School board member says budget didn’t pass

Laura Lawhon concerned it wasn’t done properly; recording of meeting indicates it was


Laura Lawhon

By: WILLIAM SNOWDEN
Editor

School board member Laura Lawhon expressed concern last week that the district’s budget was not properly passed at the public hearing on Sept. 11.
Lawhon told fellow board members  at their meeting on Monday, Oct. 16, when they took up approval of the minutes of that Sept. 11 meeting.
Lawhon said a motion was never made to approve the budget, and said  she took her concerns to the district’s legal counsel, who told her that she had a duty to tell other school board members that the budget had not been properly passed.
Superintendent Bobby Pearce countered that the millage rate levy and the budget resolution were passed appropriately – and that the vote is borne out by the audio recording of the meeting.
The Sun listened to the audio recording of the Sept. 11 meeting and confirmed that, on the millage levy, school board member Josh Brown made the motion to approve and it was seconded by school board member Eddie Hand. The vote is indicated to be unanimous, with aye votes by Brown, Hand, chair Melisa Taylor, and school board members Cale Langston and Lawhon.
On the audio recording, after the vote, Taylor reads the language dealing with the millage rate levy and the rollback rate. (The language probably should have been read before the vote on the millage rate.) And then the school board moves on to the budget resolution: Hand made a motion to approve, seconded by Langston, all voted for.
Lawhon said at the Oct. 16 school board meeting that there was not a motion to approve the budget, saying she remembers that because she intended to express how frustrated she was with the budget process because she didn’t get the full budget in a timely manner from the district’s financial office.
Lawhon said she had written a page that she wanted to read and never had the opportunity because there was never a motion and discussion.
Pearce invited school board members to listen to the tape. He also suggested that concerns such as Lawhon’s should be investigated by school board members prior to the meeting.
Lawhon appeared frustrated with Pearce’s suggestion, saying that she had only received the minutes a week ago and then had to wait days for contact from the district’s attorney.
A vote to approve the minutes of the Sept. 11 meeting failed on a 2-2 vote, with Lawhon and Hand voting against approval, and Langston and Brown voting for. Taylor was absent because of illness.
The approval of the minutes for that Sept. 11 meeting will be put on the agenda for the school board’s November meeting.
After the meeting, Lawhon was asked if she had listened to the recording of the Sept. 11 meeting. She said no, and that she was “speaking from my truth” and her feelings about the budget hearing.
In another matter before the school board, Lawhon expressed her concern about challenged materials in the district and the lack of communication with school board members.
The district has received two objections and had one removal of a book, according to the state Department of Education’s list of challenged instructional materials.
Complaints about the book “Little Rock Nine” about the integration of public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, over use of the “N-word” led to it being removed from elementary school libraries.
Lawhon said she had been contacted by someone in the community with concerns about the book’s removal, but because there was no communication from district staff, she was unable to answer the person’s concerns.
It was pointed out that DOE has a list on its website of objections and removed materials for each district.
The list is available at https://www.fldoe.org/academics/standards/instructional-materials/ – or search Florida Instructional Materials or your browser.