FLCapitalTea

29/07/2025

✨All three organizations City of Tallahassee, TMH, and FSU will be together at the Chamber of Commerce retreat.

✨Meanwhile our community is still in the dark about the possible merger/sale/give away

✨While we don’t believe this will be decided over a golf game we also don’t have any assurances that it won’t.

👀New chamber list published 7/28

🫶Keep the conversation going. We are better together. View our contact list of representatives linked in comments for access to starting a conversation with them about this topic.

29/07/2025

✨ Stay engaged, remain informed, and keep the conversation going

✨Alva Smith clarified last night that she is paying her registration, travel, hotel, everything when she attends the chamber retreat.

✨She and Dr Nicolas also asked why this was even an agenda item being that she was paying for everything and it has no effect of the district budget.

✨Tonight they continue their meeting with a public hearing and voting.

✨Interestingly, between Sunday and Monday night the item was updated removing Darryl Jones’s name

🫶We are better together

28/07/2025

Stay engaged. Remain involved,

We are better together

28/07/2025

🍎School Board meetings are today at 3pm and tomorrow at 6pm

🍎These meeting will cover the budget for the school district.

✨Stay engaged, remain informed, and keep the conversation going 🫶

27/07/2025

✨Updated Chamber of Commerce list shows 5 LCS representatives still attending

✨Listed on the upcoming district board meeting reads as follows:

“19.15 The Superintendent recommends approval for out of county travel for School Board Members Alva Smith and Darryl Jones to attend the Annual Chamber Community Conference to be held in Amelia Island, Florida on August 14 – 17, 2025 School Board Members Alva Smith and Darryl Jones are NOT seeking reimbursement from School Board funds of any expenses incurred during travel (meals, lodging, travel and other incidentals). Board policy requires that all out of county travel be approved in advance by the School Board.”

✨However this item doesn’t include the cost of the tickets($740 each), the cost of membership($5,000+\- a year), or the other representatives attending

✨We are still looking at a cost of about $8,700

✨Let’s look at the other staff member attending

-Two admin from the VPK department
-one assistant superintendent

✨Compared with the published agenda, our team has struggled presenting arguments for why VPK executives or board members are attending this.

🫶Keep the conversation going

27/07/2025

✨Change is not passive, it is active.

✨As we are learning about the chamber retreat and the mismanagement of our taxes and fees, and as we are realizing the lack of transparency and accountability in our local governments. We also want to remain active in what we do with this information.

✨Change starts with having conversations. Some of those conversations are with other neighbors while some conversations are with our elected officials.

✨We have compiled a list of numbers and emails for all our elected officials, this way of you feel led to reach out and begin conversations with them you can easily access all their contact information.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/108XRsHS-UlV_GYRCq2myxCBEgkuii84gXlv9G-FIQ4A/edit?usp=drivesdk

🫶We are better and stronger together

27/07/2025

✨At the beginning of this year Cynthia barber retired as an OPE employee

✨However she is listed as an attendee to Chamber of Commerce Retreat and her organization is the City of Tallahassee

✨Neighbors are already asking why public monies are funding this trip and what benefits does it bring our neighbors that are not attending.

✨Keep the conversation going. We are better together 🫶

26/07/2025

✨A new Chamber list was released on 7/25/25

✨What’s new

-organized alphabetically by organization again
-went from 12 pages down to 10

🫶Keep the conversation going, we are better together

26/07/2025

✨Conversations with neighbors are very important.

✨Here is a letter submitted to us by a neighbor.

🫶keep the conversations going. We are better together

https://floridacapitaltea.com/neighbor-voices-financial-uncertainty-and-school-community/ Neighbor Voices: Financial Uncertainty and School Community - 850CapitalTeag

A Neighbor joins the conversation and explains the unease they feel after hearing Superintendent Hanna discuss the financial crisis.

26/07/2025

✨Did you get a chance to read the report about school grades?

✨Dr. Inika Williams explains the numbers behind the grades in this detailed report (link in comments)

✨Compare schools around the district to see which ones need more resources and add your voice to advocate for our struggling schools, our teachers, and our support staff

25/07/2025

🦆Someone once told me that you want to be like a duck. Calm on the surface but paddling like heck underneath.

🦆All these articles about funding and crisis have left many of our neighbors feeling anxious. Seeing a leader flail in the water.

🦆A neighbors submitted a letter to us recently which we will publish on our website. In the meantime remember why we are slow to speak and remain calm on the surface.

https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/trump-abruptly-unfreezes-all-of-the-education-funds-he-had-withheld/2025/07g

More than $6.8 billion will flow in the coming days.

25/07/2025

🍎Last year in March a similar article was published. However, there was a $17 million increase and he was still saying he couldn’t budget with that amount.

🍎Since December, Hanna has given out $78k in “reclassification raises” he also granted himself a $48k raise. He appointed two new assistant superintendents and then stated that positions wouldn’t be created or filled. The next board meeting he created two new positions.

🍎The Chamber of commerce list published 7/3/25 showed 10 LCS representatives going at about $740 per ticket not including hotel and travel costs. Since the 7/21/25 published list, 6 representatives are still attending.

✨Keep the conversation going

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2025/07/25/leon-schools-face-17m-budget-cut-despite-tax-revenue-increase/85345225007/

Over the last two years the budget has hardly shifted, holding steady at about $666 million. Next year the budget could drop to $649 million.