Superintendent meets with state education commissioner

Rick Mills, Manatee County School District superintendent, is in Tallahassee Monday to meet with Pam Stewart, Florida Department of Education commissioner, to address findings and recommendations from audits of the district by the State Auditor General’s Office.

Those reports revealed the district could spend more than $9 million to recover from major financial errors — including poor recordkeeping and overspending — past leadership made. 

Mills will try to gain support from the FDOE on an action plan he submitted to the Florida Auditor General. 

By showing that he has a strong plan to address the findings, Mills hopes to mitigate, eliminate or amortize penalties owed to the state. 

Also Monday, at noon, Mills will attend a Joint Legislative Auditing Committee meeting. 

Mills and other district representatives met with the committee Jan. 13 to discuss the Auditor General’s findings.

Monday, Mills will meet with the committee again, at their request, to submit a list of suggestions regarding how school districts can avoid financial problems.

“I look forward to meeting with Commissioner Stewart and for the opportunity to share our commitment to restoring this school district to a state of fiscal responsibility,” Mills said. “In addition, I hope the list of suggestions I provided the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee will be beneficial to them and to other school districts.”

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].