Incumbent District 1 school board member and chairman Chris Hodgson and challenger Cal Peterson made their cases at the Lake Butler Women’s Club on Thursday, July 30, agreeing on the district’s problems if not the fix.
The district has lost 350 students in four years to school-choice vouchers, cutting $4.4 million in expenditures and drawing its fund balance down to 2.7 percent of revenues, below the board’s 4 percent policy.
Hodgson, a 34-year corrections official seeking a second term, cited a projected fund balance recovery to 6 percent, a $79 million Lake Butler Elementary School project, and a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot.
Peterson, a career educator, pledged classroom visits and 10 percent of his salary.
