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Highlands board hears explanation of FEFP, required local effort and millage limits
Summary
Bond counsel and the district—s financial advisor told the Highlands County School Board workshop that state FEFP rules and statutory millage caps limit local discretion, and that levying discretionary millage is effectively required to secure a $4.3 million compression supplement and other state funding.
Ritesh Patel, bond counsel with Neighbors, Giblin & Nickerson, and John Ford, financial advisor with Ford and Associates, briefed the Highlands County School Board on K-12 funding formulas and the limits the Legislature places on local millage decisions.
Patel and Ford told the board the primary operating funding source for Florida school districts is the Florida Educational Finance Program (FEFP), and that participation in FEFP requires districts to levy the statutorily computed required local effort (RLE). Patel said, "In order to participate in state FEFP funding . . . the district must levy the required local effort at the rate set by the Legislature." The presenters outlined how the state computes gross FEFP dollars and how required local effort and adjustments yield a district—s net FEFP allocation.
The discussion matters because Highlands relies heavily on state dollars and faces trade-offs between operating and capital millages. Board members were given projected…
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