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Sarasota News Leader May 24, 2013 Page 47 have had to resort to buying many of their money each year before the county property tax revenue comes in. In fact, they need a lot own supplies for a long time. of money. School starts in late August, but Yet another significant change in school fundmost people send their checks to the Sarasota ing revolves around the proliferation of virtual County Tax Collector in December or January, schools, or the offering of online courses. The so there are several months when lots of monLegislature has mandated that every student ey is being spent and not much is coming in. take online courses, but it also has decreed The School Board can borrow money, but that that the districts will pay for them. means interest payments. "I guess the good news is, that at the end of this year we will still be above our reserve," Moreover, while pundits, politicians and some Weidner told the board members, reflecting regular people are seeing great improvements in the state's economy, others are not. Count on the expected state funding. school district administrators among the latThe district's reserve account represents 7.5 ter group. Yes, the real estate market is repercent of its operating expenses. With about covering, but it has not recovered completely, $30 million, the account used to be thought meaning ad valorem tax values are still down. of as a "rainy day fund," but it is actually a bit Sarasota County lost about 40 percent of the more complicated than that. The schools need worth of its property from 2005 to 2012. % Someone you know needs Planned Parenthood • Lifesaving cancer screenings • Parent & teen education • Annual GYN exams • Birth control Planned Parenthood Of Southwest And Central Florida • Sarasota 941-953-4060 • MyPlannedParenthood.org FREE SUBSCRIPTION Don't have your own subscription to The Sarasota News Leader? Subscribe for FREE and receive a weekly notification when the latest issue is available online.