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Description
On this month's edition of Community Connections, Coordinator of Communications Nicole Young discusses why the EDFIRST half cent referendum is on the ballot with Supervisor of Operations Jim Fossa and Assistant Superintendent of Operations Bryce Ellis. For more information on EDFIRST, visit oneclay.netEDFIRST.
A
Welcome
to
community
connections-
I'm
nicole
young
coordinator
of
communications
and
media
partnerships
for
clay
county
district
schools
this
month
on
community
connections,
we're
going
to
take
a
deeper
dive
into
the
district's
sales
tax
referendum,
which
is
called
edfirst.
Edfer
stands
for
education
facilities,
infrastructure,
restricted
sales
tax,
and
it's
going
to
be
on
the
ballot
this
november.
The
goal
today
is
to
learn
more
about
what
the
sales
tax
means
for
the
district
and
the
community.
A
Today
we
have
mr
jim
fossa
who's,
a
supervisor
of
operations
and
safety
and
security,
and
mrs
bryce
ellis,
who
is
the
assistant
superintendent
of
operations
and
they're,
going
to
give
us
a
deeper
look
into
what
this
means
for
our
community.
So,
mr
fossa,
if
you
can
just
give
us
the
nuts
and
bolts
of
kind
of
what
the
sales
tax
is
and
what
it's
going
to
be
used
for
sure,
nicole.
B
Thanks
for
having
us
here
today,
but
the
infrastructure
sales
tax
is
a
half
cent
sales
tax
on
goods
and
services
that
not
only
do
the
residents
of
clay
county
pay,
but
for
anybody
coming
into
clay
county
pay.
So
this
would
be
something
that,
when
we
gather
all
these
funds
in
that
we'll
be
able
to
take
care
of
the
school's
infrastructure
needs,
and
it's
only
for
infrastructure
needs.
B
A
C
I
mean
just
air
conditioning
alone.
People
don't
understand
that
one
unit
at
orange
park
high
school
is
1.5
million
dollars.
That's
just
one
school.
We
have
these
problems
across
the
district,
there's
42
schools,
so
any
other
modernizing
mechanical
electrical
plumbing
we've
got
everything
on
the
list.
Not
only
that
we've
got
relocatables
that
we
need
to
replace.
C
We
can
use
the
sales
tax
to
build
new
classroom
wings
and
replace
those
relocatables
and
get
our
kids
in
real
classrooms
and
again
it's
it's
facility
restricted,
so
it
can
only
be
used
for
maintenance
and
new
growth
and
buildings
and
we'll
have
an
oversight
committee
that
would
oversee
every
project
that
we
have.
It's,
not
something
that
our
department's
just
going
to
say:
hey.
C
We
want
to
go
do
this
because
we
want
to
do
it
we're
going
to
do
it
with
the
committee
that
says
yes,
this
is
ok
to
spend
this
on
it's
approved
so
that
the
community
feels
like
they
have
a
say
in
it
too.
They
can
be
in
touch
with
the
committee,
and
I
I
think
that's
important
to
know
that
that
it's
not
it's
not
just
going
to
be
us
doing
it.
It's
going
to
be
a
community
effort.
A
C
Absolutely
so
we
have
right
now
it's
going
to
be
worse.
First
oldest
schools
are
going
to
have
more
on
their
list
than
the
newer
schools.
Obviously,
but
we
have
gone
to
every
school
and
facility
and
we
have
a
breakdown
of
every
school
and
the
more
we
get
into
this
we'll
talk
about.
We
can
show
kind
of
our
massive
spreadsheet
and
and
pie
charts,
but
we
were
as
equitable
as
possible
in
meeting
each
school's
needs
and
modernizing
and
again
worst
first,
so
we'll
do
what
we
can.
A
So
it's
not
only
the
maintenance
of
new
schools,
it's
new
growth.
We
have
a
lot
of
people
coming
into
our
county,
you've,
seen
all
the
developments
neighborhoods
going
up-
and
I
know
mr
fossa,
you
are
well
versed
in
the
population
boom.
That's
happening
here
in
clay.
Can
you
talk
about
what
the
district's
plans
are
in
the
next
five
to
seven
years
to
build
schools?
Sure.
B
So
as
as
the
planner,
I
actually
sit
on
clay,
county's
planning
commission,
so
I
have
a
voting
seat
on
any
of
the
growth
that
comes
in
the
first
coast.
Expressway
as
you've
seen
is
snaking
through
clay
county.
All
you
have
to
do
is:
go
along,
blanding
go
along
henley,
go
along
route,
13,
go
wrong,
17
and
also
or
shands
bridges.
You
can
see
it's
coming
and
with
that
we're
going
to
be
needing
probably
five
to
seven
new
schools,
probably
in
the
next
five
to
ten
years.
B
There's
a
huge
development,
that's
going
on
down
in
south
of
green
cove
and
that's
actually
being
built
by
the
park
group,
which
is
actually
the
same
developer
that
did
nocatee
so
we're
looking
at
a
huge
development
down
there.
I
haven't
even
touched
on
lake
asbury
at
all,
and
if
you
can
look
at
lake
asbury
along
sand
lake
road,
there
are
at
least
six
developments
coming
in
and
on
henley.
So
there's
a
huge
need
right
there
for
elementary
schools
and
even
in
the
two
creeks
area,
so
we're
looking
at
a
large
amount
of
growth.
B
A
Wow,
so
it's
really
going
to
connect
a
lot
of
different
people
and
bring
a
lot
of
people
through
our
county,
and
so
the
sales
tax
really
is
a
way
that
everyone
can
contribute.
I
mean
you
have
visitors
coming
through
the
expressway
and
then
you
have
obviously
residents
that
are
buying
within
the
county.
So
there's
a
lot
of
growth
happening,
which
is
really
exciting.
Mrs
ellis,
we're
going
to
have
you
address
kind
of
the
elephant
in
the
room,
the
big
question:
what
if
the
sales
tax
doesn't
pass?
What
will
the
district.
C
Do
well
gosh.
I
hope
that
we
don't
have
to
deal
with
that,
but
if
we
do
we're,
gonna
have
to
find
alternative
sources
of
funding.
It's
unfortunate.
We
would
have
to
maybe
look
at
increasing
impact
fees
and
property
taxes
and
then
again
we're
just
going
to
be
dealing
with
aging
schools,
even
even
doing
that
we're
not
going
to
meet
the
need.
It's
just
it's
too
much.
C
We
really
need
this
half
cent
sales
tax
and-
and
it's
it's
not
a
lot
to
ask
for-
I
don't
think
it's
it's
equitable
in
the
fact
that
we're
not
asking
just
property
owners
to
pay
for
it.
It's
anybody
coming
through,
like
mr
fossa
has
said,
and
it's
we're
looking
at
50
cents
per
hundred
dollars
spent
in
the
county.
So
to
me
I
don't,
I
don't
think
that's
a
lot
to
ask
for,
for
our
students
and
our
community.
A
B
Well
again,
I'd
like
to
touch
on
what
what
misalis
was
saying
is
that
when
you
think
of
what's
going
on
over
in
st
john's
county
every
time
you
go
over
there
for
dinner
or
to
any
of
the
restaurants
you're
paying
for
their
schools,
so
we
should
be
doing
the
same
thing
here.
So
there's
all
these
traffic
that
starts
coming
through
in
the
new
expressway.
Why
not
have
folks
outside
help
pay
for
our
schools?
Why
put
it
on
the
backs
of
all
of
clay
county
residents?
B
A
Right,
wonderful!
Well,
thank
you,
guys
so
much
for
being
here
today,
informing
us
about
the
half
cent
sales
tax
and
what
it
means
for
our
community.
It's
really
really
important
for
them
to
know
before
they
go
to
the
ballot
in
november,
and
so,
if
you
want
more
information,
we
are
continually
updating
our
website
at
oneclade.net
at
first
and
we
will
continue
to
post
and
update
as
we
get
closer
to
november.
Thank
you
so
much
for
tuning
in
we'll
see
you
next
time
on
community.