a town hall Tuesday night to discuss Duval County’s plan to close and consolidate dozens of schools within the district.
The NAACP discussed why schools are closing after voters approved a half-cent sales tax to build and maintain campuses.
Both the interim Duval County Public Schools superintendent and school board president were at the town hall meeting at the Beaver Street Enterprise Center at 1225 West Beaver St.
The district is proposing the closure of nearly 30 Duval County schools to make up for a $1.4 billion gap in the budget.
Hank Rogers, the Vice President of the Jacksonville NAACP chapter, said it was important for them to create a space for the community to clear up misinformation.
“To hear 30 schools could be on the chopping block to phase $1.4 billion is an important conversation to have because it’s not only affecting the Northside, but the county,” Rogers said. “It’s so important for us to bring people together to get the information and get their questions answered.”
INTERACTIVE MAP: Duval County School Board’s proposal to close & realign schools
The potential closure could eliminate a handful of magnet schools, saving the district close to $77 million.
The district maintains that the plan to consolidate is primarily fueled by a drop in enrollment as more students attend private and charter schools. The district lost 30,000 students over the last 10 years.
In a statement, the Jacksonville NAACP Branch questioned why the closures are necessary after voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase in 2020 and a millage rate increase in 2022.
Rogers said he felt they got a satisfactory answer.
“We understand the impact that charter schools are now having on our school district. We understand the voucher and how that has impacted our district,” Rogers said.
School Board Chair Darryl Willie said the educational landscape has been changing since 2019. He also said the school board has created systems for the half-cent sales tax and the millage.
“We put an oversight committee for the half-penny sales tax. We also now have the audit advisory committee looking at the one mill to make sure that as we’re moving through it, we’re doing what’s right by the community,” Willie said. “So at the end of the day, my hope is that community input will be involved, but we have to make some of these tough decisions if it’s going to be the best for students.”
Willie said they have to build new schools in order to compete.
“We owe it to the community to actually build these schools because one of the reasons we went for that half penny is because we have some of the oldest schools in the state,” Willie said. “It’s great to have the nostalgia of those schools that you went to back in the day but my kids, my 6-year-old and my 8-year-old need to be going to schools that are state-of-the-art, innovative, and have all of the resources.”
In addition to the meeting Tuesday night, the district also created a “Frequently Asked Questions” post on its website to give a breakdown of what is being considered in the plan and why.
The district is giving three reasons it says are fueling these discussions.
The first one is “Operational Revenue and Falling Enrollment.”
Plainly put, the more students enroll, the more money the district gets.
Expansion of the state’s school choice voucher system and increased interest in charter schools have led to a drop in students attending Duval County public schools.
DCPS says inflation and a new state law that requires revenue to be shared with charter schools led to the $1.4 billion gap in master facility plan funding, despite the half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2020.
The district also says boundary zone requirements are being considered as decisions are made about which schools may close.
All students in the district must be zoned to a neighborhood school despite school choice.
The district says boundary lines have evolved over the years as neighborhoods have changed and new schools have opened.
The district already informed employees that more than 700 positions could also be cut because of dwindling enrollment and the loss of COVID-19 relief funds.
Monique Tookes has four children enrolled in DCPS. While her children’s current schools aren’t affected by the potential consolidation, some of the schools her children graduated from could be affected.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just about my children, It’s the children in that community. I know what we promised that particular community for that particular school, and we need to live up to it,” Tookes said.
RELATED: DCPS says its goal is to offer jobs to those whose positions are set to be eliminated | Teachers Union president feels like DCPS is ‘going backward’ with elimination of hundreds of positions
Willie said the consolidation plan is still in early conversations. He said they will have meetings and focus groups in the fall to tweak the plan before making their final decision.