Budget crunch also prompts other proposals: higher athletic fees and charging for community use of school space.
By Rhatia Murphy
Original Air Date: July 15, 2026
Host: Pandemic-era federal funding is falling away, state funding is shifting towards private education, and expenses are continuing to rise. All that means budget squeezes for school districts throughout Florida. Sarasota County Schools administrators presented board members with “revenue generation opportunities” they say could help offset future shortfalls—including raising the prices for meals. Rhatia Murphy reports.
Wilkinson Elementary School students at their cafeteria | Photo courtesy Sarasota County Schools
Rhatia Murphy: Among the ideas under discussion:
- increasing school meal prices,
- adjusting athletic participation fees,
- raising fingerprint fees
- and charging more for community use of school facilities.
In a presentation to school board members Tuesday, Superintendent Terry Connor suggested that some proposals could move forward this year, while others may wait.
Terry Connor
Terry Connor: Any opportunities that we can take to find revenue is a consideration that I think this board needs to discuss and evaluate the potential impact of. That being, first off: our food nutrition, our meal pricing, our facility rentals, our fingerprint fees and our athletic fees.
RM: One of the biggest conversations centered around school meals.
Unlike many district operations, Sarasota’s food service program has to pay for itself.
District leaders say they’re exploring additional sources of local revenue as they continue managing ongoing financial pressures. Tuesday’s workshop focused on user fees and self-supporting programs rather than property taxes.
Connor compared the operation to running dozens of restaurants across Sarasota County.
TC: Our food service program really is an internal service fund, which means it has to be 100% self-funded. When we think about that, Mrs. Dan and our team are running 54 restaurants across our entire school district. We’d probably be the largest restaurateur in Sarasota County.
RM: Administrators emphasized that no decisions have been made.
Tuesday’s workshop was intended to begin weighing which options might help stabilize district finances while minimizing the impact on students and families.
Some fee increases could be considered sooner, while others may be delayed until next year.
TC: Some of them have more substantial impacts than others, but we’ve done an analysis that the board is privy to. We’re going to share that publicly today and then talk about that and have some discussion around what are some of the considerations that we want to move forward with currently and maybe put off a year or so so that we can address some of those financial barriers that school districts are facing.
RM: District staff presented several possible revenue sources, but Connor emphasized Tuesday’s discussion was about evaluating options—not approving them.
The revenue conversation comes as Sarasota Schools continue to look for ways to preserve programs while managing rising costs.
District leaders have repeatedly said they are trying to avoid deeper cuts by identifying additional sources of savings and local revenue wherever possible.
Tuesday’s discussion focused on user fees and self-supporting programs rather than property taxes.
Here’s school board member Tom Edwards:
Tom Edwards
Tom Edwards: What I most recently heard in the last exchange is that you guys are still struggling—that there’s not enough dollars, and you’re trying to figure out, “How do I have the highest impact with the most amount of students with the dollars we have?”
RM: No action was taken during Tuesday’s workshop.
Board member Robyn Marinelli suggested raising prices is inevitable.
Robyn Marinelli: As hard as it is, we can’t run in the red. Whether it’s our school lunch program, whether it’s the fingerprinting—and when you say we’re still going to be running in the red even with these increases, I don’t think that’s fiscally smart.
RM: District staff will continue refining the proposals before bringing recommendations back to the board for future consideration.
For families, the discussion means some costs—from school lunches to athletic participation—could eventually increase if board members decide the added revenue is necessary.
Reporting for WSLR News, I’m Rhatia Murphy.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.