Highlands superintendent unveils draft fiscal recovery plan proposing program changes to restore fund balance
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Summary
Superintendent Dr. Longshore presented a draft fiscal recovery plan after falling below the 3% statutory fund-balance target, proposing shifting the alternative academy to virtual instruction, returning core classes for Highlands Career Institute students to home high schools while preserving vocational offerings, and eliminating optional VPK classrooms; the measures aim to recapture roughly $4 million in the near term.
Superintendent Dr. Longshore told the Highlands County School Board in a public workshop that the district has experienced a years-long enrollment decline and a recent jump in health-insurance costs that together have driven the general fund below the state'required 3% fund balance.
Longshore said enrollment in 2017 stood at 12,388; the district's forecast for the coming year is about 11,169 students. She told the board that Family Empowerment Scholarship expansion in March 2023 has accelerated student departures to nonpublic options, creating a fiscal gap the district must address.
To restore the fund balance, Longshore presented a two-part fiscal recovery plan: near-term actions to reach July 1 and longer-term measures for the next school year. Near-term savings already captured, she said, include last year's school and staffing consolidations that saved about $5.5 million and more recent staff reductions and transfers. The district also reported losing roughly $750,000 in a third-state calculation that reduced anticipated revenue, she said.
Her recommended next steps include: closing the district's alternative academy and moving instruction to a virtual model (estimated savings about $896,000 plus $68,000 in transportation), reconfiguring Highlands Career Institute so students take core courses at their home high schools while continuing vocational instruction at South Florida State College (estimated savings about $565,000), discontinuing optional VPK classrooms (estimated $425,000), and reducing district-office expenses (about $600,000). Longshore said the combined package would move the district close to a 3.4% fund balance for 2026'27 under the current projection.
Longshore stressed the plan is a draft submitted to the state on an accelerated timeline. "They asked us to put together a financial recovery plan and gave us a very short window," she said. The superintendent said the state found the draft measures a reasonable near-term effort while acknowledging the plan may be adjusted.
The board did not take formal action at the workshop; Longshore said the presentation was intended to solicit public input and refine options. She also said staff would provide additional detail requested by board members, including a Highlands Virtual School return-on-investment analysis and a breakdown of Highlands Virtual employees and positions.
Public comment at the workshop was extensive: speakers urged the board to minimize disruption to students, preserve program access and examine alternative savings before removing face-to-face options. Longshore and board members said they would continue outreach and analysis before any formal votes.
What happens next: the district will collect more input, produce cost and staffing breakdowns requested by the board, and return to the board with refined recommendations and procedural options ahead of any vote.