I reviewed the past 9 years to see how the Escambia County School District has grown General Fund Reserves under both Malcolm Thomas and his predecessor Jim Paul. The reserves have grown 377%. Unbelievable!
I compared that growth to what has happened in Santa Rosa County. The neighboring county has seen its reserves increase, too, but the total growth over the nine-year period was only 77%. Something’s wrong here.
Superintendent Jim Paul grew the reserves to a certain level over a four-year period taking advantage of the jump in revenue the year immediately following Hurricane Ivan  and then he maintained that reserve level during his final four years in office.
What Paul took seven years to achieve, Malcolm Thomas has surpassed in a little over a year and a half.. This can’t be good for the local economy during this recession or for the education of Escambia County children.
How could the Escambia County School Board let this happen?
| Escambia County School District | ||||||
| Year | General Fund | Growth | Superintendent | |||
| 2002 | Â $14,022,771 | |||||
| 2003 | Â $16,948,626 | Â $2,925,855 | 20.9% | Â Jim Paul | ||
| 2004 | Â $21,422,721 | Â $4,474,095 | 26.4% | Â Paul | ||
| 2005 | Â $40,078,498 | Â $18,655,777 | 87.1% | Â Paul | ||
| 2006 | Â $39,524,168 | Â $(554,330) | -1.4% | Â Paul | ||
| 2007 | Â $39,841,512 | Â $317,344 | 0.8% | Â Paul | ||
| 2008 | Â $37,162,467 | Â $(2,679,045) | -6.7% | Â Paul | ||
| 2009 | Â $37,640,824 | Â $478,357 | 1.3% | Â Paul/Thomas | ||
| 2010 | Â $50,084,645 | Â $12,443,821 | 33.1% | Â Thomas | ||
| 2011 | Â $66,894,754 | Â $16,810,109 | 33.6% | Â Thomas | ||
| Total | Â $52,871,983 | 377% | ||||
| Note: In 2005, $20 million of the reserves were encumbrances. In 2011, only $10.4 million was either denoted nonspendable or restricted. | ||||||
| Santa Rosa County School District | ||||||
| Year | General Fund | Growth | ||||
| 2002 | $12,093,008 | |||||
| 2003 | $15,610,954 | Â $3,517,945 | 29.1% | |||
| 2004 | $18,107,654 | Â $2,496,700 | 16.0% | |||
| 2005 | $19,985,733 | Â $1,878,079 | 10.4% | |||
| 2006 | $23,120,602 | Â $3,134,869 | 15.7% | |||
| 2007 | $22,282,021 | Â $(838,582) | -3.6% | |||
| 2008 | $22,868,544 | Â $586,523 | 2.6% | |||
| 2009 | $18,635,695 | Â $(4,232,849) | -18.5% | |||
| 2010 | $24,142,653 | Â $5,506,958 | 29.6% | |||
| 2011 | $27,525,574 | Â $3,382,921 | 14.0% | |||
| Total | Â $11,914,620 | 76% | ||||