Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Declassified Plans for WW II Invasion of Japan - for military history buffs

This is for you military buffs

received 5/21/2013 from a friend

Declassified Plans for WW II Invasion of Japan

Deep in the recesses of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., hidden for nearly four decades lay thousands of pages of yellowing and dusty documents stamped "Top Secret". These documents, now declassified, are the plans for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan during World War II.

Only a few Americans in 1945 were aware of the elaborate plans that had been prepared for the Allied Invasion of the Japanese home islands. Even fewer today are aware of the defenses the Japanese had prepared to counter the invasion had it been launched. Operation Downfall was finalized during the spring and summer of 1945. It called for two massive military undertakings to be carried out in succession and aimed at the heart of the Japanese Empire.

In the first invasion - code named "Operation Olympic"- American combat troops would land on Japan by amphibious assault during the early morning hours of November 1, 1945 - 61 years ago. Fourteen combat divisions of soldiers and Marines would land on heavily fortified and defended Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese home islands, after an unprecedented naval and aerial bombardment.

The second invasion on March 1, 1946 - code named "Operation Coronet" - would send at least 22 divisions against 1 million Japanese defenders on the main island of Honshu and the Tokyo Plain. Its goal: the unconditional surrender of Japan.

With the exception of a part of the British Pacific Fleet, Operation Downfall was to be a strictly American operation. It called for using the entire Marine Corps, the entire Pacific Navy, elements of the 7th Army Air Force, the 8th Air Force (recently redeployed from Europe), 10th Air Force and the American Far Eastern Air Force. More than 1.5 million combat soldiers, with 3 million more in support or more than 40% of all servicemen still in uniform in 1945 - would be directly involved in the two amphibious assaults. Casualties were expected to be extremely heavy.

Admiral William Leahy estimated that there would be more than 250,000 Americans killed or wounded on Kyushu alone. General Charles Willoughby, chief of intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific, estimated American casualties would be one million men by the fall of 1946. Willoughby's own intelligence staff considered this to be a conservative estimate.

During the summer of 1945, America had little time to prepare for such an endeavor, but top military leaders were in almost unanimous agreement that an invasion was necessary.

While naval blockade and strategic bombing of Japan was considered to be useful, General MacArthur, for instance, did not believe a blockade would bring about an unconditional surrender. The advocates for invasion agreed that while a naval blockade chokes, it does not kill; and though strategic bombing might destroy cities, it leaves whole armies intact.

So on May 25, 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after extensive deliberation, issued to General MacArthur, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Army Air Force General Henry Arnold, the top secret directive to proceed with the invasion of Kyushu. The target date was after the typhoon season.

President Truman approved the plans for the invasions July 24. Two days later, the United Nations issued the Potsdam Proclamation, which called upon Japan to surrender unconditionally or face total destruction. Three days later, the Japanese governmental news agency broadcast to the world that Japan would ignore the proclamation and would refuse to surrender.

During this same period it was learned -- via monitoring Japanese radio broadcasts -- that Japan had closed all schools and mobilized its school children, was arming its civilian population and was fortifying caves and building underground defenses.

Operation Olympic called for a four pronged assault on Kyushu. Its purpose was to seize and control the southern one-third of that island and establish naval and air bases, to tighten the naval blockade of the home islands, to destroy units of the main Japanese army and to support the later invasion of the Tokyo Plain.

The preliminary invasion would begin October 27 when the 40th Infantry Division would land on a series of small islands west and southwest of Kyushu. At the same time, the 158th Regimental Combat Team would invade and occupy a small island 28 miles south of Kyushu. On these islands, seaplane bases would be established and radar would be set up to provide advance air warning for the invasion fleet, to serve as fighter direction centers for the carrier-based aircraft and to provide an emergency anchorage for the invasion fleet, should things not go well on the day of the invasion.

As the invasion grew imminent, the massive firepower of the Navy - the Third and Fifth Fleets -- would approach Japan. The Third Fleet, under Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, with its big guns and naval aircraft, would provide strategic support for the operation against Honshu and Hokkaido. Halsey's fleet would be composed of battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers, dozens of support ships and three fast carrier task groups. From these carriers, hundreds of Navy fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes would hit targets all over the island of Honshu. The 3,000 ship Fifth Fleet, under Admiral Raymond Spruance, would carry the invasion troops.

Several days before the invasion, the battleships, heavy cruisers and destroyers would pour thousands of tons of high explosives into the target areas. They would not cease the bombardment until after the land forces had been launched. During the early morning hours of November 1, the invasion would begin. Thousands of soldiers and Marines would pour ashore on beaches all along the eastern, southeastern, southern and western coasts of Kyushu. Waves of Helldivers, Dauntless dive bombers, Avengers, Corsairs, and Hellcats from 66 aircraft carriers would bomb, rocket and strafe enemy defenses, gun emplacements and troop concentrations along the beaches.

The Eastern Assault Force consisting of the 25th, 33rd, and 41st Infantry Divisions, would land near Miyaski, at beaches called Austin, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford, and move inland to attempt to capture the city and its nearby airfield. The Southern Assault Force, consisting of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 43rd Division and Americal Division would land inside Ariake Bay at beaches labeled DeSoto, Dusenberg, Essex, Ford, and Franklin and attempt to capture Shibushi and the city of Kanoya and its airfield.

On the western shore of Kyushu, at beaches Pontiac, Reo, Rolls Royce, Saxon, Star, Studebaker, Stutz, Winston and Zephyr, the V Amphibious Corps would land the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Marine Divisions, sending half of its force inland to Sendai and the other half to the port city of Kagoshima.

On November 4, the Reserve Force, consisting of the 81st and 98th Infantry Divisions and the 11th Airborne Division, after feigning an attack on the island of Shikoku, would be landed -- if not needed elsewhere – near Kaimondake, near the southernmost tip of Kagoshima Bay, at the beaches designated Locomobile, Lincoln, LaSalle, Hupmobile, Moon, Mercedes, Maxwell, Overland, Oldsmobile, Packard, and Plymouth.

Olympic was not just a plan for invasion, but for conquest and occupation as well. It was expected to take four months to achieve its objective, with the three fresh American divisions per month to be landed in support of that operation if needed. If all went well with Olympic, Coronet would be launched March 1, 1946. Coronet would be twice the size of Olympic, with as many as 28 divisions landing on Honshu.

All along the coast east of Tokyo, the American 1st Army would land the 5th, 7th, 27th, 44th, 86th, and 96th Infantry Divisions, along with the 4th and 6th Marine Divisions.

At Sagami Bay, just south of Tokyo, the entire 8th and 10th Armies would strike north and east to clear the long western shore of Tokyo Bay and attempt to go as far as Yokohama. The assault troops landing south of Tokyo would be the 4th, 6th, 8th, 24th, 31st, 37th, 38th, and 8th Infantry Divisions, along with the 13th and 20th Armored Divisions.

Following the initial assault, eight more divisions - the 2nd, 28th, 35th, 91st, 95th, 97th, and 104th Infantry Divisions and the 11th Airborne Division -- would be landed. If additional troops were needed, as expected, other divisions redeployed from Europe and undergoing training in the United States would be shipped to Japan in what was hoped to be the final push.

Captured Japanese documents and post war interrogations of Japanese military leaders disclose that information concerning the number of Japanese planes available for the defense of the home islands was dangerously in error.

During the sea battle at Okinawa alone, Japanese Kamikaze aircraft sank 32 Allied ships and damaged more than 400 others. But during the summer of 1945, American top brass concluded that the Japanese had spent their air force since American bombers and fighters daily flew unmolested over Japan.

What the military leaders did not know was that by the end of July the Japanese had been saving all aircraft, fuel, and pilots in reserve, and had been feverishly building new planes for the decisive battle for their homeland.

As part of Ketsu-Go, the name for the plan to defend Japan -- the Japanese were building 20 suicide takeoff strips in southern Kyushu with underground hangars. They also had 35 camouflaged airfields and nine seaplane bases.

On the night before the expected invasion, 50 Japanese seaplane bombers, 100 former carrier aircraft and 50 land based army planes were to be launched in a suicide attack on the fleet.

The Japanese had 58 more airfields in Korea, western Honshu and Shikoku, which also were to be used for massive suicide attacks.

Allied intelligence had established that the Japanese had no more than 2,500 aircraft of which they guessed 300 would be deployed in suicide attacks. In August 1945, however, unknown to Allied intelligence, the Japanese still had 5,651 army and 7,074 navy aircraft, for a total of 12,725 planes of all types. Every village had some type of aircraft manufacturing activity. Hidden in mines, railway tunnels, under viaducts and in basements of department stores, work was being done to construct new planes.

Additionally, the Japanese were building newer and more effective models of the Okka, a rocket-propelled bomb much like the German V-1, but flown by a suicide pilot.
When the invasion became imminent, Ketsu-Go called for a fourfold aerial plan of attack to destroy up to 800 Allied ships.

While Allied ships were approaching Japan, but still in the open seas, an initial force of 2,000 army and navy fighters were to fight to the death to control the skies over Kyushu. A second force of 330 navy combat pilots was to attack the main body of the task force to keep it from using its fire support and air cover to protect the troop carrying transports. While these two forces were engaged, a third force of 825 suicide planes was to hit the American transports.

As the invasion convoys approached their anchorages, another 2,000 suicide planes were to be launched in waves of 200 to 300, to be used in hour by hour attacks.

By mid-morning of the first day of the invasion, most of the American land-based aircraft would be forced to return to their bases, leaving the defense against the suicide planes to the carrier pilots and the shipboard gunners.

Carrier pilots crippled by fatigue would have to land time and time again to rearm and refuel. Guns would malfunction from the heat of continuous firing and ammunition would become scarce. Gun crews would be exhausted by nightfall, but still the waves of kamikaze would continue. With the fleet hovering off the beaches, all remaining Japanese aircraft would be committed to nonstop suicide attacks, which the Japanese hoped could be sustained for 10 days. The Japanese planned to coordinate their air strikes with attacks from the 40 remaining submarines from the Imperial Navy – some armed with Long Lance torpedoes with a range of 20 miles -- when the invasion fleet was 180 miles off Kyushu.

The Imperial Navy had 23 destroyers and two cruisers which were operational. These ships were to be used to counterattack the American invasion. A number of the destroyers were to be beached at the last minute to be used as anti-invasion gun platforms.

Once offshore, the invasion fleet would be forced to defend not only against the attacks from the air, but would also be confronted with suicide attacks from sea. Japan had established a suicide naval attack unit of midget submarines, human torpedoes and exploding motorboats.

The goal of the Japanese was to shatter the invasion before the landing. The Japanese were convinced the Americans would back off or become so demoralized that they would then accept a less-than-unconditional surrender and a more honorable and face-saving end for the Japanese.

But as horrible as the battle of Japan would be off the beaches, it would be on Japanese soil that the American forces would face the most rugged and fanatical defense encountered during the war.

Throughout the island-hopping Pacific campaign, Allied troops had always outnumbered the Japanese by 2 to 1 and sometimes 3 to 1. In Japan it would be different. By virtue of a combination of cunning, guesswork, and brilliant military reasoning, a number of Japan's top military leaders were able to deduce, not only when, but where, the United States would land its first invasion forces.

Facing the 14 American divisions landing at Kyushu would be 14 Japanese divisions, 7 independent mixed brigades, 3 tank brigades and thousands of naval troops. On Kyushu the odds would be 3 to 2 in favor of the Japanese, with 790,000 enemy defenders against 550,000 Americans. This time the bulk of the Japanese defenders would not be the poorly trained and ill-equipped labor battalions that the Americans had faced in the earlier campaigns.

The Japanese defenders would be the hard core of the home army. These troops were well-fed and well equipped. They were familiar with the terrain, had stockpiles of arms and ammunition, and had developed an effective system of transportation and supply almost invisible from the air. Many of these Japanese troops were the elite of the army, and they were swollen with a fanatical fighting spirit.

Japan's network of beach defenses consisted of offshore mines, thousands of suicide scuba divers attacking landing craft, and mines planted on the beaches. Coming ashore, the American Eastern amphibious assault forces at Miyazaki would face three Japanese divisions, and two others poised for counterattack. Awaiting the Southeastern attack force at Ariake Bay was an entire division and at least one mixed infantry brigade.

On the western shores of Kyushu, the Marines would face the most brutal opposition. Along the invasion beaches would be the three Japanese divisions, a tank brigade, a mixed infantry brigade and an artillery command. Components of two divisions would also be poised to launch counterattacks.

If not needed to reinforce the primary landing beaches, the American Reserve Force would be landed at the base of Kagoshima Bay November 4, where they would be confronted by two mixed infantry brigades, parts of two infantry divisions and thousands of naval troops.

All along the invasion beaches, American troops would face coastal batteries, anti-landing obstacles and a network of heavily fortified pillboxes, bunkers, and underground fortresses. As Americans waded ashore, they would face intense artillery and mortar fire as they worked their way through concrete rubble and barbed-wire entanglements arranged to funnel them into the muzzles of these Japanese guns.

On the beaches and beyond would be hundreds of Japanese machine gun positions, beach mines, booby traps, trip-wire mines and sniper units. Suicide units concealed in "spider holes" would engage the troops as they passed nearby. In the heat of battle, Japanese infiltration units would be sent to reap havoc in the American lines by cutting phone and communication lines. Some of the Japanese troops would be in American uniform; English-speaking Japanese officers were assigned to break in on American radio traffic to call off artillery fire, to order retreats and to further confuse troops. Other infiltration with demolition charges strapped on their chests or backs would attempt to blow up American tanks, artillery pieces and ammunition stores as they were unloaded ashore.

Beyond the beaches were large artillery pieces situated to bring down a curtain of fire on the beach. Some of these large guns were mounted on railroad tracks running in and out of caves protected by concrete and steel.

The battle for Japan would be won by what Simon Bolivar Buckner, a lieutenant general in the Confederate army during the Civil War, had called "Prairie Dog Warfare." This type of fighting was almost unknown to the ground troops in Europe and the Mediterranean. It was peculiar only to the soldiers and Marines who fought the Japanese on islands all over the Pacific -- at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Prairie Dog Warfare was a battle for yards, feet and sometimes inches. It was brutal, deadly and dangerous form of combat aimed at an underground, heavily fortified, non-retreating enemy.

In the mountains behind the Japanese beaches were underground networks of caves, bunkers, command posts and hospitals connected by miles of tunnels with dozens of entrances and exits. Some of these complexes could hold up to 1,000 troops.

In addition to the use of poison gas and bacteriological warfare (which the Japanese had experimented with), Japan mobilized its citizenry.

Had Olympic come about, the Japanese civilian population, inflamed by a national slogan - "One Hundred Million Will Die for the Emperor and Nation" - were prepared to fight to the death. Twenty Eight Million Japanese had become a part of the National Volunteer Combat Force. They were armed with ancient rifles, lunge mines, satchel charges, Molotov cocktails and one-shot black powder mortars. Others were armed with swords, long bows, axes, and bamboo spears. The civilian units were to be used in nighttime attacks, hit and run maneuvers, delaying actions and massive suicide charges at the weaker American positions.

At the early stage of the invasion, 1,000 Japanese and American soldiers would be dying every hour.

The invasion of Japan never became a reality because on August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was exploded over Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Within days the war with Japan was at a close.

Had these bombs not been dropped and had the invasion been launched as scheduled, combat casualties in Japan would have been at a minimum of the tens of thousands. Every foot of Japanese soil would have been paid for by Japanese and American lives.

One can only guess at how many civilians would have committed suicide in their homes or in futile mass military attacks. In retrospect, the 1 million American men who were to be the casualties of the invasion were instead lucky enough to survive the war.

Intelligence studies and military estimates made 50 years ago, and not latter-day speculation, clearly indicate that the battle for Japan might well have resulted in the biggest blood-bath in the history of modern warfare.

Far worse would be what might have happened to Japan as a nation and as a culture. When the invasion came, it would have come after several months of fire-bombing all of the remaining Japanese cities. The cost in human life that resulted from the two atomic blasts would be small in comparison to the total number of Japanese lives that would have been lost by this aerial devastation.

With American forces locked in combat in the south of Japan, little could have prevented the Soviet Union from marching into the northern half of the Japanese home islands. Japan today could be divided much like Korea and Germany.

The world was spared the cost of Operation Downfall, however, because Japan formally surrendered to the United Nations September 2, 1945, and World War II was over.

The aircraft carriers, cruisers and transport ships scheduled to carry the invasion troops to Japan, ferried home American troops in a gigantic operation called Magic Carpet.

In the fall of 1945, in the aftermath of the war, few people concerned themselves with the invasion plans. Following the surrender, the classified documents, maps, diagrams and appendices for Operation Down .fall were packed away in boxes and eventually stored at the National Archives. These plans that called for the invasion of Japan paint a vivid description of what might have been one of the most horrible campaigns in the history of man. The fact that the story of the invasion of Japan is locked up in the National Archives and is not told in our history books is something for which all Americans can be thankful.

More information can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

 

Will the Liberal MainStream Media be DUMPED Soon?

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2013 

by Vance Jochim      FiscalRangers.com

In the field of boxing, they used to say that white boxing fans were always looking for the "great white hope", meaning a white boxer who could beat the many black boxers.

Similarly, in the field of politics, conservatives keep seeking conservative, not liberal news outlets besides Fox News and Glen Beck online.

Now, it might happen and the Ronald Reagan of Newspaper publishers might take over and purge a major liberal newspaper chain of liberal writers and install conservative reporters and editors.

You Betcha.

The well know conservative billionaires, the Koch Brothers, are contemplating the purchase of the Tribune Corp. newspapers, including the Orlando Sentinel, the rabidly liberal Lost Angeles Times and several other papers.    That company just came out of bankruptcy recently and their papers are on the market to be sold.

Columnist Cal Thomas gives us a glimpse of the possible Conservative Publishing Valhalla here:

http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=3978  

According to Thomas, Los Angeles staff were asked if they would quit if the paper was bought by the Koch Brothers, and HALF of them said yes.  

Christmas might be early for us conservatives.

Imagine what would happen to the nearby Orlando Sentinel!

- Maxwell, the liberal columnist, might be gone.  

-  Lauren Ritchie, the liberal Lake Sentinel columnist might be gone.  

- Conservative columnists might be hired to replace them (since the Sentinel had no conservative viewpoint columnists). 

- They might stop publishing one sided, "special to the Sentinel" biased global warming articles.  

- They might side with the 96% of the population that is not gay rather than only support gay viewpoints.  And they might ensure that BOTH sides of related stories are provided in quotes rather than just the gay viewpoint.  

-They might spend more time encouraging entrepreneurship rather than demanding more "free" government money for non-working groups.

- They might publish investigations of the harm of liberal induced comprehensive land use plan restrictions, and other "sustainable development" stealth programs designed to reduce property rights.

- They might start publishing the truth about all the damage caused worldwide and in the US by Muslims, and Sharia law.

- They might start exposing union campaigns and spending union dues on liberal politicians.

- They might start exposing liberal actions of celebrities rather than celebrating them.

-  They might warn readers about liberal biases in TV news reports.  (Can you say Benghazi investigation?)

- They might start focusing on protection of US citizens and taxes by using editorials to demand English only laws, immigration restrictions and elimination of subsidies to illegal immigrants.

- They might out the liberal biases and practices of various Judges.

- They might start publishing fiscal investigations of government entities, and use stories from conservative newswires like WatchDogWire.com or reports from the Florida Tea Party Network.

Or, it might be cheaper to just buy up some conservative blogs and give us the printing budget and staff to go for it.   We would cost only half as much!

Gee, either way, it makes the mind boggle.   Go Koch brothers, Go. 

Rescue us from the biased, liberal mainstream press, starting with the Tribune Company.   And, as Cal Thomas says, the sales of newspapers might just go UP in response to unbiased and/or conservative reporting.

vj

 

New Lake County Historical Society Officers Elected and Fistfights Prevented

Tavares, FL - April 29, 2013  by Vance Jochim,   FiscalRangers.com

The Lake County Historical Society had two competing elections for new officers and one slate received approval by the County Manager, and the doors of the Lake County Museum were then locked to keep out the opposing "rebel" faction.  This is important because the Society has an agreement with the County Government to administer the Lake County History museum AND receives $20,000 from them to do so.

I wrote last week about the controversial Lake County Historical Society, the recent audit disclosing numerous fiscal and operational problems and pending elections where two fighting factions would make it a nail biter.   Here is the prior article:

http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2013/04/lake-county-publishes-audit-of-controversial-lake-county-historical-society.html  

Here is a good account of the Friday elections by Greg Jones of the Daily Commercial:

http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_0f6f00a8-21c3-55fd-959c-6f3314f7f618.html

And, attached here is the internal audit of the Historical Society finances and SIGNIFICANT, unacceptable operations problems which I described in my earlier post:

Download BCC-107_Audit_of_Lake_County_Historical_Society

And here is my overview of the elections and comments:

The two fighting factions held separate elections on Friday, Apr. 26.  One was the existing "legal" officers led by Bob Grenier, and the other I call the "rebel group" which was contentious and claimed to be officers following bogus procedures not allowed by the bylaws.  The "rebel" group used an illegal mail in ballot which was considered illegal by the Society Board's Bylaws, as documented by the County Auditor in the above attached audit.

The "legal" group had about 45 present, and the "rebel" group had about 12 attending their meeting.  Both met in different buildings in Tavares on Friday night, April 26.

I attended the "legal" meeting and visited the "rebel" group after the votes to confirm the situation.  Both meetings were visited also by Lake County Manager, David Heath, and he logically determined the "legal" group prevailed due to numbers attending their meetings and voting, and that the rebels used an illegal voting method. The Lake County Attorney, Sandy Minkoff, also attended with Heath.

Here is what Heath issued the following day, Saturday,to the Lake County Board, which I assume will discuss and approve his advice at their next meeting:

Subject: Historical Society Elections

Commissioners, because of Commissioner Conner’s Dad still being in the hospital, Sandy and I attended meetings of both factions of the Historical Society.  The group headed by Bob Grenier  elected Rick Reed president by a vote of 35-0.  Other officers elected were Sanna Henderson/vice president, Michael Holland/secretary and Howard King/treasurer  The election appeared to be consistent with the recent audit conducted by Mr. Kelly (the Court Clerk's Audit Dept - ed) .  By contrast, the other meeting held in the Old Courthouse was attended by approximately 12 people.  After consulting with Sandy, we will recognize the Bob Grenier/Rick Reed group.   Mr. Reed has requested that we secure the museum until he and I have had an opportunity to discuss its operation.  Accordingly, I am having Facilities staff secure the building tonight.

Have a good weekend.

David C. Heath

County Manager

Lake County Board of County Commissioners

The Legal group had formed a nominating Committee led by Jamie Haja who surprised me by nominating local government leaders for the positions (see the Daily Commercial article) who brought "Gravitas" to the issue.   Only one of the existing officer group was in the new group, so they have a new start.  Rick Reid is a columnist at the Daily Commercial, Sanna Henderson has been in local politics, Michael Holland is on the Eustis City Council, and new Treasurer Howard King was the former VP and carries important knowledge for the new officer group.

My Opinion:

-This picture is the Lake County Historical Courthouse, which is vacant right now except for the first floor houses the Lake County History Museum.  The upper floors have been promised to the Sheriff.

- The Historical Society rebel group led by the former Office Manager and Secretary has been discredited and the controversial office manager in the rebel group was terminated by the legal board as of last Friday.  She also had been the Secretary, but was replaced in the elections by Michael Holland.  Several revisions to the bylaws were approved by the attendees also to facilitate improvements.

- The Museum doors were locked and locks changed to prevent access by the rebels until the new officers take control.  The County actually let the rebels control the offices for 2+ months, and the legal officers didn't have access even to the membership records for calling an election.  I visited those offices once a few weeks ago and the rebels were actually removing hard drives but it wasn't clear if they were just doing backups or actually removing the Society hard drive.

- By selecting new officers with three of them coming from community leadership positions, the "legal" group appears to have sidelined separate complaints by the office manager against two prior officers, thus it appears it won't be necessary for the County to throw out everyone and put the History museum under the control of a County Employee.   The new officers have pledged to implement the recommendations for improvement in the Auditor's report.  Kudos to Jaimie Hanja who developed the recommended slate of officers to get new people who would remove the issue of contentious personal relationships.

- Kudos go to Lake County County Manager David Heath for showing leadership in showing up and making a logical decision and recommendation on which group to support.  

- Board liasion Jimmy Conner said a family illness kept him away from these elections, but he has avoided getting involved and rarely attended meetings in the last 2-3 years. Members have told me that Jimmy only shows up for picture opportunities and never attended any regular Board meetings.  The Society members wanted other Board members to help, but Board protocol is to not interfere in another Commissioner's turf, so they would not.  I recommend he resign from the liasion position since he has rarely made time to attend meetings, and would not get involved in mediating the faction disputes.  Maybe they don't need a Board liasion anyway.  The Society receives $20,000 from the County government, but so do other groups and they don't have liasions. 

- The new President, Rick Reed, should be asked to give quarterly updates to the County Board on the status of implementing all the Audit recommendations, and then have the auditor follow up to ensure they were implemented.

So, after all that, the History Museum of Lake County appears to be safe at least until another faction fight occurs. I hope they are keeping archive articles of FiscalRangers.com to document all the fiscal fiascos in the County!

Vance Jochim

Lake County Publishes Audit of Controversial Lake County "House of Horrors" Historical Society

Tavares, FL - Thursday, Apr. 25, 2013  - Lake County, FL

by Vance Jochim  - updates will be added as received. Update:  Apr. 29th - Historical elections were held and a new slate was elected and no gunfights broke out - update posted soon on this blog in separate posting.

Update Apr. 26th - see details below about today's meetings for elections.

An earlier version of this article was also published on the national newswire service WatchdogWire.com HERE.

Does Lake County, FL have a HOUSE of HORRORS instead of a Lake County History Museum?  A new audit indicates that might be the case, and it is a House of Mis-Management Horrors right here in Lake County.

The Lake County Board of Commissioners requested that the Court Clerk's Audit Office audit the operations and financial records of the Lake County Historical Society which manages the Lake County History Museum under an agreement with the County.  It was published today in order to be available before tomorrow's April 26th Historical Society Board Meeting.

It is a GOOD audit report indicating an appalling situation where many poor or illegal procedures are used.

No inventory exists anywhere of an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 items where the auditors could only find 800 of them.   As a former, experienced internal auditor, this audit indicates a complete lack of governance of museum exhibits, property, security, preservation of items  and spending.   All new officers and an office manager are needed in my opinion.  Many years ago, I audited Los Angeles County operations, and even tennis court concessions were run better than this Museum, which may have well meaning history buffs on the Board, but no credible fiscal or administrative oversight or leadership.  This reminds me of an audit at Nissan Motor Corp. where we found the marketing driven management cooked the books and understated the cost of $2-million race cars by listing them as costing $1-million.  They also had $26-million in inventory which was all obsolete race car parts, requiring an immediate write down of $26-million.

In my opinion, the fiscal and management situation indicated by the audit report is so bad that the County should change the locks on the Museum and restrict access by anyone until museum items are completely inventoried, secured in locked facilities and documentation of ownership of items is verified.  This is needed to prevent sudden disappearance of more items.

There is bad blood between two groups in the Lake County Historical Society, which I have covered earlier, and newspaper articles have also covered the disputes between officers.  Here is the link to an earlier blog article:

http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2013/02/lake-county-historical-society-erupts-in-spat-and-accusations.html 

On April 21, before the Audit report was distributed, the Daily Commercial published an editorial recommending the Lake County Board "scrap the Historical Society". 

Update Apr. 26:  After this blog article was posted, the April 26th edition (today) of the Daily Commercial published an overview of the audit report in their print edition (they don't publish online until the next day).  If you have the print paper you can read it, or our longer version, with various snappy comments below.

The Society manages the Lake County History Museum, located in the original, historical County Courthouse on Main St. in Tavares.

Due to conflicts and counter accusations, the Lake County Court Clerk, who is the Treasurer of Record, froze the Historical Society's checking account for managing the museum until a full audit was performed by the Court Clerk Internal Auditor.  He also resigned as Treasurer.

The Historical Society is holding their ELECTIONS Tomorrow evening, April 26, to meet a requirement from the County Board to have official officers selected for further discussions with the County Board regarding management and funding. 

Update: The April 26th Daily Commercial printed an article on this audit, and said that TWO meetings were being held by the two squabbling groups:  "One faction will have its election at 5pm at the Tavares Civic Center at 100 E. Caroline Street in Tavares.  The other faction will cast ballots at 6pm at the Lake County Historical Museum in the old Courthouse on Main St. in Tavares" says Greg Jones in his Daily Commercial article.

The History museum is in the first floor of the County owned building and rent is free.  The County also provides most of the Society budget of $20,000+, which is mostly used to pay for a part time curator.

Lake County lists all County Historical Societies on a webpage, but this Lake County History museum has NO WEBSITE, yet they get $20,000 or more in County funding.  How can anyone even find them?

http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/enjoying_lake_county/listings/historical_society  

That audit of the Historical Society was published today, and you can download it, Audit BCC-107, from this site.  The report was issued WITHOUT responses due to the officer conflicts.

http://www.lakecountyclerk.org/internal_audit/auditreport.aspx  

Note:  The court clerk's internal audit office did this audit with short notice over a period of about 30 days, which is about 3 months shorter than the previous auditor at the Lake County School District.  (snicker, snicker).  (I don't mean they took 30 days, but within 30 days they got it done.)  Kudos to the internal audit office for bringing these items out in the open and writing a professional and ADULT audit report (I was an Audit Director for years).  (And kudos also to the Lake County Board who asked for the audit).

Our Review of the 27 page Audit Report:

I am rewording the major findings with my interpretation and I changed the order of the reported issues to reflect what I think are the priority items.  As an experienced auditor, I find these situations to be appalling lack of controls over museum properties.  The County AND the Historical Society Officers, AND the Office Manager should be ashamed for not even having a decent system to track all museum items, verify ownership, ensure preservation and LOCK them up to prevent theft.  I once audited the Los Angeles History Museum when the King Tut Exhibit was there many years ago, and they are slightly (ok, a lot) bigger, and responsibility for museum owned items was taken seriously, but clearly not here.

- The audit contains SIXTEEN categories of recommendations, with 43 recommendations in all for either the Board of Commissioners, but also for the Society officers.

- Page six of the audit lists 3 optional actions for the County Board.  The final recommendations on page 7 should be followed.  In my opinion, the office manager should be fired (which was the original intent of the Board) and she be removed from access to the premises.  Another independent curator should be hired part time at a lower hourly pay without benefits, and they agree to implement all recommendations in the report.

- Society funds are spent on quarterly society lunches which for 2011 and 2012, lost $2200.  Although they collected fees for attendees, they were less than half the expenses.  This is while the Society is spending in the red every year.  Lunches should be breakeven or not held. (page 19)

- The Society had an $83,000 reserve account in 2008, which was reduced to a current balance of about $45,000:  Unknown to me and others, the Society had $83,000 cash reserves in 2008, and they have spent about half of it since then, while also taking County funds each year, and now $45,000 remains.  Thus the Society is spending about $10,000 more per year than their income.  The audit recommended the Society take action to reduce spending so as not to use up more reserves.  They have a chart on page 8 that shows even with $20,000 grants per year from the County, they will run out of funds by 2019.  They

- A Board member claims to be President illegally, then organizes elections without following the Bylaws:  The self proclaimed President is not legal and used a controversial method of selecting officers contrary to the Bylaws, requiring mailed ballots, thus received votes select officers without any nominations from the floor or discussions at the required Board Meeting.  Thus in MY opinion it is EASY to STUFF the ballot system by one way communications where members don't hear all candidates in person.  The auditor also said the current officers controlling the ballot process are illegal and were not properly appointed by the official President, but appointed by a self appointed President who had no legal right to do so, based upon a written opinion from the Society attorney (who quit after the arguments started).

- There has been NO INVENTORY OR database of items owned by the History Museum managed by the Historical Society (or owned by the County, or loaned items).  The auditors could only find about 800 items when some estimates provided to the auditor were for 3,000 to 5,000 items.  The County has an agreement with the Society to manage the museum, and it requires an electronic database of the inventory which was not done at all.  Page 12 of the audit report says one book PURCHASED with Society funds was looked for, and the office manager said it was at her house.  Receipts indicated Society funds were used to purchase two cookbooks in January, 2012, which could not be located.  You have to read quotes from the Museum Manager (one of the controversial folks who the prior Board wanted to fire) to understand how bad this all sounds.    In 2010, 71 historical books worth $1,484 were written off because they could not be found.  Additionally, a later section of the report indicates problems verifying who OWNS items in the Museum's care. It is my own opinion that much theft has taken place.  Perhaps someone is selling the stuff on eBay (a speculation, but possible).

- The Office Manager says most items belong to the Society, not the County.  So, any inventory should confirm the ownership of every item and require documentation for any item claimed to be owned by parties other than the County (i.e. the Historical Society).  The County agreement apparently specifies that all items belong to them unless proper documentation exists to confirm they are on loan from someone else who owns the items.  That documentation apparently is verbal and does not exist.

- The Museum sells books for authors, but there is NO ACCOUNTING for the revenues, inventory or commissions collected. (page 12)

- Museum items can be stolen easily due to lack of physical security over many items.  Many museum exhibits are in the open and not in locked cases, AND storage areas in the building are NOT secured, thus better security is needed.  "The risk of theft is significant" says the audit.  Auditors were able to access the unsecured areas without detection.  This is an atrocious lack of accountability.

- The Office Manager takes many days off with pay without any written policies on benefits.  AND, the office manager is a PART TIME position, which in my opinion should only be paid based upon hours at the office, documented on a time-card.  She is also the Society Secretary.  In my view, and employee should not be on the Board or have an office and the auditor agrees, saying it is a conflict of interest.

- Office hours are only four workdays per week from 8:30 AM to 5pm.  The report recommends being open some evenings and weekends, which I agree with.

- The Office Manager was apparently hiring people who lived with her, and a policy is needed to prohibit hiring relatives.  In my opinion, the Board should have a hiring committee to ensure arms length procurement and hiring.   Currently the Office Manager is on the Board, and her Fiance is also on the Board, which can result in excessive control of Society activities. That should also be prohibited.

- The Historical Society ignored compliance with various sections of their own bylaws and requirements of an agreement with the County.  (Note:  You might ask why the County didn't verify compliance from their end, which is a good question, especially when the Court Clerk, Neil Kelly was the Treasurer and HE runs the Audit Dept..)

- The Society is spending more than their revenues and are paying the Office Manager MORE than the funds provided by the County, thus using up reserves. The Society gets $20,000 per year from the County, but pays the office manager over $27,000 per year in salary and benefits, leaving little for new exhibits, event marketing, etc.   Even though she is part time, a chart on page 14 shows she has taken huge amounts of leave, and in 2012, she took 117 hours of paid leave (14 days).  In a visit to the office about 6 weeks ago, I was told by another society member that the office manager was working three jobs, indicating a possibility of the Society being billed while working other jobs.   An employee benefits manual does not exist, and is needed.

- Retroactive wages based upon increase part time hours (from 28 to 33 hours per week) were approved in 2011 but no timesheets documented the added hours. 

- Many items are not properly "preserved", meaning they are not protected from environmental degradation.  This needs to be fixed.   The audit report contains pictures of items stacked haphazardly, and this is with a prior full time curator, and now a current Office manager being paid for 33 hours per week.  The storage rooms look like those storage units you see on reality TV where people bid on unclaimed junk. 

- Petty Cash funds of $200 exist, but record keeping, in MY opinion (not the auditor's) seems really crappy. (a technical accounting term for REALLY BAD and lackadaisical practices).  It seems it would be really easy for people to get or use funds for personal use.  People who purchased items and received reimbursement were not identified, thus fake claims could have been submitted (my opinion).

- The County pays the Historical Society a grant of $20,000 each year, with NO Departmental oversight.  As of April 1, the County Clerk resigned as Treasurer, so there is NO operational or financial oversight at all.

- The County has the above mentioned agreement, but it doesn't contain an audit clause.  They need to add one. (I assume the County legal department approved the Society agreement, and blame the lack of a required audit clause on the County legal department for approving such a weak agreement.  I have written in the past how the County legal department has allowed several fiscal snafus by not exercising business sense when writing agreements. )

- Numerous written policies are non-existent and are needed.

- All the above issues and recommendations were in the Audit Report.  I only added some personal opinions about how BAD the situations are.

Items We Believe Need Attention that are NOT in the Audit Report:

- What exactly is the purpose of the office manager AND the Society?  Based upon the audit report, it seems they didn't do much to enhance or expand the museum or its collections except occasional exhibit additions.    I read about activities in local newspapers by other Lake County historical museums, but none about this one.  I think a clear listing of duties and measurable objectives with timelines is needed.  It should exist not just for routine duties, but fund raising duties, visitor attendance goals, inventory management, event schedules, etc..  The list is needed with oversight to ensure it is done.  

- Retroactive payments to any employee should not be approved.  The Court Clerk, as Treasurer, froze the checking accounts about 2+ months ago.  Clarification is needed to ensure no retroactive payments are requested or made for the Office Manager or others during the frozen period.  Or a complete statement should be written describing what payments will be made and approved by the County Board, since their money is involved.  Otherwise, when the accounts are unfrozen, we would expect some attempt to retroactively pay individuals without approval of the Society or County Board.

- The Balance sheet included on page 26 does NOT show any valuation on the Museum collections.  Valuation was not described as a component of the inventory recommended by the audit report.  I recommend that a valuation or appraisal of the inventory collection be developed and be part of the inventory. It should be updated on a rolling 3-5 year basis.

- There are no nearby parking spaces set aside for visitors to the History Museum.  The Sheriff takes over the entire lot at one side of the building, including double parking.  The public spots in front of the building are taken by anyone, thus there is NO easy opportunity for visitors during the day to find nearby parking to spontaneously visit the museum.  I don't consider the parking structure to be convenient for short museum visits, so some nearby parking should be assigned.

- There is no indicator I could find on the outside of the Museum building that there WAS a museum inside and what the hours were.   Additionally, when I visited, the office door was CLOSED for an hour while I walked around, but when I knocked a volunteer came out but gave little advice.  There should be a sign in the front of the building, visible from the street that says "County History Museum - OPEN 8:30 am to 5pm Mon-Thurs".

- Many visitors entering the Museum building are lost, looking for other buildings, including the Courthouse, the Appraiser and Tax Collector (who used to be in this museum building).  Signs are needed by the front and side doors instructing visitors where the other departments and buildings are.  I learned this from sitting inside the museum for about 90 minutes and observing.

- An "in-kind" value should be placed in the Schedule of Revenues and Expenses for County donated expenses, including rent, utilities or other services.  it should be on the Society or Museum income statement as in-kind revenues with offsetting imputed expenses to reflect the true cost of operations of the Museum.  This concept is common in grants.  Right now, I think it is safe to say the County has no clue how much they are actually donating to the operation of the Museum.

Conclusion:

This is a GOOD Audit indicating BAD and POOR management and fiscal practices by the Society and Office Manager.  There has been NO oversight and amateur management has left the museum in tatters.

All the above recommendations should be implemented by a new office manager and new Society Board, OR the County should take full control and hire a manager to run the museum without involvement of the Historical Society.  No waffling.

Vance Jochim

New Florida "PACE" Financing Program for House Renovations Should be Considered by Lake County

Yes, I know I am against Federal FREE Money like grants, but here is $500-million in PRIVATE financing for Florida homeowners (not outright grants) via cities and counties to provide LOW Cost loans to homeowners to improve “shoring up buildings against storms” & other uses which I think has merit.

The loan payments are attached to property taes so they stay with the house and not the owner if they sell the house.

It was created by Flagler County And the City of Kissimmee to provide alternative financing to homeowners to fix homes and jumpstart the construction industry.

Only two FL counties have been approved so far.  Local governments have no risk, and the funds are from private sources.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/calling-all-counties-and-cities-who-wants-cut-paces-500-million-energy-improvements  

Lake County Board members and Lake County city staffs should investigate implementing this financing program.  

Vance Jochim

Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Chief Fiscal Watchdog

Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness

PO Box 1042

Tavares, FL 32778

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www.FiscalRangers.com   

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CLICK HERE to see recommended internet links related to Local Lake County government fiscal issues.

 

 

Lake County School Board Votes to TABLE discussion on allowing Gay Clubs at Middle Schools

Tavares, FL  -  Thursday, Apr. 25, 2013

by Vance Jochim  -  FiscalRangers.com  -  UPDATES will be added to this document as received.

The Lake County Board meeting this past Monday, April 22^nd, included an agenda item for the second and final vote to approve extra-curricular clubs at Lake County middle schools, which would include a proposed Gay Straight Alliance club (GSA) at Carver Middle School which many people objected to because they believed 6^th & 7^th graders should not be confronted with groups focuses on sexual lifestyles.    The only other alternative allowed by the Federal “Equal Access” law was to prohibit all extra-curricular clubs, including those focused on community service, Christian groups, etc. but it would also exclude the GSA club.

Note:  This blog writer was against formation of Gay Clubs at Middle Schools (see why in attachment below).  This picture taken from the right side of the room, which had about 1/3 of the audience in the "Communist Red" shirts, indicating support of the liberal coordinated GSA club.  The other 2/3 on the far side of the room were LOCALS who were against it.  Plus there were many sitting outside this filled room watching on monitors.  Normally, Lake County Democrats wear blue shirts to political events, but for these GSA events, they all wore Communist red (not Republican Red! :) )

I had figured that 2/3rds of the audience were against the GSA club because about 150+ were from the Tri-County Tea Party (Villages), plus many more from local churches.   The Right Side blog says 3/4ths of audience were against it and 17 Church pastors were there to give input.

However, the same day, the Florida legislature passed, and Gov. Scott signed a large education bill, SB-1076 (2013)  that revised current law to change definitions of what schools were subject to the Equal Access Law.   That meant Lake County Middle Schools were not considered secondary schools, and the Equal Access Law only required the all or no extracurricular club decision for secondary schools, thus middle schools were no longer covered by the law.   However, MY understanding (see the Orlando Sentinel article below) is that the law didn’t really say how much authority the local School Districts had to be selective in what extra-curricular clubs would be allowed.    Thus it could be tested in the courts.  THAT is why the Board tabled any vote, in order to research the new bill and understand implications.

Here is the link to Senate Bill SB-1076 (2013) - read the staff analysis reports to understand issues.  This is a large omnibus bill, not just covering the issue of clubs at middle schools.  I don't yet have the link to the applicable section on this issue, but will add it later.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/1076 

Neither local newspaper mentioned that this time, a huge majority FROM Lake County was NOT wearing the Communist red shirts favored by the Democrat organized, pro-GSA group where many came from outside Lake County.  They didn't mention the LOCAL majority was AGAINST the formation of the GSA club.

Here is the Daily Commercial article by Greg Jones:

http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_95765e54-cf43-5980-b376-ff206b1a8fde.html  

Here is the Orlando Sentinel report on this vote, and they include a “Fair & Balanced” 2 min video from Fox 35 showing crying kids,  but a majority clapping upon the vote to table the issue.  (see the link below for my FULL 15 min video with NO ads for all the details leading to the vote to table the issue.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-gay-straight-aclu-final-vote-20130422,0,3296276.story  

Here is the link to the Orlando Channel 9 TV video report by a reporter who rarely visits Lake County and focused mostly on the GSA supporters. BUT, if you read the provided TEXT, which is different because it was provided by the DAY shift reporter Berndt Petersen, who DOES frequently visit Lake County, it cites a couple of comments from this blog's author, Vance Jochim.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/lake-co-school-board-vote-approving-gay-straight-c/nXS7t/ 

Attached are some of my pictures of the event. 2/3 to 3/4ths of the audience were AGAINST allowing a sexually oriented club in middle schools, and clapped when the vote was tabled.  One fuzzy picture shows a pro-GSA man (not in red) accosting Board Member Bill Mathias after the vote.  Democrats always resort to yelling and name calling when they don't get their way.   All my pictures of this event are in a photo album on the FiscalRangers Facebook account HERE.  

Also attached are my “talking points” I was going to use for public input at Monday’s meeting.  You might look at the excerpts from the Communist objectives that apply to this issue.

Download A. VJ Comments for LCSD Meeting on GSA at 5pm

AND, here is a link to my Youtube video on the entire 15 minute Board discussion about the agenda item and the vote to table it.  The School District attorney explains the new law, which is quite helpful for understanding the issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOGUnuW-ptY   

Initially, no one would give a second to Bill Mathias’s motion to table the issue for a future meeting in order to examine the implications of the new law, then after discussion, he got a second, and the vote was 4 to 1 (Brandeburg dissented) to table the issue to the future.   It could be that the Board members now saw the huge crowd NOT wearing red from LOCAL groups.  Many of the pro-GSA red shirt advocates were from OUTSIDE Lake County.  Some Board members might also have been ticked off by the huge volume of emails trying to intimidate them from GSA supporters from OUTSIDE Lake County and OUTSIDE Florida.

Summary:

The School Board will discuss this issue again after getting analysis on the implications of the new law and recommendations from the District's Attorney.  No date has been set yet.  

Thanks go to the Tri-County Teaparty, and local church members who showed up in force to offset the out of Lake County liberals and ACLU legal bullies whose attendance was coordinated by the Lake County Democrats. This was a good slamdown of the Tampa based ACLU office which is currently bragging on their website about similar lawsuits in Polk County.

My opinion is that poor 8th grader Baylie is now on a liberal leash with all events being coordinated by liberals who have other objectives than the formation of her club.  They are making her into a poster child for liberal causes.  However, she will be graduating from Carver Middle School in a month, and will be at a High School, not a middle school, thus not eligible to form a middle school club.

I am not against gays living their lifestyles privately, but when they use the ACLU bullies, and the Democratic party organizes media events, asks people from the entire country to inundate local elected officials with emails to demand their way of life be provided to SIXTH graders in middle schools without living here, I resent that.  And, now , apparently 4 of 5 of our Lake County School Board members and 2/3's of those attending the meeting agree and are tired of the liberal activist Gay "in your face" programs to spread their lifestyle.

Vance Jochim

www.FiscalRangers.com  

Here is a picture of the NORMAL School Board meeting after the GSA agenda item was concluded.  Several red shirted liberals hung around loudly stating they didn't trust the Board which might bring the subject back up for a formal vote.   After listening to routine administrative issues discussed by the Board for 20 minutes the liberals left.  The Board didn't play those games, and didn't even discuss the GSA issue at all, even during Board member "reports". 

===================================================================

Text of referenced newspaper articles (in case they turn off the links later):

Daily Commercial article by Greg Jones

School Board to restart work on gay-straight alliance club

Greg Jones | Staff Writer gregjones@dailycommercial.com | Posted: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 9:00 am

The Lake County School Board on Monday night at the Lake County Administration Building tabled a measure that would have allowed non-curricular clubs and organizations in middle and high schools.

The board vote d 4-1 to table the measure. Only Rosanne Brandeburg voted against de laying the measure. The board will likely have a workshop next month to work out a new policy related to allowing non-curricular clubs and organizations in middle or high schools.

The vote brought more then 400 people in support or against the motion allowing non-curricular clubs and organizations in middle and high schools. The delay of the measure holds off allowing an eighth-grade girl, Bayli Silberstein, 14, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Carver Middle School.

The decision to table the measure will restart the process from the beginning. Board Chairwoman Kyleen Fischer said she hopes to h ave a workshop soon and a new policy in place before the beginning of school in

August. The board will conduct a workshop and have a first hearing. Then the board will advertise the final approval for 28 days before taking a last vote on a new policy.

“I’m sorry this had to get delayed,” Fischer said. “I think that was the feeling of the table that the topic needs to be delayed because of changing legislation.”

Board member Debbie Stivender, the board vice chair, said her goal would be to have a new policy in place before school starts in August. She said based on state legislation changing, the board was going to have to develop a new policy regardless of how anyone feels about the GSA club.

Brandeburg said she didn’t want to postpone the decision because she wanted the more than 400 people who showed up to have an opportunity to be heard.

“These people came out to speak, and I wanted to give them an opportunity to speak,” Brandeburg said. “We could have still listened to them and by postponing this we are starting this whole process over, and it will come back. Part of it is to get more and a better understanding of what this new bill states, but I don’t believe — even what Mr. Johnson had said — that it really pertains to extra-curricular clubs. It pertains to more of what classes can middle school students can take that will count for high school credit. Can you take dual-enrollment courses and things like that. We will learn more then go from there.”

During the meeting, Mathias’ first motion failed but his second motion was approved. He moved to table the motion because he wanted the board to determine the direction it should go before making a decision on a policy that will change in a few months as Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed new legislation which specifically affects the state’s definition of secondary schools, a key point in the local debate. The new legislation will take effect on July 1.

Joyce Hamilton Henry, the Mid Regional Director for the ACLU of Florida, didn’t agree with the decision and was hoping the board would make a final call. She said she is concerned about the environment that is being created by the board and the decision is harming the students. She said the ACLU will examine what happens at the next meeting and make a decision based on that.

Silberstein was emotional after the decision, while a huge cheer came from those against the GSA Club. She said she is willing to go to the state level to help get the law changed. Silberstein admitted she was surprised at the number of people who showed up to protest the measure and that the board tabled it.

“Right now, I’m not really sure exactly what I’m going to do,” she said. “I’m going to wait for the next meeting. We (kids) were taught to stand up and fight for what we believe in, and they are fighting so hard to deny my rights on what I can do, and it is really difficult to get through that.”

Gene Hill, 74, a Mount Dora resident, who has four grandchildren who attend Lake County schools, believes outside forces such as the ACLU are pushing this issue. He said he doesn’t believe the voters in Lake County have been given the opportunity to understand what is going on. He said people can have whatever way of life they want, but the schools should be off limits.

“This is about our children, and this is about the protection of our children,” he said. “We have to stand up for our children, and if that is someone’s way of life that is there decision. Children go to school to be education and not to be in a sex program. That is what this is about and about Lake County folks doing what is best for Lake County children.

“Lake County (residents) should stand up. They say, this is about bullying. We have a bullying policy in the schools now, so enforce it. We need to have the parents, teachers and principals to come together and handle the bullying. This is not going to stop bullying. This (GSA Club) is not going to stop bullying it is going to create more problems.”

Last month, the board tentatively agreed to allow non-curricular clubs and organizations in middle and high schools. On March 11th, board members voted 3-2 to allow middle and high schools to have non-curricular clubs and organizations, which will an eight-grade girl, Bayli Silberstein, 14, start a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Carver Middle School. School board members Bill Mathias and Tod Howard voted against the measure.

####

 =====================================================

Orlando Sentinel by Erica Rodriguez

orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-gay-straight-aclu-final-vote-20130422,0,3296276.story

OrlandoSentinel.com

Lake School Board stalls on new rules affecting gay-straight club

By Erica Rodriguez, Orlando Sentinel

10:25 PM EDT, April 22, 2013

Eighth-grader Bayli Silberstein left Monday night's Lake County School Board meeting blinking back tears after board members voted 4-1 to table a final vote that could have allowed a proposed gay-straight club to form before the end of the school year.

Since November, Bayli, an openly bisexual 14-year-old, has been trying to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at Carver Middle School in Leesburg to combat bullying of her fellow gay classmates.

Monday night more than 350 people packed the Lake County meeting space where the School Board was slated to give a final OK on a rule to allow non-academic student clubs in secondary school. Board members already had voted 3-2 to tentatively allow the clubs but needed a second vote to finalize the policy.

But early in the evening, board members instead said they wanted to take more time to "workshop" the rules in light of a tweak in state law partially called for by School Board members Tod Howard and Bill Mathias. Both men opposed the middle school gay-straight group, suggesting that middle-school children were too young to be discussing gay-straight issues. Mathias recommended to table the issue and was joined by Howard, Chairwoman Kyleen Fischer and fellow board member Debbie Stivender.

"You're talking workshop," Fischer said. "That is the only way we can do this."

Board member Rosanne Brandeburg voted against the tabling, saying said she "wanted the public to be able to speak" and, because of the action, people could not comment on the policy. Brandeburg would not say whether she favored the middle school gay-straight club but said she was against getting rid of all clubs because of one.

The tweak in state law stems from Senate Bill 1076, which was signed by Gov. Rick Scott Monday and goes in effect July 1. The bill muddles which grades are protected by a federal law that bans schools from discriminating against non-academic clubs.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is backing the gay-straight group, contends that under the federal Equal Access Act, Bayli's club is protected because schools cannot discriminate against non-academic clubs based on the topics they discuss. If a school has one non-academic club, then it must treat others the same, the group holds.

But SB 1076 removes the definition of "secondary" schools and does not replace it with a clear definition, leaving it up for debate as to whether a middle school is protected. The Department of Education also did not provide an explicit definition.

Lake School Board attorney Steve Johnson said that based on his review of other Florida laws, it appears "secondary" schools mean high schools — not middle schools. The School Board, in his opinion, isn't required to apply the federal law to middle schools, and board members can create rules however they want in those grades, he told members. But without any action Monday, campus principals are now left to decide handle school clubs.

Mathias and Howard both publicly called for grades 9-12 to be deemed "secondary," but Mathias said the lack of a clear definition wasn't what he expected. He expects the definition will have to be battled out in court.

The ACLU contends that the federal law still applies to middle schools, but even if it didn't, students still have the right to form the gay-straight group under the First Amendment.

Monday night, the audience equally jeered and applauded Mathias for his recommendation to table the issue. Many were angry because they were not able to speak, and those supporting Bayli called the change in law "dirty politics."

Joyce Hamilton, an ACLU regional director, said she was disappointed by the move and the agency will evaluate whether or not to take legal action.

"I am concerned about the environment that is now created in the school that is being perpetuated by the adults who profess … to have the best interest of all students in mind," she said.

The Rev. Gerald Bustin, of Open Door Community Church in Summerfield, , opposes the group and called it a plan "to adjust the minds of children who have no need to be involved in any kind of sexual activity" in middle school. Bustin added that opponents of the club "got what they were looking for."

Bayli's efforts have been thwarted by a school principal who took no action on her application and School Board members who initially tried to create a ban on all non-academic student clubs rather than allow hers.

After the vote Monday night, Bayli said she was "disappointed" in it, but she would continue to push for her club to organize.

"I'm going to keep fighting," she said. "It's not going to stop me. I'm doing all I can to try and get my club."

ericarodriguez@tribune.com or 352-742-5928

Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel

For Elected Officials & Press - New Booklet for you to Understand Dangers of UN Agenda 21

Tavares, FL - Wed., March 27, 2013

To:  Local Lake County Elected Officials and Press:

If you have not learned much about the United Nations Agenda 21 “Sustainable Development” Initiative, below is a new publication by one of the best speakers I have seen on Agenda 21, John Anthony, from  www.Sustainable Freedom Lab.org   .    (Scroll down to see his overview and links)

Agenda 21 is a well documented stealth plan by socialists (like Obama)  to move the US and other countries to socialism and includes reduction of property rights and reduction of liberties defined In the US Constitution.    You can find Agenda 21 elements in most County & City Comprehensive Land Use plans because most “planners” were educated by Agenda 21 programs on how to implement land use restrictions (that reduce property values).   You can also find Agenda 21 Education initiatives in the new Common Core Education Standards defined by the Federal Government.

Thus I recommend all elected officials and members of the press download and read John Anthony’s booklet “Help Public Officials Recognize Agenda 21”.

I also recommend you sign up for his emails.   Anthony also has videos of his presentations before various elected official groups in the North East. 

Additionally, here is a link to the local Orlando Coalition for Property Rights page on Agenda 21

http://proprights.com/agenda-21  

And here is a video I made of a recent presentation by their Executive Director Dan Peterson on Agenda 21 and property rights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T92EvR5UGPs     (Read the “About” section to learn best way to view the video since it is so dark).

My own fact sheet on Agenda 21 is at www.tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 

Scroll down to read an overview of John Anthony's booklet and links to download it.

Vance Jochim

Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Chief Fiscal Watchdog

Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness

PO Box 1042

Tavares, FL 32778

Mobile:  352-638-3578

FiscalRangers@comcast.net

www.FiscalRangers.com   

TWITTER:  @FiscalRangers 

"FiscalRangers" page on Facebook

YouTube:  NEW 6/2012 - Videos of local political candidate forums and other meetings, like North Lake County Hospital District & Lake County Legislators' Delegation annual forums    -  visit the youtube channel "FiscalRangersFlorida" 

CLICK HERE to see recommended internet links related to Local Lake County government fiscal issues.

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Overview from John Anthony of his new Agenda 21 booklet for Elected officials

To elected officials and the press,

Across America, state and local officials are writing bills and resolutions to protect citizen's from Agenda 21's policies. Because many people do not recognize Agenda 21 in action, property owners still remain at risk.

To help officials recognize Agenda 21's footprint, SFL (Sustainable Freedom Labs) created a document in a Q&A format that answers:

• How do I know Agenda 21 exists in the U.S.?
• What does Agenda 21 have to do with sustainable development?
• What is wrong with the Brundtland Commission's definition of sustainable development?
• How do I know the UN's sustainable development is the same one in our community?
• I thought sustainable development is good, what makes you think it is so bad?
• How can something like this happen in America?
• How will I recognize Agenda 21?

The document has a lot more information for community members and officials, including a brief history of Agenda 21 and actions to take to have safe planning without top-down intervention.

You can download the complete document, "Help Public Officials Recognize Agenda 21."

Here is an excerpt to cut, paste and share: 

5 Ways Agenda 21 Enters Your Community

Grant monies:

• Grants issued in conjunction with government 'sustainability initiatives' contain stipulations or implementation practices that are the primary doorway for Agenda 21/sustainable development to enter your community. These stipulations often require no growth boundaries, income integration through low-income housing demands, reduced vehicle usage, healthy cities, livability principles and other forms of social engineering. 
• Other grants issued by non-profit groups such as the Packard, Pew or Carnegie Foundations, frequently promote Agenda 21. Often this happens when HUD or some other federal agency funds the foundation with the money they in turn offer as a sustainability-related grant.

Non-governmental organizations:

• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including ICLEI, the Nature Conservancy, American Farmland Trust and the American Planning Association have close ties to HUD-EPA-DOT sustainability initiatives and promote Agenda 21 through their regional and community work, conservation easements and funding.

Federal agencies:

• Federal agency Acts including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act have so expanded, that individual's rights are losing way to unfounded and often exaggerated endangerment findings. The solutions to their findings invariably require fines, taxes, property rights' infringements or the outright transfer of private lands to the government.  
• Preservation programs, National Parks, Historic Places and Byways, Heritage Sites and Legacy Forest programs have exceeded prudent land and species' protection and are now confiscating massive quantities of the U.S. land mass in alignment with Agenda 21 principles.

The planning process:

• Planners' surveys - contain unfair questions that do not express all of resident's options 
• Consensus meetings - are conducted in ways that elicit responses that support the planner's goals rather than genuine community desires  
• Visioning sessions- may be over-conducted to the point that the vision belongs to the facilitator and only appears to be that of the community. 
• Stakeholder meetings - can produce misleading results when the stakeholders do not represent the average community member. Frequently the "stakeholders" have a financial or ideological interest in implementing the plan. 
• Zoning regulations - originating with the American Planning Association (and others,)  contains language that establishes the legal framework to implement Agenda 21 in communities. HUD, other federal agencies and firms such as Siemens funded the development of the APA's Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook, 2nd ed. These supporters all have a stake in Agenda 21's implementation.   
• Conservation easements - often contain undiscussed clauses that severely restrict property owners' rights, reduce property values and favor the land trust for future contract changes.

 Regionalism:

• Regional councils replace much of the local officials' authority with unelected boardmembers. 
• As the regional council matures, local rule diminishes, leaving citizens with more distant and reduced representation.  
• Once a region is formed, the ability to oppose sustainable development is limited. 
• Generally, when the regional council accepts grant monies, all tethered communities are bound by the grant stipulations. 
• Regional planning often includes tax base sharing which promotes wealth transfer by forcing community members to pay for services in other locations. 
• Regional planning often includes "no growth boundaries" that force housing into urban and inner ring suburban areas. This reduces homebuyers' choices and artificially inflates the value of some properties, while reducing it for others.

 Download the full document, "Help Public Officials Recognize Agenda 21."

Helping you fight back,

John

Sustainable Freedom Lab

 

Rick Riker Guest Editorial on Common Core Teaching Standards - Are they Marxist Standards?

Tavares, FL - Wed., March 26, 2013

Guest Editorial on Common Core Teaching Standards Being Implemented by Lake County, Florida and 40+ other States

by Rick Riker

Rick is an active member of the North Lake Tea Party and the Lake County Republican Executive Committee

  On October 16th, 2012 the Lake County School Board rolled out an introduction to Common Core Standards at Leesberg High School.   The moderately well attended presentation included remarks by the school board superintendent on how wonderful the program was and how excited she was that Lake schools would be participating in it, a motivational speaker spoke for a half hour also praising Common Core , and finally a choir of elementary school students sang a song praising Common Core.                                                                      

  The presentation was meant to be uplifting, instilling a sense of optimism in those attending, with hopes they  would spread the word that Common Core Standards were here, thank goodness.       However,  I’m sure there were those such a my wife and myself, who left the presentation  wondering what Common Core was all about , why no specifics were presented, why a motivational speaker was need , and in fact why this was turned into an “event”. 

  I already mentioned that specifics regarding Common Core Standards were excluded from the presentation.  It was amazing how the motivational speaker could speak for thirty minutes and say nothing, was there a reason?  Another part of the presentation featured the logo “Common Core “ superimposed in 20 foot high letters on the stage backdrop and both side walls, this was reminiscent of what one sees in Communist Mayday parades when they feature huge billboards and banners with pictures of Marxist leaders and symbols on them, and to top it off the Obama rainbow logo was incorporated into the O in Core. What was that all about?  Finally, the song the choir sang was entitled Forward with Common Core.  FORWARD?  The word Forward is a slogan used by Marxists and is closely associated with that movement.  

  Welcome to, as teachers Jenni White, Lynn Habluetzel, and Jo Joyce call it in their article, COMMON CORE STANDARDS ; AN INTRODUCTION TO MARXISM 101.        HERE is a 1 hour 15 minute video on this same subject.                 

  Is Common Core the result of a further move by the government toward a totalitarian state?  Dictators claim they have the responsibility to engineer society because left to their own devices people are not capable of knowing what is good for them.  Common Core was set up because the federal government didn’t think states knew the best way to educate children.   That’s one strike against Common Core.   The standard Common Core strives for is one in which every student in the country has the exact same knowledge, no one person needs to be smarter than another. Everyone functions in the collective, no individuals allowed.  That’s strike two.  Under Marxism, the ultimate purpose of education is to strengthen the state and the building up of a classless society. Knowledge is not to be imparted or acquired for its own sake. It has social purpose- namely the service of the state”.  Common Core is teaching by the collective for the collective with the stated objective of turning children into good workers (for the state). STRIKE THREE!!!! 

   I wish I could have added “YOUR OUT”!!, but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.  It seems the financial carrot the Obama administration dangles in front of the states has been too attractive to pass up.   The federal government is handing out massive grants to state governments that implement Common Core Standards.   The administration is also requiring states to sign up for the Common Core to obtain so-called “No Child Left Behind” waivers.  These bribes have not been successful with all states.    Some have already refused to accept the Common Core standards, and others have already withdrawn despite initially accepting.  Other states are currently considering withdrawal, and that trend is expected to accelerate as America’s parents realize what is going on.  The more parents in Florida know about Common Core the closer we are to withdrawing from this federal power grab, and the closer we are to returning education to the local level. 

Rick Riker

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Editor's Note:  We have written about the UN Agenda 21 sustainable development initiatives designed to move the US to socialism. Our fact sheet on Agenda 21 is at www.tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 .  Control of the education system is also used to implement that plan, but the education Agenda 21 initiatives from UNESCO and other UN agencies are so large that I have not written much about them.  But I intend to provide space for those who do spend time to understand the risks of UN "one world government" education initiatives, including Common Core Standards.  

One factor is that one of the major developers of Common Core is now the President of the ACT testing program that tests kids for college entrance.  He is modifying the tests so only students in Common Core programs will be able to compete, which excludes private schools, home schooled kids, and those from states that have not adopted Common Core.    One of the other objectives of the UN programs is to educate kids to believe the "collective" or government should be more important in their lives than family or parents. (Remember the Chinese programs where kids were taught to obey Mao's "Little Red Book" over their parents? Remember the Hitler Youth?  ).   So watch for evidence of that.

I have asked administrators at the Lake County School District about Common Core, and they say they have no choice to implement it since the State of Florida mandated the Standards.   I know that there have been training programs and trips to go to them by staff, including one funded by the Bill Gates Foundation, which is pushing Common Core.

Those are the type of stealth efforts being implemented by Socialist Progressives and parents and educators need to stand up to them.  Common Core is like Obamacare.  No one has read it and they just listened to the nice, fuzzy, warm words describing it.  Or, take no action and watch your little socialists grow up.

"In order to save the planet, we must destroy capitalism" 

            Maurice Strong, former UN Sec General and one of the developers of Agenda 21

Here are some links about Common Core problems.  These aren't the best resources for everyone, so I encourage you to do your own research to find inforation pertinent to your values.

http://cuacc.org/     -  Californians United Against Common Core

http://iloveyoubutyouregoingtohell.org/2013/01/11/homeschooling-and-the-common-core/

 

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com - a watchdog blog on local government in Lake County, FL

 

Are the Minneola, FL City Council AND Local Land Developers Trying to Rip Off Local Taxpayers?

Tavares, FL - Monday, March 25,2013

Commentary by Vance Jochim,  www.FiscalRangers.com

- Updates are added, mostly at the bottom, as we get them. 

This is written from the standpoint of being a taxpayer advocate, and also questioning why a city should be allowed to divert County property tax revenue to their own projects.

Lake County, FL property owners and City of Minneola property owners better hold on to their wallet because in my opinion, a tax grab is being planned to subsidize four major real estate developers in the Minneola area.  Basically, they are pushing through a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) which siphons property taxes from the development area future property taxes to re-pay the State of Florida $15-million of a $30-million Florida Turnpike Interchange in Minneola.  The Interchange is expected to increase the ability of land owners and developers to sell 8,000 homes in Minneola with 23,000 residents. However, ALL County taxpayers will be expected to provide normal County services like Animal Services, Libraries etc. to those new homeowners while 5-mills of County property taxes are used to pay their bonds instead of going to the Lake County General Fund for normal government services to County (not City) residents.   Additionally, I was told that 15 mills of property taxes for new homes and projects in the CRA development area will be also used to pay for bonds rather than go to the City Of Minneola General Fund.  SO, Minneola residents outside of the CRA area will have to pick up some of the cost burdens for CRA residents since some of their taxes will be diverted to the CRA.  (Read on if that is not clear).

See if you agree:

- Minneola is the city that voted for debt to build a huge waste water plant for planned residential developments that never were built.  Thus they are hurting for tax dollars.

- Developers and land owners for an area planned to include 8,000 homes and lots of commercial space want a $30-million interchange constructed on the Florida turnpike in Minneola to allow future residents to exit near their planned communities.

- The State of Florida said it will put up the $30-million and build the interchange if the local developers repay the State $15-million.

- At several planning and government meetings, I have always heard the developers were expected to kick in the $15-million, which seems fair since they will reap huge profits from the easy access for their future residents.

- Then, all of a sudden, the City Council of Minneola approved on Mar. 16, 2013 the first reading of a Minneola Mountain Properties CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) for the development area.  A CRA is a legal method that siphons off future property tax revenues for specific purposes, taking it from normal "general fund" uses.  There are 16 CRA's in Lake County, and most use their funds to renovate older, declined downtown areas.  For instance, this year, the downtown Mt. Dora CRA will take $355,077 from funds normally for County "general fund" services and instead will be spent on the downtown area instead of going to the County general fund for countywide services like Animal Services, Ambulance services, etc.   Think of it as an elected official tax grab to subsidize property owners.   I reviewed CRA's when the County Board created one for the Sorrento area, and you can find some of my research here.  There are many ways to abuse CRA's, and Florida has had two major shakeups due to corruption with CRA's.  (Hallandale Beach in Broward County, and Daytona Beach )  www.myflorida.com/audgen/pages/pdf_files/2008-036.pdf -   http://www.browardbulldog.org/tag/broward-inspector-general/   This watchdog source indicates the County Inspector General also has reported mis-management (I call it corruption) that has taken place in the Broward County communities of Lauderdale Lakes and also Hollywood, FL.  

- The result is that when the new residents of the 8,000 homes and other Minneola and County residents need county or city services, less funds are available since they will be siphoned off to pay for the interchange and connecting roads.  This will then put pressure on officials to RAISE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES while the CRA runs for 30+ years subsidizing the developers and paying for the interchange which is NOT voted on by voters. 

- I could not find anywhere that the developers and landowners are expected to pay any of the costs. If they do, the CRA allows them to "apply" for full reimbursement, thus eliminating many costs that I believe they should pay.

- The Lake County Board has voted to waive all transportation and impact fees for the last three years, and impact fees were the normal method to pay for new infrastructure like roads or schools for new developments.  So, the Board made the choice to reduce funding for roads and infrastructure (including new schools) in order to "help the economy" by reducing costs of new construction.  Now the City of Minneola, not having funds even for County roads, is making an end run and creating the CRA to not only provide the interchange and connecting roads, but even salaries for new City employees hired to provide services to the CRA area. 

- The CRA Plan allocates CRA funds of $2.5-million to $13-million per YEAR for City staff to be paid from CRA proceeds.   That is like paying for food on a credit card, and not a good practice.

- The CRA plan describes two bond scenarios.  One for $26.5-million, a second "optional" plan for another $15-million.   In both cases, they use 25% (TWENTY FIVE PERCENT) of the proceeds to pay for issuance fees, prepaid interest and other charges not related to the actual projects planned.  Would you buy a car where 25% of your loan was eaten up in fees at the front end, before also paying interest and principal payments every year exceeding $1.7-million for the first bond issuance, and $1.2-million in payments for the second bond?

- The 85 page Community Development Plan bases future property valuations on a two page, un-documented (i.e. no facts to back up the data) letter from Frank Royce, a prior employee of the prior Property Appraiser.  Royce didn't substantiate his method but used assumptions he was given to develop an estimated future property taxable valuation in the CRA area of $886-million in 2027.   He issued it in September, 2012 after he knew his boss had lost the elections.  I called the new Property Appraiser Carey Baker, and he said he did NOT stand by the letter from Frank Royce, and they would not be in the business of doing valuation studies for private firms.  He recommended they use a credible, advanced skilled independent property appraiser to provide a professional appraisal.   Thus the estimated valuation of $886-million is questionable and should not be accepted by the County or City of Minneola to justify the CRA bonds.

I have more, but time is running out and so I will add more below this line as I get it.

- The CRA Plan describes estimates of CRA tax diversions, but doesn’t explain the millage rates used or which tax authorities the funds are taken from.  I was told that School property taxes would not be diverted, and that about 5 mills will be taken from the County General fund and perhaps 15 mills from the Minneola General Fund, but there is nothing in writing explaining the true cost impact of diverting funds from future tax collections.

Be sure to watch the Lake County Board meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9am (tab 21) by the City of Minneola on the CRA, and if you don't think all the County should be taxed to cover Minneola CRA costs, then let your Board members know.

I will be writing more on this, and will attach the CRA plan and "Finding of Necessity" here since the City of Minneola has NOT provided them on their website.

Note:  Here is a LINK to the 85 page Community Redevelopment Plan, followed by the "Findings of Necessity" Report for the CRA.  Neither are on the City of Minneola website (yet).   Minneola is also processing a SECOND CRA for downtown Minneola, which I will look at later:

The following link is to the Minneola Mountain CRA (aka Turnpike CRA) Redevelopment Plan

https://www.box.com/s/cace01fbeezmvxijpss6

The following link is to the Minneola Mountain CRA(aka Turnpike CRA) Findings of Necessity Report.

https://www.box.com/s/15kpynlngbkixoeb79n5

Here is a worksheet prepared by the County Budget Department showing the diversion of property taxes from the County General fund to several CRA's in Lake County.   Right now the County is projecting a 6% budget cut, while they are paying out $1.1-million to 15 local CRA's (Sorrento is not setup yet).

Download CRA Spreadsheet FY 2013

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com 

FiscalRangers@comcast.net

Florida Bill SB-806 to Provide More School Schedule Flexibility Being Fought by Tourism Industry & Disney

Tavares, FL - Thursday, March 21, 2013

School Districts in Florida are waiting for progress on a bill SB-806 (2013), that will allow them more flexibility in scheduling student calendars and when end of session tests are given.   Right now, the Florida state mandated schedule calendars force them to give exams AFTER Christmas break, which disrupts the learning and success rates.

Read more on the bill and about who is fighting the bill here:

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/mar/20/bill-floating-in-the-legislature-gives-florida/

You can monitor progress of Bill SB-806 here:

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0806 

NOTE:  Below are the 2013 Lake County School District Legislative Priorities, but this bill is not on it, although I remember them discussing it at a Board meeting.

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com

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Lake County Schools (Florida)
2013 Legislative Priorities (Source:  N. Challenger in Superintendant's Office)

1. Respect the constitutional authority of local elected school board members to
"supervise, operate and control" public schools in all areas, included, but not
limited to, flexibility in categorical spending, instruction, performance pay, budget,
personnel, charter schools, and school calendars.

2. To adequately fund community colleges for offering Dual Enrollment programs to
high school students.

3. Redistribute available PECO funds to include public schools. Prior to 2011,
PECO funds were allocated to postsecondary, K-12, and Charter Schools. In
2011, public schools K-12 were excluded.

4. To ensure the sustainability and equity of the Florida Education Finance Program
(FEFP), the state must restore the formula to the adopted 2007-2008 Regular
Legislative Session level. This includes restoring both formula components and
per student amount.

5. Restore the capital outlay tax to the 2007 level of 2 mills (changed to 1.50 mills in
2009) without impacting the operating millage.