Escambia Commissioner Mike Kohler backed down on his effort to put the Escambia Children’s Trust (ECT) on the November ballot after none of the other commissioners supported him.
Community members, including education and business leaders, also argued against any plans to seek an early end to the 10-year program that uses a portion of tax dollars to fund evidence-based, high-quality programs and services that promote positive outcomes for children.
Instead, the board agreed to take up the issue again at a future, unspecified Committee of the Whole meeting for a more in-depth discussion that includes more data on how the Children’s Trust allocates its money and its impact on the community.
The decision came after a lengthy board discussion May 21 with nearly a dozen people from the public weighing in.
Kohler requested the board discuss putting the Children’s Trust on the ballot this fall and during the meeting went over the Children’s Trust annual report at length, which includes financial data.
“Last year they distributed about $11.5 million,” Kohler said. “Every single one of these programs over budgeted (and) had less amount and cost. They have more money than they know what to do with.”
Kohler, who represents District 2, stressed that his district wasn’t getting as much money as some of the other districts and he questioned how those decisions are made.
He singled out a dozen programs like the Boys and Club, the Children’s Home Society, YMCA of Northwest Florida, Dixon School of the Arts, and the city of Pensacola’s Parks and Recreation Department, as examples of questionable return on investment, saying the amount of money being spent per child indicated that the Children’s Trust’s spending was “not fiscally responsible” and unsustainable.
Escambia County voters approved the creation of the Children’s Trust in 2020, with 61% of the vote.
Once passed, the ECT has a natural end date of 2030.
Board reaction to putting Children’s Trust on ballot
Escambia District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry acknowledged voters in his district didn’t support the Trust when it first passed, but said while he didn’t disagree with some of Kohler’s concerns, now was not the time to put it on the ballot.
The county has a critical Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) renewal on the ballot, which generates over $60 million annually for county services and capital projects.
Barry said that putting the Children’s Trust referendum on the same ballot, which he deemed an “unnecessary initiative” since it’s not up for renewal, would “put the low collection sales tax renewal in jeopardy” and be “irresponsible.”
Barry thought it would be best to leave off ECT to avoid voter fatigue and confusion.
Escambia County District 3 Commissioner Lumon May serves on the Escambia Children’s Trust board. He said before the decision is made to put it on the ballot, the issue requires more information about the program.
May suggested the board discuss it at a future Committee of the Whole meeting where they can have an “honest” conversation about where the dollars are truly going and clarify the data Kohler brought up rather than relying on short, “emotional” testimonials or political decisions.
“This should be something that should be worked out in a Committee of the Whole to talk about where the flaws are, where the holes are and get a deeper understanding,” May said.
Escambia District 1 Commissioner Steve Stroberger said he knew his “good friend” Kohler supported children, but Stroberger did not support his petition.
While he also questioned if the Trust’s spending was “fair and equitable” across districts, he said helping children is about more than money.
“I don’t think that we can measure the value of a kid’s life with dollars though,” Stroberger said. “We should be asking the question of whether the taxpayers’ dollars are changing life trajectories.”
Escambia District 4 Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger did not comment on whether the issue should go before voters this fall.
Public reaction to proposal
Most members of the public who spoke to the board about the issue supported ECT and did not want to see it placed on the ballot in November.
Children’s Trust Executive Director Lindsey Cannon was among them.
She acknowledged the initial funding process was “not perfect” but stated that many issues that plagued the organization when it was first getting off the ground, under different leadership, have been remedied or resolved since she came on board.
She highlighted that the Trust has had “clean, independent audits without any findings” for every year of its existence, signifying accountability.
“Over the last three years, we have funded programs serving more than 10,000 children across Escambia County,” Cannon said. “The majority of those children have been reached within the past two years and a half as we have become fully operational and been able to expand countywide.”
Cannon said the outcomes are positive and trending upward including rising graduation rates, rising school grades and decreasing absenteeism and juvenile arrests, attributing these to “hard data,” “measurable outcomes,” and “strategic investments.”
She urged the board to remove emotion and politics from the conversation and warned that if the Trust’s services disappeared, many families’ “vital care” would disappear, leading to many of the same problems the Trust was created to address.
Cynthia Brown, a teacher at Global Learning Academy, said she took the day off to speak to commissioners about the Trust because it’s important to the future of the community.
“We need to protect every single dollar stripping, diverting or threatening this funding,” Brown said. “It’s critical work at the schools such as Global Learning Academy and it’s going to have severe negative impacts on our community (if it’s gone).”
Pensacola City Council member Charles Bare spoke to the board to support a referendum, saying no government entity should receive funds and there wasn’t enough oversight.
“There have been several incidents over the course of this program of the Children’s Trust that have caused us to question their ability to manage the program,” Bare said.
However, other local leaders support the Trust.
At their meeting this week, members of the Escambia County School Board spoke in favor of the Children’s Trust and against Kohler’s efforts to put it on the ballot.
Pensacola Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Todd Thompson spoke to the board and asked them not to support a referendum.
The chamber issued a press release ahead of the meeting saying as much and issued a statement after the board declined to vote on it.
“The Board of Directors for the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce thanks Commissioner Mike Kohler for withdrawing his proposal to have the Escambia Children’s Trust placed on the 2026 general election ballot,” the release stated. “We appreciate Commissioner Kohler’s engagement on this issue and look forward to a deeper conversation at a future Committee of the Whole.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Children’s Trust won’t be back on 2026 ballot. Here’s why
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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