Volusia Schools used COVID money to fund longtime programs. Now those classes are in jeopardy

DELAND — After students and parents spoke out Tuesday about teacher displacement and the possibility of losing programming, Volusia County Schools Superintendent Carmen Balgobin explained why the district faced such economic challenges.

Balgobin, who was hired in May 2022, said she “inherited” debt and financial issues from her predecessors.

Balgobin explained that an audit of the Department of Budget and Finance conducted about four years ago revealed that the district’s budget formula hadn’t been updated in years.

Shortly after that, the state of Florida started providing funding in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Balgobin continued.

The district announced March 21 that Volusia, along with other districts statewide, will no longer receive federal funding provided in recent years to mitigate gaps stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, a number of teachers will be moved to different schools or reassigned within their buildings.

Danielle Johnson, Volusia’s director of community information, previously told The News-Journal that the district has received about $200 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief I, II and III funding. She said this does not include additional sub-ESSER grants the district has received, such as the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Grants and the American Rescue Plan Grants.

According to the Florida Department of Education, ESSER I funding ended Sept. 30, 2022, and ESSER II funding ended Sept. 30, 2023. Johnson said that ESSER III funding will “sunset” this September.

Balgobin noted that when the district first received these funds, the initial plan did not include using them for nonrecurring expenses. However, a few months later, that plan changed, Balgobin said, and the funding was used to support recurring positions.

“If you go and ask any superintendent in the state of Florida — 67 to be precise — some of them are elected, some of them are appointed. Not one of those 67 superintendents, including myself, would state to any of you in here that they would want to be placed into a position as which I am in right now,” Balgobin said.

Balgobin said when she became superintendent about a year-and-a-half ago, she had another audit conducted.

“The audit revealed exactly the same findings from the previous audit four years ago, so we knew that our funding formula that we were utilizing to fund schools were not updated,” she said.

Balgobin said that she will be “fiscally prudent” when it comes to decision-making.

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In order to properly adjust the budget formula to ensure that it mirrors how the state provides district funding, Balgobin said she and her team have spent “countless of hours” ideating and “had to think very creatively.”

While core classes are non-negotiable, Balgobin said that she has had conversations with principals “about where flexibility could be exerted.”

“This was not an easy decision,” she said. “But was it necessary? Absolutely, based on what we’ve inherited.”

How many teachers will be displaced in Volusia County?

It is unclear exactly how many teachers will be impacted by staffing changes.

Volusia United Educators President Elizabeth Albert told The News-Journal that while the number seems to be “ever-changing,” currently, an estimated 200 teachers will be affected, based on information she has received from the district.

Johnson previously confirmed that teachers will not lose their jobs as a result of the budget adjustments and also that the number of impacted teachers is smaller than the number of expected vacancies.

Johnson said the district strives to balance positions across the county and align those positions to specific school and student needs each year.

“The difference is that this year, schools will be able to allocate staff according to students’ interests and needs instead of a district-driven model,” she said in an email to The News-Journal.

Albert explained that while reassignments might not be as “challenging as a displacement,” which requires moving and acclimating to a new school, they are still an uncomfortable disruption to a teacher’s rhythm, and they do not allow teachers to perform at their “peak” skill level.

“It happens every year, but it shouldn’t be a normal trend,” she said. “We want teachers to get into an area where they can find their niche and become masters at that content. We want them to know the standards forwards and backwards. We want them to build fluency, and so, if they’re constantly moving, then they can’t build that fluency, which means they’re not necessarily at the top of their game when they’re delivering that content to kids.”

Community concerned Volusia Schools programming is at risk

More than 20 individuals — students, parents, teachers and community members — spoke about proposed staffing changes at Tuesday's school board meeting.

Some students and parents raised concerns about losing school arts programming.

Zion Tapp, a senior at Deltona High School, said performing solos has given him the "biggest boost of confidence," and that his school's choral arts program has served as a "safe place" for him and other students.

“I just can’t fathom the idea of a school without a choir, a school without a marching band for a school football game,” Tapp said. “It’s just going to be quiet in the stands? … It makes no sense to me.”

David Root, a junior at Deltona High, told the board that he has worked hard the past few years and that he was looking forward to spending his senior year doing what he loved most: exploring musical arts in hopes of pursuing musical therapy.

“Yesterday, I was told by my choir teacher that the school, who has been nothing but encouraging and supportive of this program, was forced to displace her due to your funding cuts. I blame you,” he said to the board. “As a result, I have lost not only a teacher, but a friend and a mentor who has helped me not only in my musical and extracurricular activities, but helped motivate me to stay engaged in my studies and find a path in life.”

Root’s mother, Alison Root, also spoke, noting that the program cuts as a result of teacher displacements “make no sense." She asked the board if it used temporary funding for permanent planning.

“To say I’m disappointed in the current situation in our district is an understatement. I am in a state of utter confusion trying to rationalize how COVID funding is affecting programs that have been in our schools for decades,” she said. “I hope you understand that what your, you and your lack of planning, has taken from my son his senior year and what it’s taken from me as a parent. You have, you have stolen his lasts.”

Teachers also spoke up.

Octavia Jones is a physical education teacher at University High School. She said she recently learned that a female co-worker in the PE department is being displaced and a male teacher is being reassigned in her place. Jones said she will be the sole woman teaching in University's PE department, and as a result, she will be the only staff member responsible for supervising 60 to 80 girls at one time in the locker room. In the meantime, the number of men will increase from four to five.

“I’m here today to ask you for your prompt intervention to ensure this does not happen and to ensure that I continue to have the support of a female PE teacher in our department to ensure safety and well-being of our female PE students."

Concern of overcrowding classrooms in Volusia County Schools

Albert also said that although units may close as a result of teachers being displaced and reassigned, students who utilized such programs will still need to be accounted for.

One of Albert's biggest concerns is that class sizes will eventually become too large.

“Essentially, districts can put just about as many kids as they want in a classroom and stick a teacher in there and say ‘Go to town,’ and expect them to execute the things that they need to do,” she said. “That doesn’t work.”

Albert noted that students learn best in small groups and that it is harder to fill in learning gaps in larger classrooms. Additionally, she said, an increase in class size could result in more disruptive student behavior and/or violence in the classroom. Plus, she noted, the district may soon be in a place where there physically might not be enough space in classroom to adequately accommodate for the number of students and desks in a class.

She also said teacher displacements and reassignments are not helping the district's ability to retain teachers.

“The district, to me,” Albert said, “is moving in a direction where they have lost sight of the need of humanity that it takes to be effective at teaching, and that’s going to have a rippling effect for years to come.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia Schools' debt puts programs in jeopardy