Fort Myers Beach committee gets first look at charter school cost

Almost precisely a year to the day of when the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council sat across from School District of Lee County leaders at a mediation on the ongoing closure of the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, the Town of Fort Myers Beach held the first meeting of an advisory committee to discuss opening a new charter elementary school. Officials presented the first numbers on what the financial impact could be. The cost could be in the million of dollars, the advisory committee members were told on Friday by the town’s assistant finance director Jeffrey Newman. Newman told the committee that the estimated one-time startup costs for the new school would be approximately $1.55 million as well as $1.16 million for staff. That figure includes $400,000 for the estimated facility mitigation and repairs, and a $200,000 contingency fund. There is also an estimate of $481,000 for non-staff operational costs. Newman said the figures were best-guess estimates and good-faith estimates.