At the June 22, 2022 City Commission meeting, Vice-Mayor Kristen Rosen Gonzalez  referred item C4E to the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee to discuss establishing a department of education within the City of Miami Beach. A companion item was also referred to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee, to hold a discussion regarding establishing an Education Department by Ordinance to sustain educational initiatives.

At the May 24, 2022 Committee for Quality Education Meeting, the following motion was made (See Attachment A):

Made by Beverly Heller

Second by Marvena Mitchel

The Committee for Quality Education requests the Mayor and City Commission create an official Education Department by ordinance to sustain educational initiatives.  The Committee for Quality Education urges the Mayor and Commission to support the above request.

Motion Passage: Votes 12-0

On January 8, 2008, the City entered into an Education Compact (the “Compact”) with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) (See Attachment B).  Developed with significant community input and following the 2007 Miami Beach Community Satisfaction Survey where over 75% of residents indicated support for the City to fund educational enhancements to improve educational opportunities for Miami Beach youth.  The Compact reflects the desire of the Miami Beach community to support excellence in its schools and an investment in the overall enhancement of education for its residents.  The Compact currently addresses and supports the following priority areas:

• Teacher Recruitment/Retention;
• Communication;
• Parental Involvement/Family Support/Youth and Community Engagement;
• Health and Well-Being;
• Student Achievement;
• Safety; and
• Technology.

Per Resolution No. 2015-28997, the City Commission directed the Administration to expand the Compact to address the following areas:  Early Learning; Extracurricular/Choice Offerings; and Afterschool Programming. 

Since then, the City developed and implemented complex educational programs which include the negotiation and execution of agreements with many organizations including MDCPS.   The following educational initiatives were implemented in FY2022 (See Attachment C): 

• GED/ESOL Adult Education Scholarships
• University of Florida Dual Enrollment
• Miami Beach Rock Ensemble
• Anti-Semitism Professional Development
• Prekindergarten (PreK) Scholarship Program
• Stop the Bleed Kits
• Transcripts- Official
• Flu vaccines
• STEAM+ Program
• Substitute Teacher Incentive Program
• Public School Virtual Tours
• Math Tutoring
• Afterschool STEM extracurricular activities
• #MBHistory
• ACT/SAT Mock Test
• FIU Dual Enrollment
• Miami Dade College Dual Enrollment
• Mental Health
• Nurse (Mental Health) - Municipal Partnership
• Youth Commission
• Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK)
• Youth Job Fair
• Reading Interventionists
• Math Interventionists
• College Prep Program
• Agendas
• Drug Prevention and Intervention program
• Anti-Defamation League- “No Place for Hate”
• Common Threads Program
• International Baccalaureate

City Education Funding

The City supports excellence in education in Miami Beach public schools and beyond recognizing it is an investment in the overall enhancement of education for youth and attracts new residents to Miami Beach.  In Fiscal Year 2022, approximately $1,580,000 is budgeted exclusively for 30 educational enhancements with approximately 48,000 interactions with youth spread across all programs throughout the year.

Currently, educational programs are developed and managed within the Office of Organizational Development Performance Initiatives which supports divisions including Education PreK-12, Performance Initiatives, Organizational Development, and University Partnerships.  

Based on historical educational program development and trends, there will be an estimated five (5) new educational programs that will be requested in FY23 to support the ongoing needs of the Miami Beach community. 

In addition to educational programs, the City of Miami Beach has also funded infrastructure improvements to MDCPS public school property and jointly owned property to allow for more greenspace access to Miami Beach youth and families.   These infrastructure improvements include the following:

• ProStart Kitchen at Miami Beach Senior High ($100,000)
• Scoreboard at Miami Beach Senior High ($12,500)
• Marching Band Uniforms and Equipment at Miami Beach Senior High ($20,000)
• Courtyard at Miami Beach Senior High ($60,000)
• Football Field Artificial Turf at Miami Beach Senior High ($350,000)
• Tennis Courts at Miami Beach Nautilus Middle School ($40,000)
• Playfield at Biscayne Beach Elementary ($20,000)
• Basketball courts at Miami Beach South Pointe Elementary ($30,000)

City funding for these infrastructure improvements are approximately $632,500.

Included for reference are two prior items discussed at Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee meetings regarding the funding of educational initiatives(See Attachment D and E):

·       March 31, 2017 – Discussion regarding a one cent (.01) Food and Beverage Tax Supporting Public Schools Within Miami Beach City Limits (March 1, 2017 Commission Item R9F – Referred by Commissioner Michael Grieco

·       October 13, 2017 – Discussion regarding sustainable funding sources for Educational Enhancements in Miami Beach Public Schools – Referred by Commissioner Michael Grieco

Ordinance 2021-443 provides information on current organizational units (See Attachment F).

On November 6, 2018, the voters approved ballot question 2 by 79.5% regarding the use of rent payments received by the City from the proposed Convention Center Hotel Lease.  This question required the City Commission to adopt an ordinance dedicating all the guaranteed rent payments the City receives from the Convention Center Hotel lease to enhance funding, in equal portions annually, for City projects addressing the following areas:  Stormwater projects, traffic reduction measures, and EDUCATION.     To illustrate the proposed use of the Convention Center Hotel guaranteed rent payments, the Hotel's guaranteed rent to the City is fixed at $2,000,000.   Once this funding is available, the City would dedicate $666,666.66 for each of the three areas, including educational enhancements.

2022 Resident Survey preliminary findings indicate 48.4% of residents are very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of public schools in Miami Beach.  The Florida average for satisfaction with public schools is 43.7% and the national average for satisfaction is 47.4%.