Union County Schools Superintendent Mike Ripplinger is navigating a complex landscape of declining enrollment, unpredictable state funding, and increasing competition from school choice alternatives as the district works to retain students and maintain quality education.
In a recent interview, Ripplinger detailed the financial pressures facing the small rural district, which depends on the Florida Education Finance Program for approximately 85% of its funding, significantly more than larger districts that have additional property tax revenues.
The funding uncertainty has created serious budgeting challenges. Last year, when the state released its third calculation in late February, Union County learned it would receive $670,000 less than budgeted for the remainder of the year due to a loss of 73 Full-Time Equivalent students.
“You make your plans based on what they say, this is what you’re going to have to run your business,” Ripplinger said. “But then, as the year goes on, even after you’ve engaged in these fixed costs, then they come back and say, well, you’re actually going to have less.”
3 out of 4 students are still coming to us
Despite these challenges, approximately 80% of Union County students still attend traditional public schools rather than homeschool, private schools, or charter schools, a figure that mirrors the statewide trend, where three out of four Florida students remain in brick-and-mortar public schools.
“When you listen to the things coming out over the media through Tallahassee, it doesn’t appear that way,” Ripplinger noted. “It seems like maybe 70% are going to charter schools, private schools, or homeschooling. But three out of four students are still coming to us.”
To attract and retain students, Ripplinger emphasizes what traditional public schools can uniquely offer: comprehensive student services, including mental health counseling, ESE services, healthcare, safety through school resource officers, career and technical education, college-preparatory coursework, and social opportunities through extracurriculars and athletics.
The district has also opened its extracurricular activities and sports programs to homeschool and private school students who pay a fee to participate. While not generating significant revenue, the initiative helps offset costs and has brought several students onto middle school athletic teams.
“Relationships are a big part of what we do,” Ripplinger said, pointing to last month’s Miss Union County High School pageant, where multiple contestants cited their teachers, including Lieutenant Colonel Steverson of the JROTC program, agriculture teacher Tom Williams, and criminal justice instructor Travis Rimes, as hometown heroes.
The superintendent said the pageant displayed the outsized role quality teachers can play in a student’s life.
“When a high school kid is going to get up there in front of the world and say, my hometown hero is my teacher,” Ripplinger said, “you saw evidence of that.”
Elementary School Construction Progressing
The new Lake Butler Elementary School project continues to move forward, with groundbreaking targeted for August. The $88.5 million facility is being funded entirely through the state’s Special Facilities Program, with money allocated in three annual tranches of approximately $29.5 million each.
Ripplinger said the timing of construction has been carefully coordinated with funding releases to avoid starting work and then running out of money before the next payment arrives. The district received its first allocation in October and is seeking the second during this year’s legislative session.
“What I didn’t want to do was have a groundbreaking ceremony, and nothing happens for several months because that demoralizes people,” Ripplinger explained. “When we actually do that, then pretty much every day thereafter, people are going to be able to drive by the site, and they’re going to start seeing the progress.”
The superintendent has solicited input from teachers at each grade level on classroom design, including decisions about built-in storage, shared bathrooms, and flooring materials. The two-story building will house separate wings for primary and intermediate grades.
Electric Buses Arrive
All six of the district’s new electric buses have arrived, and driver training is underway. The buses, which will replace approximately one-third of the district’s aging fleet, are expected to begin regular routes soon.
“They’re quiet, just like an electric car,” Ripplinger said, noting that the district has been moving away from more expensive diesel buses toward gasoline and now electric vehicles.
Temporary charging stations are currently in place, with permanent installations expected by March.
The electric buses will help the district shift costs from maintaining old vehicles to lease payments on new ones, Ripplinger said, without requiring significant new funding for bus replacement.
Looking Ahead
As the district awaits state funding decisions and works to compete for students in an increasingly choice-driven environment, Ripplinger remains focused on the relationships educators build with students and the comprehensive services public schools provide.
“We provide things that other avenues do not,” he said. “We have teams of people that move in to help those students. These are things that we can offer that may or may not be offered in other locations.”
The superintendent also noted support for a proposed half-cent sales tax referendum, which he said would help alleviate budget pressures and allow the district to reallocate resources to meet critical needs.
