During a June 23 candidate forum, Leon County School Board incumbent Marcus Nicolas and opponent James Reilly addressed a number of issues, including concerns about the level of administrative staffing positions.
Nicolas is the current School Board chair and president of ESPMedia, a local media company. His wife is an assistant principal at RAA Middle School.
Reilly currently works in the hospitality industry. Since announcing his campaign, he has regularly attended school board meetings. He graduated from Godby High School in 1988. His wife currently works in the district’s HR department,
Nicolas addressed “administrative bloating” by stating that comparisons with similar districts that show LCS has more administrative positions is misleading. He explained that while Leon County’s administrative staff may appear larger than neighboring districts, it is because Leon County keeps those positions in-house whereas other districts subcontract those same roles. He specifically called the claim that the district has 210 more administrators than peer groups “factually incorrect”.
However, Nicolas did concede that the district had more assistant principals than were warranted and stated that they are currently “correcting that”.
On staffing, Reilly said he’d like to see the board take a more proactive approach, and he said he thinks reducing top-level staff could be part of that answer.
“I also feel that we have a very top-heavy school system—I think that’s proven,” he said. “We have more people than we need. We continue to hire more at the district level, and we need to cut those jobs instead of hiring more if we have less students.”
On school choice, Riley said charter, private, and religious schools provide “healthy competition.” He argued that parents should have options because public schools have created their own problems, specifically citing issues like bullying as a reason students leave the district.
While he supported the district’s recent move to hire a third-party recruiter to bring students back, he called it a “reactive thing” and emphasized that the board needs to address the root causes of why families are choosing other options. Riley even stated that, at the current time, he might not personally recommend Leon County Public Schools to a new resident, noting that his own daughter attended Florida High
.
Nicolas disagreed that the current environment represents healthy competition, primarily because of a lack of shared accountability standards. He argued that private schools receiving voucher money are not held to the same standards as public schools and have the ability to “sift through” the students they want while shunning others.
Nicolas made a pitch for public schools by noting that graduation rates have increased by 8%, and the district now features unique partnerships like on-campus banks to teach financial literacy and dedicated college and career centers.
On the property tax increase that is scheduled to be on the ballot in November, Nicolas said he strongly supports the increase, framing it as a critical investment in the district’s workforce and security. He highlighted that Leon County teachers currently rank 44th in pay in Florida.
Riley opposes the property tax increase, arguing that the district should look inward to its current budget before asking taxpayers for more money. He stated he cannot justify an additional $300 per person per year in property taxes for community members who already feel “crushed.” His backup plan, should the tax fail, is to cut executive positions at the district level that he deems unnecessary.
.
.
.
.
Be the first to leave a comment on this article.