For just a moment, I want try to change the public conversation about Florida State College at Jacksonville.
For the past several months, about the only topics we've heard or talked about have been the ongoing issues surrounding now-resigned Steve Wallace, who served as the institution's president for 15 years before he stepped down at the end of 2012 amid scrutiny.
We already know the school has been asked by the U.S. Department of Education to repay more than $4 million in Pell Grants that should not have been issued, plus fines.
It seems inevitable that as the Office of Florida Inspector General continues to review financial and other records of the school, news about Wallace will continue to make headlines.
Discussing train wrecks might be interesting or entertaining, but the conversations can become real distractions to important issues happening around us.
The noise often can make us overlook the people who are the real victims in all of this, which includes the institution, FSCJ students and faculty, and all of Jacksonville.
There's no question the image and reputation of the school has been stained.
Interim President Willis Holcombe and the school's board of trustees have their work cut out for them. Let's hope they're up to the challenge.
Amid all of the turmoil, I want to put the spotlight on FSCJ's value and importance to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.
One reason I'm writing about this now is because of a recently released economic-impact study that attempts to put into perspective the school's economic and social benefits to Jacksonville.
Conducted by Economic Modeling Specialists Inc., the analysis examined all 28 of Florida's colleges and community colleges.
According to the study, Florida State College's impact on Jacksonville is sizable.
"FSCJ plays a significant role in the local economy and is a sound investment from multiple perspectives," the report summarized.
"Students benefit from improved lifestyles and increased earnings. Taxpayers benefit from a larger economy and lower social costs. Finally, the community as a whole benefits from increased job and investment opportunities, higher business revenues, greater availability of public funds and an eased tax burden," it said.
Because it operates from four physical campuses and six centers spread through the area, we tend to forget about the size of the institution and we overlook its direct positive impact on different communities in Northeast Florida.
The college, which has more than 80,000 students and more than 2,700 employees, annually contributes $136 million in area income, according to the report.
Those are big numbers.
The study has two streams of analysis:
• An investment analysis, which looks at education funding as an investment, then calculates the return on investment from the perspective of students, taxpayers and society.
• An economic growth analysis, which measures added income in the region due to college operations, student spending and skills of past and present students still in the workforce.
It's noteworthy to examine the school's student body.
According to the study, in large part because of the training and education received at FSCJ, these students will generate about $156.3 million in labor income in the state economy each year.
It's also estimated that last year's student population will reduce social spending in Florida $10.5 million each year in costs for health care, law enforcement and welfare.
"Once FSCJ's current students become active in the workforce, they will promote business output, raise consumer spending and increase property income in the state," said the report. "All of this contributes an additional $75.5 million in taxable income each year."
The positive figures read on and on, but that's not my only point.
We have many tremendous assets in Jacksonville and sometimes we forget about some of the most important. I think FSCJ falls into that trap.
Everything important in life is really about people. That's important to remember when we think about the school.
It begins with the students, all who attend for the purpose of finding opportunities to better themselves through training and education.
Not everyone can attend the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida or other schools.
For many, FSCJ represents a second chance. For others, it is the only chance.
Because of the school, people in Northeast Florida can become nurses, teachers, bookkeepers, firefighters and police officers. The opportunities offered by the college are diverse, from aviation to hospitality to information technology to transportation.
Northeast Florida is loaded with former FSCJ students who now work in automotive businesses, the culinary arts, business management and cosmetology.
For someone like my wife, Donna, the school offers continuing education one night each week to improve her Spanish — in part because she's of Hispanic heritage, but mostly so she can keep up with our 17-year-old daughter.
As the school opens doors for its students, it also gives Jacksonville a drawing card for economic development by assuring prospective companies that we have an educated and trained workforce to help them succeed.
It assures companies their employees have a great pathway at the school for continuous improvement.
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago when we first learned of the Allied Veterans of the World scandal, we badly want to believe that the people we admire are what they say they are. When we learn something different, the disappointment has the power to diminish a little in each of us.
Let's remember that what happened with Steve Wallace does not lessen the value and importance of FSCJ.
It certainly should not reduce how we view the significance to Jacksonville or that of the institution, its staff and students.
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