Should $7.5M go to the Sarasota County School District or to the Building Industry Institute?

This article was submitted by Julie Forestier, a leading member of SEE - Social Equity and Education 


Should $7.5M go to the Sarasota County School 

District, or to Theresa Mast’s husband's 

Building Industry Institute?


Background:

The Sarasota County Commission dedicated $15M of Hurricane Ian Relief funds to workforce development.

Sarasota County School District (SCSD) applied for this funding for North Port Technical College, but was told to not apply for more than half because there were other organizations that would be applying for these funds too. As a result the district only applied for $7.5M, even though SCSD needs $21M for the project. 

There were only two other organizations that applied for the funding- one that wasn’t even considered for the funds, and the Suncoast Builders Association’s newly registered non-profit, the Building Industry Institute (BII), which has no track record of workforce development training. As a result, the School district got the $7.5M it had applied for, and in a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Neunder and Cutsinger opposing, BII was awarded the other $7.5M. 

Why did BII get this funding? If you read this article by Cathy Antunes, you are probably familiar with the Mast’s deep ties to developers. Jon Mast, Theresa Mast’s husband, is the CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association, which is spearheading BII. To find out more about how this funding came to be, read this article. Towards the end of last year, the County Commission gave BII a two year extension because they had not been able to raise the $6M required to begin work on their project. They still have not begun work on this project, and have now submitted a Facebook ad to solicit donations for the project.


BII ad seeking contributions

Call to action:

We have heard that there is a good chance that this funding may be brought up for reconsideration at the County Commission meeting on Tuesday, February 25th, and will be put on an upcoming agenda. In order to make this happen, emails are necessary. Please send an original email to the commissioners at: commissioners@scgov.net  --  Feel free to use the attached template, but please be sure to put it in your own words!




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