Janelle Irwin Taylor
A $2 million request for the ARK Innovation Center at Pinellas County Schools is likely to go underfunded this year, if it gets funded at all, based on the latest budget offer Thursday.
The House has offered $1.14 million for the project, while the Senate has offered just $350,000. The line items referencing the local funding requests have not been finalized, meaning more negotiations are coming.
Sen. Nick DiCeglie and Rep. Traci Koster, both Republicans, filed funding requests in their respective chambers. Each call for $2 million, including $1.14 million in fixed capital outlay and $860,000 for operations.
The funding would cover 93% of costs for “incentives to outfit spaces in the Center with state-of-the-art technology learning environments,” including a project to “recruit and partner with leading Florida technology companies in areas such as autonomous technology, 3D manufacturing, DNA sequencing, (and) battery cell technology” that would support economic development and serve as an education model.
The Senate request says the center and its projects will support more than 5,000 students each year, and that neighboring school districts will have access to the center for student experiences and field trips. Statewide, the Senate request notes that the center will serve as a model for other school districts to replicate.
The ARK Innovation Center at Pinellas County Schools is located on school district property and separate from the newly opened ARK Innovation Center in St. Pete’s Innovation District. It’s is a collaboration between ARK Invest and the Tampa Bay Innovation Center. Officials cut the ribbon on the new 45,000-square-foot business incubator located at 1101 4th St. South in St. Pete in December.
The Center aims to foster growth, learning and inspiration, focusing on entrepreneurship, education, technology, life science and other critical industries.
The Legislature provided $1 million for the Pinellas County Schools’ Center in the current fiscal year budget.
Any funds included in the budget for the ARK Innovation Center will be paid to the Florida Department of Education for disbursement to the Pinellas County Schools District.
Funds requested in the upcoming budget are nonrecurring.
