Approve H. Lee Moffitt for Legislative Consulting Services for the Balance of the 2007 Regular Legislative Session and Subsequent Special Sessions.

The 2007 Regular Legislative Session will include the development of the General Appropriations Act, (GAA) and the substantive bills that affect the School Board, and property tax reform. Because state funding for public education relies heavily upon the legislatively established use of property tax revenue, (to generate the total potential revenue for school districts), property tax reform is a critical issue. Local property taxes are set by the legislature in statute and in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). The GAA determines the required levy of property taxes needed to fund the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP). This levy is the required local effort (RLE). School Boards must levy the millage required to generate their share of RLE needed to participate in the FEFP. Participation in the FEFP returns to our schools approximately $2.00 in state funds for each dollar of local property tax revenue contributed to the FEFP, and keeps school tax levies well below the 10-mill cap. The levy of “local discretionary millage” at the total rate of .76 mills generates funding that the legislature uses to determine the total potential revenue available for each student. Recent changes in legislation have added state dollars to the local discretionary millage to compensate for the relatively low tax base and high number of students in Hillsborough County. That additional money, (“compression adjustment”), helps insure that the state meets the Constitutional requirement to equitably fund students regardless of their place of residence. This adjustment increases the value of the “discretionary” local revenue by adding over $20 million state revenue to the district budget. Last year the School Board members honored their commitments and put 100% of that extra revenue directly into teacher salaries, helping to fund the significant pay raise negotiated for teachers last year.

Because of the importance of the issue, the Board’s commitment to be a positive participant in the property tax reform effort, and the complexity of property tax reform issues, proper coverage of legislative committees directly related to property tax reform must be maintained in addition to the coverage required for committees and issues directly related to education. The schedules of the House of Representatives create conflicts among the four committees responsible for education policy. The schedules and assignments of both the House of Representatives and the Senate create conflicts among committees and members working on property tax issues and education issues. To maintain the ability of district staff to continue to work with legislative staff additional support is needed. To help provide this additional coverage it is requested that the services of H. Lee Moffitt, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, be added to the team working with our legislators for the balance of this session and any subsequent special sessions.

$25,000 to be paid from the general operating budget, Divisional Budget for District Wide Expense, Line 7 Page 1.