Escambia commissioners order deeper review of Children's Trust after sharp debate on funding and equity

More than a dozen residents, nonprofit leaders and school staff urged — and warned against — changes to the Escambia Children's Trust Wednesday, prompting the Board of County Commissioners to order a detailed review before moving forward.

Supporters of the trust said the locally funded program has begun to deliver measurable services for children across the county. "Over the last three years, we have funded programs serving more than 10,000 children across Escambia County," Lindsey Cannon, executive director of the Escambia Children's Trust, told the board. "We have had clean independent audits without any findings." Cannon urged commissioners not to put the trust to a referendum this year while it continues to expand services countywide.

Teachers and program leaders described classroom-level impacts. Cynthia Brown, a teacher at Global Learning Academy, said the trust's Healthy Schools Escambia funding is a lifeline for Title I schools and argued losing it would "have severe negative impacts on our community and our future." James Washington, whose youth sports and education program receives trust funding, said students who have been in the program are improving grades and test scores.

Critics and some commissioners raised questions about distribution, oversight and cost per participant. "When you look at the way dollars have been deployed and the children that have been served, I'm concerned about the ROI," Commissioner Mike Kohler said, citing program budgets and per‑participant figures in the trust's annual report. Commissioners and several speakers pointed to a concentration of funded programs and participants in some districts and questioned whether the dollars are equitably reaching the highest-need neighborhoods.

Several residents who opposed an immediate renewal said the county should hold the trust accountable through audits and stricter grant metrics. "Fix it if it stays. If not, say goodbye," Kevin Wade, a longtime community volunteer, said.

Rather than place a referendum on the ballot this year, the board directed staff to schedule a committee-of-the-whole meeting with representatives from the Children's Trust and the school district to examine distribution maps, outcome metrics, program costs and other gaps. At the meeting commissioners asked that ECT provide district‑level counts, cost per participant calculations and evidence of net-new services.

The move stops short of an immediate ballot measure and is intended to give commissioners more time and data before deciding whether to ask voters to renew or alter the trust funding. Commissioners noted the sensitivity of a ballot that could interact with a separate, forthcoming local option sales tax renewal and the need to avoid jeopardizing essential county revenue.

The committee-of-the-whole will be scheduled by staff; commissioners requested ECT and school board staff attend to present program-by-district metrics and answer questions about equity, audits and sustainability.