Current Developments in Public School Concurrency

School overcrowding is a big problem in Florida because the population has grown so much. The state government has passed a $2.7 billion plan to build more schools, which should help. But there are still disagreements about how to pay for all the new schools needed. In Broward County, there are rules in place to limit new housing developments based on how many kids will go to the local schools. But the state government says these rules are not legal. So, we still have to figure out the best way to deal with school overcrowding. Concurrency is a tool used to make sure there are enough public facilities like roads, sewer systems, and schools to support new development. Local governments have to create a plan for how they will provide these facilities and make sure they are available when new development happens. Right now, seven types of facilities have to meet these standards, but in the past, schools were made optional by local governments. To extend concurrency to schools, the government needs to study how they will meet the requirements and work with the school board and other groups. If all the requirements are met, they can regulate new development until there are enough schools to handle the impact of the new development. School concurrency is a system that makes sure that the growth of a community does not outpace the capacity of its schools. It sets standards for things like the number of students a school can handle, the facilities it has, and the number of teachers. If a school cannot meet these standards, then new residential developments may not be allowed until the school can handle the growth. Each county in Florida has its own school district, and the school board in each county is responsible for making sure the schools can meet these standards. The school board has the power to make decisions about funding, building, and running public schools. They also decide where the schools will be and who can go to them. But they don’t have the power to approve new construction or make land use rules – that’s up to the local government. Local governments have a big impact on public schools, even though they can’t control them directly. They have to come up with a plan for future development and make rules for land use. This plan has to be based on good information and be able to respond to future events. And any new development has to follow the rules in the plan. It’s all about making sure there’s enough space for schools and that they can handle future growth. For a school to impose a requirement for new developments to have enough space in public schools, they have to first do a study. This study helps figure out how the requirement will be met and shared by everyone involved. The best way to do this is by making agreements between the school and the local government. The study is like a plan that shows how the government and the school will work together to make sure there are enough school spaces for new students. If a local government wants to make sure that new schools are built at the same time as new neighborhoods are developed, they have to change their plan to show where and when new schools will be built, how much they will cost, and where the money will come from. The plan also has to make sure that there will be enough schools for all the new students. The schools themselves decide how many students they can handle, and if they can’t keep up with the number of new students, the plan is not following the law. There are still some questions about how to decide if there are enough schools, and those questions need to be answered by the local government. To address the problems with overcrowded schools, the local government and school board need to work together and create a plan for building more classrooms and facilities. They need to make sure this plan is financially feasible and meets certain requirements. This will involve both parties collaborating and sharing responsibility for managing the school system. It’s important for them to work together to make sure the needs of the schools are met as the area grows and changes. Broward County tried to make a rule that new development can only happen if there are enough schools nearby. The state government said they didn’t have enough information to make that rule. The state also said the county didn’t have enough plans for fixing existing school problems and handling new students. Broward County and the school board made changes to their agreement, but the state government said the changes didn’t follow the law. They had to make more changes to follow the rules. Some groups, like the Homebuilders Association and the Realtors, didn’t agree with the changes and asked for a hearing. The Economic Development Council also got involved. After trying to work it out, all the cases were put together and a final decision was made in June 1997. The judge said the changes to the school zone were not legal because they didn’t show how the schools would get the money they needed, had other problems, and didn’t work with other government groups. Also, the changes didn’t have clear goals for how the school board should decide where students go to school. Florida’s school concurrency system presents challenges for local administrators, developers, homeowners, and parents. The lack of standards for school attendance zones caused issues with capacity allocation and approval of development projects. The system also failed to determine if there was enough school capacity available. Additionally, the capital facilities program adopted by the county was found to be defective. Florida law requires the program to cover at least a five-year period, but it only covered three years and part of another year. This violated the rules set by the state board of education and the department of education. The public school capital facilities program didn’t follow the rules because it didn’t explain how it would fix existing problems, accommodate future growth, or replace old buildings. It also didn’t show how the schools would be provided at a good level of service. It’s not enough to just identify where the money will come from. The program needs to show that it will make sure the schools have what they need. The capital improvements element of a comprehensive plan needs to be economically possible and must consider the need for and location of public facilities. It must also specify when, where, and how these facilities will be built and paid for. All parts of a comprehensive plan must be based on accurate data. In this case, the school facilities plan needs to be based on solid data and must ensure that there will be enough space for future development. The plan also needs to work together with other local governments and make joint decisions about things like where to build schools and how many students to expect. In this case, the plan did not meet these requirements. Broward County tried to make a plan to coordinate building new schools with new developments, but they didn’t do a good job. They didn’t give enough details and their plan didn’t meet the standards required by law. Now the state government is going to review the plan and decide if it’s okay. It’s unclear if other local governments will try to make similar plans in the future. This article talks about the criteria for land use and environmental planning in Florida. It’s written by two lawyers from a law firm in Tampa and Miami. They are experts in land use and environmental law. The article was also helped by two other people. The article was submitted by the Environmental and Land Use Law Section.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/current-developments-in-public-school-concurrency/