Manatee commissioners have final say about new school but no real power

The Manatee County School Board told Manatee County commissioners that Lakewood Ranch High School is overcrowded and a second high school is needed in the area. 

In response, commissioners Bob McCann, Jason Bearden and Carol Felts said the roads surrounding the high school on Rangeland Parkway are overcrowded and voted to deny approval of the high school’s site plan during the Nov. 4 commission meeting.

By all accounts, Lakewood Ranch High School is over its capacity and Lorraine Road needs upgrades to handle the volume of traffic. But four of the seven commissioners felt that an over-capacity school should take precedence after well over an hour of debate. 

If one member of the commission had changed his or her mind, the outcome would have been — exactly the same. Congestion on Lorraine Road would not be lessened, and the AAA High School would still be built. 

Commission Chair George Kruse described the vote as more of a “blessing” than a decision maker. 

Courtesy image

“There are all kinds of approvals that come before us that we have little to no control over,” Kruse said. “Because of state statute, (the school board is) required to come before us.”

Kruse called the Board of County Commissioners the “big fish” that gets to place the final stamp of approval on items that have already been figured out and approved by the entities in charge of such decisions. 

Such items are regularly placed on the consent agenda. Commissioners approved the issuance of three bonds, not to exceed $165.9 million, on behalf of the Housing Finance Authority of Manatee County on the Nov. 18 consent agenda. 

Kruse noted that the county is not guaranteeing those bonds, but again, state statute required the commission’s approval. 

In the case of AAA High School, school board member Chad Choate said it’s been included in the five-year plan since 2018 and serious planning started during the summer of 2024. 

An architect was hired, plans were presented to the public, traffic studies were conducted and county staff performed a review of the application. 

“It didn’t creep up on anybody,” Choate said. 

So what’s the point of a vote?

“There’s no sense in bringing something to us that’s already a done deal,” McCann said. “We weren’t told it was a rubber stamp, not in the briefing (from the county attorney), and I had my briefing the day before the meeting.” 

While commissioners were briefed the day before, the Manatee County Development Services staff had been working on the application for over 30 days to ensure it was compatible with the county’s comprehensive plan and land development code. 

The state statute requires a 45-day turnaround. 

“Just to put this into perspective, other types of applications are with the county development services review team for nine to 12 months before going to a hearing,” Director of Development Services Nicole Knapp said in an email. “This is an extremely expedited review process in order to meet Florida statute.” 

While commissioners did not have the authority to deny the site plan for AAA High School, they could have placed stipulations on the plan. 

Choate said, as far as he knows, “not one county commissioner ever reached out with any concern over the school,” including congestion on Lorraine Road. 

But they could have reached out or made specific requests prior to or during the commission meeting because their power lies in guarding public safety.

Photo by Madison Bierl

In 2018, the application for Barbara A. Harvey Elementary School in Parrish was met with resistance from both parents and commissioners. 

County staff and commissioners added several stipulations before the site plan was approved, including the installation of a berm and fence along Moccasin Wallow Road.

“The county commission has authority over things like assuring proportionate share expenses are taken care of and health, safety and welfare issues,” said school board attorney James Dye during the 2018 meeting. “But because of the way the statute is set up, I don’t think the county has as much control over a school site as it does over a generic residential or commercial project that you typically see.”

As with AAA High School, the site plan for Harvey Elementary was narrowly approved in a 4-3 vote. 

Again, had the 4-3 vote flipped in favor or denial, the elementary school would have still been built, and the school board would not have had to honor the stipulations made by the commission. 

A vote for a school site plan is not a vote to approve or deny the plan itself. The vote for approval is merely an affirmation that the site plan complies with the county’s comprehensive plan and land development code. 

“I wouldn’t take a hard stance that we have literally no ability to say ‘no.’” Kruse said. “That would imply that a school board transcends our comprehensive plan and land development code.” 

He used examples — if the school board wanted to pave over 20 acres of wetlands or didn’t provide engineering studies. In those cases, there would be a legal argument for denial. 

But Kruse added that those items would have come up long before the site plan was placed in front of the commission. 

He called the site plan a mere “picture” of what was already approved and said that 66 out of 67 counties in Florida would not have had a lengthy discussion over building a high school when the next closest high school is over capacity. 

“They’re all begging for their schools to get built,” he said. “If you have a board that understands the difference between what is just administrative and what is actually at their discretion, then these things are not that big of a deal.”