Interview: Manatee County School Board Member Scott Hopes

On Tuesday, Scott Hopes was sworn in as the fifth member of the Manatee County School Board after being appointed by Governor Rick Scott to fill a vacant seat left by Karen Carpenter’s retirement. He sat down with TBT’s Dennis Maley to discuss his new job and the role he hopes to fill on the board.

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Scott Hopes is chairman and CEO of CliniLinc, where he serves as a high-level consultant to interests in the healthcare industry, a field in which he's spent the bulk of his professional career. Beginning as a cancer epidemiologist with Tampa General in the mid-80s, Hopes moved into administration at just 26 years old. He's worked for and with a variety of Fortune 500 companies and also served as Florida's Director of Health Policy during former governor Jeb Bush's first term.

In addition to his impressive professional resume, Hopes has considerable experience in the world of education. He served as a trustee at the University of South Florida, a slot for which he was appointed by Scott in 2013, though he had to resign this week in lieu of his appointment to the school board. He also brings classroom experience, having taught science for several years in Hillsborough County.

Hopes makes no secret of the fact that his involvement in various communities has extended into the political arena. In addition to his time with the Bush administration, he has close ties to Scott, whom he began doing business with three decades ago. Hopes currently sits on the Republican Party of Florida’s Executive Committee and also chairs the Appointees Caucus for the RPOF’s Executive Board, which includes 10 appointees each from the Governor, Speaker of the Florida House and President of its Senate.

Hopes’ close ties to Scott and the perception of his outsider status has been a source of contention, however, for many good government activists in the county. I sat down with him on Wednesday morning to discuss that and other issues facing the board.

TBT: You’ve been called an outsider by some people following this appointment. Can you tell us about your ties to Manatee County?

SH: Well, I have heard that and, frankly, I’m a little surprised, but I can also see how some people might mistakenly get that impression. In reality, I’ve spent 21 years in the Tampa Bay region, living in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and doing work not only there but rather extensively in Manatee County and even north Sarasota, where I’ve had an office for 20 years. I’ve worked with a lot of clients in Manatee County and worked hard to direct a lot of resources and funding to the community.

Manatee Memorial Hospital was a client of mine for I think nine years, and Manatee County Rural Health Services could tell you that we were instrumental in helping to direct a lot of funding from the low end pool to provide services for Manatee County residents. Then, as a trustee for USF, I put a lot of focus on our Sarasota Manatee campus and securing resources to help it continue to grow and expand its role as an academic engine in this community.

Through all of that, I’ve come to know this community quite well, and three years ago my wife and I decided this is where we wanted to retire. So we bought some property on the north shore of the river and began planning for that, which included spending a lot of time here and becoming more involved in the local community. I’ve been to a lot of the school board meetings, sitting in the back, taking notes, learning the issues. I’ve been involved politically also, and my goal is to serve this community in the best way that I can, and I think bringing that experience to the board is the best way that I can do that at this point in my life.

TBT: How did you come to be appointed?

SH: I’ve known (board member) John Colon for some time, and we’ve worked closely on some education matters in the past while he was on the state board of education and I was a trustee at USF, so there’s a lot of mutual respect there. In fact, when I became a trustee, I saw that the universities were not as excited about the dual enrollment program as I thought they should be. I did some research and learned that, at that time, the colleges were not receiving funding for high school students who were dually enrolled, which didn't seem to make sense.

I called John and asked if he knew that and he said he did not. Both of us thought it made much more sense to have the funding follow the student, so we spearheaded an effort to get legislation passed that would provide for that to happen, and we were successful, which I think has given that program a boost.

When Karen Carpenter announced her retirement, John called and asked if I knew anyone in Manatee County who I thought might be a good fit for the position. I thought about it and told him, you know, I think I would have a lot to offer in that role, and that’s something I think I would be very interested in.

TBT: Like Colon, you’ve been appointed to several positions by Gov. Scott. Can you talk about that relationship?

SH: My relationship with the governor goes back 30 years and is tied to us both being in the healthcare industry. In fact, I’m not sure that there’s anyone he’s been doing business with here in Florida for longer. At the time, he did not yet have any operations here, but it was in his business plan, and if you’re looking to acquire hospitals and surgical centers, particularly on a large scale, you need a lot of data about the markets, and we were the only company at the time that had that kind of database. He was, if I remember correctly, our second client. I was there with Columbia and on through Solantic, etc. He knows my style. We’ve watched each other grow professionally.

I don’t think a lot of people realize how much thought he puts into these appointments. It might seem like they're a small part of what he does given all of his responsibilities, but he really, truly personally engages in identifying the best investments in human capital and, to my knowledge, meets with them each personally regardless of what level it is. He takes that role and responsibility very seriously.

TBT: You’ve been involved in both secondary and higher education. Florida has a serious challenge in keeping its best and brightest students in state. What can be better done at the primary and secondary level to curb the so-called brain drain?

SH: Well, that’s true, and my two oldest children are prime examples. Both were set on leaving here to go to school from early on, they did, and they haven’t come back. I think there are certain students where that will just be their path, they want to get out in the world and get away from what they know, see new things. But we do need to do a better job in terms of incentivizing students to become part of our workforce engine, and I think the dual enrollment program is one of our best tools to engage talented students and facilitate and support their educational experience.

That was part of the idea in working to get colleges and universities more excited about it by having the funding follow the student. We know that if they spend two years of their high school experience on a college campus, that dramatically increases the chance that they’ll get a four-year degree from a Florida school, which in turn increases the chance that they will stay in state when they graduate and contribute those skills they've acquired to our economy.

We’ve also got the Bright Futures Scholarship, which is another tool in that box. That’s a great way to incentivize good students to go to state schools. There’s things we can do to improve that and make it stronger, like accelerating funding and starting earlier. So yes, that’s something I’m cognizant of and think we can work to address and improve.

TBT: Recently, we wrote about an oncoming teacher shortage, citing a drop-off in enrollment for education programs at American colleges, including USF. We showed that there are actually a lot of reasons why teaching should be one of the more attractive majors, given its much higher than average starting pay and better benefits. What can be done to get more high school students looking to the profession as a career option?

SH: Well you’re right, and I don’t think we’re doing a good job of telling that story well enough. There are a lot of misconceptions about the field when it comes to comparing the compensation and benefits with the starting salaries of first-year graduates with other degrees. But there’s also some other things we can look at. Teaching is primarily a 10-month profession, but have we really researched how many teachers would like to earn more by making it a 12-month job instead?

Imagine if we were able to have a situation where we could match the need for kids who are not on track to be grade-level proficient in reading by third grade with voluntary summer school programs that kept them learning and progressing year round, while also providing opportunities for teachers to earn more by working 12 month positions. If you were to tell parents, particularly in some of our quote/unquote, schools of poverty, that you’re not going to have to pay for child care in the summer while you’re working, your kids are going to come here have fun, learn to swim, and learn to read, while giving the teachers a chance to earn more, I think that’s the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will get us where we want to go.

TBT: Big picture, what is your impression of the district and the challenges it currently faces?