Officials reduced the number of Sarasota County School Board meetings from two to one per month. Is this normal?

While it’s not the standard for school boards across Florida, Sarasota County’s decision to host one school board meeting per month isn’t out of the ordinary.

State statutes require school districts to host no less than one meeting per month, and many counties  — such as Osceola, Gulf, Polk and Palm Beach — take advantage of that minimum. 

Pinellas, Hillsborough, Alachua and Orange counties all host two meetings per month.

It’s worth noting that board size doesn’t typically factor into meeting frequency. Sarasota County has five school board members, similar to Gulf and Osceola. But Polk and Palm Beach have seven.

Pinellas, Hillsborough and Orange counties have seven or eight board members, while Alachua has five.

Most counties that meet once note that extra meetings could be scheduled if necessary. On the contrary, the counties with two meetings note that they’ll meet less in some months due to holidays or scheduling conflicts.