The majority of the Duval School Board Members have asked City Council and the Duval Legislative Delegation to support their proposed J bill. This week the City Council is voting on whether or not to support the resolution. On October 22, 2025 the Duval Legislative Delegation will vote on whether or not to work to get it passed during this upcoming legislative session.
I am opposed to the idea. That is not necessarily the opinion of the FCFS board or its members. However if you agree with me, please consider writing your elected representatives. The following is what I sent.
Begin forwarded message:
To: City Council
Subject: Please vote NO on 2025-0695
Please vote NO on 2025-0695 which includes these words:
… a local bill … for the Duval County Legislative Delegation and subsequently the Florida Legislature … to amend the Charter of the City of Jacksonville, Florida as more specifically set forth in Exhibit “
Please vote NO! Voting yes means you want the Duval Legislative Delegation to waste their time trying to get the state legislators to change our charter by adding this information to it:
Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary in the general and permanent ordinances and Charter and Related Laws of the City of Jacksonville, Florida, the Duval County School Board may employ its own general counsel, who shall be independent of the office of general counsel of the City of Jacksonville and whose opinions on legal issues pertaining to the Duval County School Board and School District of Duval County shall not be subject to the opinion of the general counsel of the City of Jacksonville or any binding opinion rendered by the general counsel of the City of Jacksonville. This provision shall apply only to the selection and employment of a general counsel for the Duval County School Board. All other legal services to the Duval County School Board and School District of Duval County, as determined and assigned by the general counsel to the Duval County School Board, including but not limited to representation of the Duval County School Board and Duval County School District in litigation and contract preparation, shall continue to be provided through the office of general counsel of the City of Jacksonville, and the attorneys who provide such services shall be subject solely to the supervision of the general counsel of the City of Jacksonville.
https://jaxcityc.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14752066&GUID=0BF5051D-E009-4ABF-A2D4-1DB2ECBBF7AB
Our Duval Legislative Delegation needs to be working hard to ensure adequate and accurate funding for our public schools. Trying to push through a J bill (that doesn’t seem necessary) will be a distraction.
We differ from other school districts because Jacksonville has a consolidated form of government. Here’s some other problems with the proposed J bill that weren’t resolved:
The school board didn’t adequately hash out the coordination between the OGC attorneys and a school board hired attorney. Other school districts hire all their attorneys; Duval School Board is suggesting a hybrid system without completely hashing out what that would look like. It would be awkward for the Board to hire one attorney and no one reports to that attorney but the board will need to use the OGC attorneys who report to the OGC.
There was no evidence offered that this proposal would be cheaper or the school board would have an easier time hiring an attorney than the office of the OGC does.
DCPS does have the ability to hire an outside attorney if the board disagrees with an OGC decision so I don’t see why a J bill is necessary. The courts gave them that power when OGC Gabriel said shall means “doesn’t have to” when the city council refused to put the school board’s referendum on our 2019 ballot.
One board member talked about the prior board joining other districts to challenge the Governor’s overreach. This isn’t a reason to do this J bill because the OGC attorney helped the board do what it wanted. Here’s excerpts from an article from that time:
“The lawsuit argues several points, according to Gallagher, including that the Florida Constitution guarantees a safe school environment and gives counties the power to govern themselves. DeSantis’ executive order attempts to strip the power away from school districts that are run by elected officials, Gallagher said.”
Since the OGC attorney was doing what the prior board asked, I don’t see how that is a reason to support the proposed J bill.
Here’s a few clips from the August 5 DCPS Board meeting when they were discussing the J bill:
Here’s an article about it.
Excerpts:
Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel has provided lawyers and settled legal questions for agencies including the Duval School board since the city and county governments consolidated in 1968. The majority of the school board is asking the Jacksonville City Council to support its request for the Duval Legislative Delegation to back a J bill to change Jacksonville’s charter.
Here’s a 2010 article about J bills in case you don’t know what a J bill is.
Excerpts:
The bills, referred to locally as J-Bills, are legislation designed to operate specifically within one area of state and result in local laws when passed by the Florida Legislature and not vetoed by the governor.
They can be initiated by a number of sources, including a member of the local legislative body, county or municipal governing body, local elected official and members of the public, among others.
Here’s what was filed in 2010:
J-1
Withdrawn and replaced as a proposed ordinance to City Council. The language, in both the prior J-Bill and subsequent ordinance, would amend Article 1 of the City Charter to add an additional chapter relating to the establishment of an ethics policy and authorize the establishment of an ethics code and ethics commission. The ethics code would apply to City employees, constitutional officers and independent agencies and school districts, regardless of the position being elected or appointed, paid or unpaid.
J-2
Relates to the general powers of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund board of trustees. If passed, the local law would allow the board the authority to raise investments in fixed real estate assets to 25 percent of the assets of the pension plan, at cost, which would be up from the 10 percent currently allowed. Similar J-Bills have been filed by Pension Fund officials several times with no success.
J-3
Would amend the charter to create a special “Urban Transition Area” of Riverside that would provide exceptions for space and seating requirements for liquor licenses for restaurants. It would take the current requirements from 150 seats and 2,500 square feet of service area and replace them with 100 seats and 1,800 square feet of service area for restaurants within the zone. The minimum gross income per year that could be derived from liquor sales would remain at 49 percent with the other 51 percent coming from food sales. The licenses would still be subject to local zoning requirements between other liquor-serving establishments and churches and schools. The new area would be: Margaret Street to the west, Dellwood Avenue and I-95 to the north and northeast and the St. Johns River to the east and south. There currently are similar zones in Northside West, Northside East and the Southbank.
J-4
A wide-ranging piece of legistation that would amend the charter to add a policy regarding government transparency by establishing requirements related to waivers of the ordinance code, public contracts, public hearings and voting procedures.
Under the “Bill of Transparency,” council could only waive the ordinance code with at least 15 members of council approving the measure. As for contracts, council nor any committee of council would be able to approve or recommend approval of a contract that isn’t first presented before council and the public.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2010/oct/08/look-j-bills/
