Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean sparked controversy when he spent roughly $4 million dollars of unused taxpayer money to create scholarships and grants in his name to Valencia College and CareerSource.
In a press conference, visibly frustrated Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the funds should have been returned to the county. Mayor Demings said County Commissioners should have had a say in how the funds would be spent.
Last week, Gilzean pushed back in a statement regarding his controversial decision. Gilzean said, “The cost-savings our office achieved last year helped pave the way for two innovative programs central to the mission of this office to increase voter outreach while putting a college education within the reach of low-income students across Orange County Schools. In addition, our office also returned more than $700,000 in unused funds to the county. Orange County residents should be concerned, disappointed, and offended that the mayor wants to waste hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on attorneys and legal fees to deny low-income students the opportunity to improve their lives. Our office acted well within the law to establish these scholarships and will vigorously defend our mission to expand voter participation and improve the lives of Orange County citizens.”
Valencia College President Dr. Kathleen Plinske released a statement stating the college will return the money at the request of the County.
“Valencia College is grateful for the generous support of our many community partners. We appreciate the forward thinking of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections who expressed a goal to increase voter registration and college-going rates in underserved communities through the establishment of the Orange County Promise of the Future Scholarship Fund. The recent success of a similar program, Osceola Prosper, gives us optimism about the success of this scholarship fund. Osceola Prosper provides scholarships for all graduating high school seniors and is funded by the Osceola County Commission. Osceola Prosper resulted in a substantial increase in Osceola County’s college-going rate, which is now, for the first time ever, higher than Orange County’s. At the same time, the Osceola Prosper program eliminated disparities in the college-going rate in historically underrepresented communities. Our hope is that the students at Evans and Jones High Schools, which have among the lowest college-going rates in Orange County, benefit from the scholarships contemplated by the Orange County Promise of the Future Scholarship Fund. Although it would be disappointing if students do not have access to these scholarships, if Orange County asks for the return of the funds, Valencia will return the $2.1 million contribution.”
State Senator Jason Brodeur said he has concerns about the obscurities in the rules associated with constitutional officers using budgets in this manner. Brodeur told WFTV, “We believe very strongly that this is not our money, it’s the taxpayers’ money,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s being spent in a manner that is as efficient and is productive as it possibly can be.”
