Kim Daniels wants state scrutiny of local school board financial management

Kim Daniels, sponsor of HB 303, the religious expression bill that was one of the few successes from the Duval Legislative Delegation in 2017.

State Rep. Kim Daniels, a Jacksonville Democrat, filed a bill Friday that would tighten state oversight of local school board financial management.

HB 175 would require an annual “self-assessment” from school districts beginning in FY 18-19, as well as recommendations from superintendents and a noticed meeting in which school boards discuss results and recommendations.

Daniels’ concern about school board financing seems to have begun this summer, when she seconded Rep. Jason Fischer in his “deep concern” about the Duval County School Board not taking “formal action” to schedule an audit to account for $21 million of what Fischer deems to be overspending in the current budget year. [Letter].

Daniels wrote Joint Legislative Auditing Committee Chair Debbie Mayfield, noting “misstatements” by Duval School Board Chairwoman Paula Wright in the wake of Fischer’s call for an state forensic audit.

Wright claimed that there had been a vote to conduct a forensic audit at her recommendation, but Daniels and Fischer contended that did not occur.

Mayfield opted not to pursue an audit; Daniels’ bill is the logical outgrowth of that.

Expect numerous Republican co-sponsors for this legislation, in a similar vein to Daniels’ “Religious Freedom in Public Schools” bill, a priority of more Republicans than Democrats in the last Legislative Session.

Daniels, meanwhile, is an interesting choice for sponsorship of this bill.

This year, the Florida Ethics Commission found probable cause that Daniels made material misrepresentations on financial disclosure forms from 2012 to 2014, when she was on the Jacksonville City Council.

Daniels had not listed certain properties owned by her churches.

Daniels has faced similar scrutiny related to campaign finance before: the Florida Elections Commission found probable cause that Daniels spent campaign funds advertising one of her religious books, the Demon Dictionary, in a vanity-press publication called Shofar.

Daniels, a traveling evangelist, went through a rocky divorce earlier this decade, one which led to sensational allegations regarding her management of household and church finances.

Beyond those issues, she recently made news by suggesting that “prophets” with a certain gnostic knowledge saw Hurricane Irma‘s “storm surge” coming.

“Nothing happens except God reveal it to prophets first,” Daniels observed as the death-dealing superstorm enveloped the peninsula.