Board reviews package of proposed policy revisions; asks legal staff to confirm limits on charter millage spending

At a workshop on Aug. 26 the Brevard Public Schools board reviewed a batch of proposed policy revisions, raising substantive questions about charter school millage distributions, middle‑school curriculum language tied to statute, and other technical corrections. Board member Campbell questioned a draft provision that would require charter schools to “adhere to the same spending categories, compensation programs, and technology” specified for district schools when they receive a share of a locally approved operational millage. “Do we can we put that limit on them, or does it when I was trying to remember the language, and I couldn't find it,” Campbell said. Staff replied the ballot language requires only a proportionate share for charter schools and that the statute primarily governs their share; legal staff agreed to check whether the district may legally require the additional spending‑category adherence or whether the provision should be removed. Legal/staff discussion also clarified that state statute distinguishes operational millage (for recurring operating costs) from surtaxes or bonds (for capital); staff noted that operational dollars have more limited allowable uses by statute. The board’s working direction was to have legal staff “look at it just to say whether we can legally do it. If we can't legally do it, we would strike it.” Other policy items discussed: staff confirmed that new state statute prescribes grade bands for disability‑history and awareness instruction; the board supported a proposal to give participating marching‑band and color‑guard students credit toward physical education; and the board discussed a proposed deletion of an optional policy requiring opioid antagonists (naloxone) on campus, noting that school resource officers already carry doses and that a district purchase would be recurring and expensive. Staff said several of the policy items originated from Neola model updates and recent legislative action and that more detailed redlines would be returned to the board after legal review. No formal board votes were taken on the package; staff were assigned to verify statutory constraints for charter spending language and to return language revisions for formal consideration.