ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said the St. Lucie County School District can’t count on public money to fund its entire budget and hopes to turn to a private corporation for financial help.
The district plans to partner with a private education company in hopes of getting discounts and other special deals that will ultimately stretch the district’s dollars.
Under the plan, which was unveiled at Tuesday’s St. Lucie County School Board meeting, the district will seek proposals from international companies willing to provide financial incentives and other support for doing business with them, Lannon said.
Potential business partners could include major publishing houses and other “educational content providers,” who Lannon said could also benefit from the partnership.
“We are exactly what they’re looking for,” Lannon said, noting the district’s diversity in demographics and income. “These companies look at us as a model. If they can win here, they can export that around the world.”
It could be a way for a textbook company to show their books, computer programs and curriculum can help students make large learning gains, Lannon said.
Lannon went over the four-part plan in detail Tuesday and said the first step was getting proposals from companies. Then he hopes to recommend a partner to the board before Christmas.
“As the CEO of the school board, I view this as the perfect time to be looking for private partnership funding because public dollars are dwindling and there is little or no prospect that they will improve over the next year to three years,” Lannon said. “If we’re going to move the mission of St. Lucie County forward, then we’re going to have to do some things differently.”
Lannon said the partnership would focus on four areas: expanding and enhancing early childhood education for 3-year-olds through third-grade, help in the creation of the St. Lucie County Parent Academy and the development of a comprehensive science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum and attacking the “digital divide.”
The digital divide is the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. Children that have access have a distinct advantage over children who don’t have access, Lannon said, adding that nearly seven of every 10 children come from homes of poverty in St. Lucie.
The company could help the district by providing training to teachers, classroom materials and financial support, such as discounts on textbooks or contributions to run a program like the parent academy or to help fund programs to bring technology to students. For the digital divide, Lannon said the district’s Instructional Technology department has been working with the city of Fort Pierce to try to get grants to create a cloud or citywide wireless Internet network.
In December 2004, the district started a similar partnership with Panasonic, a major electronics company. The relationship allowed the district to stretch technology dollars.
“Some of this has to be our own money,” Lannon said. “We’re going to buy math books, we’re going to buy science books and certain kinds of technology, but if we can buy it using the market value like we did when we had the international partnership with Panasonic International ... We got our devices at prices far below the prices the state of Florida could buy on their contract agreements. It gave us a bigger bang for the buck of taxpayers money.”
Lannon presented the plan Tuesday because it was the last board meeting for two veteran members — Judi Miller, who has been on the board for 24 years, and 16-year-member John Carvelli. Newly elected board members Deborah Johnson Hawley and Donna Mills will be sworn in at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 16.
Miller praised the plan during the meeting.
“I’m so excited to see the future that is coming,” Miller said. “I just think the sky’s the limit.”
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