Highlands board workshop reviews $6 million in personnel cuts, shifts roles to maintain programs

At a May 15 workshop, the Highlands School District presented a second draft of its personnel allocations that district leaders said reduces the budget by $6,000,000 while reallocating staff across schools to preserve key programs.

Dr. Longshore, the district superintendent, told the board the district is "still waiting on our budget from Tallahassee," and said the district’s goal was to "reduce our budget by $6,000,000 and we have done that." Staff presented specific staffing changes intended to reach that target and maintain classroom supports.

The personnel memo reviewed by the board includes multiple targeted changes: a net decrease of two assistant principal units with an AP added at Avon Park High and a reduction at Highlands Career Institute; a conversion that removes one classroom teacher at the academy and adds a lead teacher at the Highlands Career Institute; a conversion at several elementary schools where an art or music allocation was changed into a dean at Memorial; and multiple adjustments to paraeducator staffing tied to individualized education program (IEP) needs.

District staff said guidance and dean allocations at some sites are being combined as fractional positions. "That's 1 person combined. Doing both jobs," a staff member said about a 0.5 dean and 0.5 guidance allocation at Highlands Virtual and the academy, explaining the two half allocations will be covered by a single staffer shared across programs.

The district also proposed operational changes: the Communications and Special Projects Coordinator position would be removed and a Safety and Security/AVID Coordinator position created. "I will be bringing to you a job description for a coordinator for safety and security," the presenter said, and staff said some duties will be distributed among other employees while the bulk stays with the new coordinator role.

Program-specific reallocations were detailed. Highlands Virtual School will supply a 0.5 aerospace teaching unit to cover students at Sebring High School on a scheduled day, using a Highlands Virtual instructor with a Navy engineering background who would travel to Sebring on that day. Staff reported the aerospace program has capacity for "about fifty-five kids," 82 students had passed the application process and roughly 30 were on a waitlist.

Special education (ESE) para allocations shifted across campuses: staff described a net increase of three para units districtwide driven by student needs, with decreases at Fred Wilde and increases at Cracker Trail and Park. District staff emphasized that para allocations tied to IEPs are determined by the IEP team and that classroom para staffing follows established formulas for one-to-one and enhancement support.

Other changes include a reduction in some clerical positions (the communications coordinator secretary and a data operator clerk among them) and adjustments tied to federal grant funding; staff said a migrant teacher unit and a migrant para at Memorial were reduced because migrant student counts have declined to "very low enrollment" (one speaker estimated perhaps eight students at a site).

Board members and public speakers raised concerns about the combined effects of the staffing changes, workloads and classroom impacts. Miss Federico, a teacher who spoke during public comment, criticized the interaction of planning periods and pay: "If you're going to not let them teach that extra hour and require them to take planning, you need 1 seventh more teachers," she said, and warned that shifting planning periods back could increase class sizes to "30, 35 kids in a class. That's not good teaching."

Board members asked staff to return with additional data. Staff said they will provide updated Title funding information ahead of a mid-June deadline for Title applications and that the district will schedule another workshop once final budget numbers from the state are available. Enrollment figures shown at the workshop listed Highlands Virtual at 140 students and the academy at 147 students (about 287–290 combined), and staff said they will reconvene if state budget allocations or fall enrollment deviate substantially.

The workshop did not include a formal vote; staff characterized the session as a review and said they will bring job descriptions and updated funding numbers to future meetings. The board adjourned after public comment and follow-up questions.

Ending — The board requested follow-up materials, including job descriptions for the proposed safety-and-security coordinator, updated Title funding allocations before the June 15 application deadline, and more detailed ESE staffing formulas for review at a future workshop.