Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas has determined that the Union County School District is in a state of financial emergency. Now, the state is stepping in to provide some help to the district. 

The State Board of Education held an emergency conference call on Thursday, where board members appointed a three-member financial emergency board “to provide fiscal oversight and accountability” for Union and Glades counties’ school districts, according to Nathalia Medina, the press secretary for the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). 

Both districts “reported a fund balance that has fallen below 2%, and each has projected a fund balance that will remain below 2% through the end of the current fiscal year [June 30],” according to an action item brought before the board during the nearly six-minute conference call.  

Florida law requires a school district “to maintain an assigned and unassigned fund balance of at least 2% of general fund revenues…” Kamoutsas said in a March 18 letter addressed to Union County Superintendent Mike Ripplinger. 

When a district’s fund balance is projected to drop below 2%, the superintendent must provide written notice to the school board and commissioner of education, according to state law.  

Ripplinger notified Kamoutsas in a March 4 letter that the district’s assigned and unassigned general fund balances dropped below 2% as of June 2025, according to written communication between the two men.  

If the commissioner determines that a district does not have a plan in place “that is reasonably anticipated to avoid a financial emergency” and needs help, a financial emergency board is then appointed “to assist the district and to oversee the activities of the district,” according to the action item brought to the state board. 

“The district’s analysis reflects a projected financial condition ratio of negative 9.14% as of June 30, 2026,” Kamoutsas said in the March 18 letter. “I am deeply concerned that the district’s financial condition has continued to deteriorate since the approval of the fiscal recovery plan in March 2025.” 

In an email reply to Mainstreet on Tuesday, Ripplinger said the primary factor that resulted in the district’s fund balance dropping below 2% was declining enrollment.   

“This trend has occurred for the past couple of years and has grown, along with the rise of scholarship funds from the state for those seeking other educational opportunities, such as private schools and homeschool settings,” he said. 

Ripplinger said the district has seen a drop in enrollment of roughly 215 students over the past three years. 

In the March 4 letter, Ripplinger said the district has taken “significant and difficult measures” to lower costs and “restore fiscal stability.” 

During the 2024-25 fiscal year, he said the district reduced spending by $523,000 between March and June 2025. Despite the cutback, Ripplinger noted that the district finished the year with a negative 5% financial condition ratio. 

To get ready for the 2025-26 school year, he said the district implemented “substantial structural reductions.” This included the elimination of 38 positions districtwide, shortening non-instructional employee contracts by an average of 10 days, reducing board-paid employee benefits and decreasing operational budgets. 

“These actions generated approximately $2.8 million in recurring savings,” Ripplinger said in the March 4 letter, adding that the district was on course to break even before the release of the third Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) calculation in January.  

The FEFP is calculated five times throughout the year “to account for the certification of the tax roll and student FTE (full-time equivalent) counts,” according to the Florida School Finance Officers Association (FSFOA).  

Following the release of the third FEFP calculation, Ripplinger said the district experienced an additional $1.4 million cut in FEFP funding.  

“The district continues to implement further corrective actions, including eliminating the remaining board-paid benefits, freezing positions as vacancies occur, evaluating additional layoffs, shifting allowable expenditures to grant funding, and restricting spending to essential purchases only,” he said in the March 4 letter. “Despite these aggressive efforts, the cumulative funding reductions and structural financial challenges have created a situation that cannot be resolved through local reductions alone without significantly impacting educational services.” 

During the state board’s emergency conference call, Suzanne Pridgeon, Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Operations for the FDOE, said the three-member financial emergency board will work with both Union and Glades county school districts, reviewing each district’s operations, management and finances, along with making recommendations for financial recovery.  

The financial emergency board consists of Vickie DePratter (chair), Randy Beach and Kathy Sneads.  

DePratter is a certified public accountant (CPA) based in Live Oak, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also spent 16 years working as the chief financial officer for the Suwannee County School Board, according to her resume.  

Beach is also a CPA and retired Florida school district chief financial officer (CFO), according to his resume. He currently serves as a self-employed financial services consultant.  

Sneads is a retired Florida school district finance director, according to her resume. Like Beach, she also currently serves as a self-employed financial services consultant, as well as a financial secretary and trustee at Sneads First United Methodist Church.  

Ripplinger said in a statement sent to Mainstreet that the district is “appreciative” of the opportunity to work with the financial emergency board as they look at ways to better their financial standing.  

He told Mainstreet that there will be no “immediate impacts on students or staff this school year.” However, Ripplinger said there will be some changes next year. 

Those changes, he said, include reducing the number of staffed positions to increase the district’s fund balance. There will also be some restructuring with Lake Butler Middle and Elementary Schools.  

The Union County School Board held a workshop on March 10, where the restructuring plan was discussed as a potential option to address the district’s financial issues. Ripplinger confirmed with Mainstreet that the plan will be in place next school year. 

As part of the plan, Ripplinger said fifth grade, which is currently located at Lake Butler Middle, will move to Lake Butler Elementary, making it a Pre-K-5, while Lake Butler Middle will consolidate with Union County High School, making it a sixth-12^th campus.  

“In addition to the consolidation of schools, we will continue to try to reduce expenditures enough to overcome our deficits while providing the required educational and supplemental services to our students,” Ripplinger said in the email reply. “Once the budget is passed by the [Florida] Legislature, we will have a better idea of what we are looking at for next year and then adjust our plan accordingly.”  

Florida lawmakers are expected to reconvene in Tallahassee this month for a special session to finalize the state budget after failing to do so during the 60-day legislative session that ended on March 13. 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.