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South Florida Education Planning Council
In 1971, Dean Jean Battle, with the assistance of Dr. Bill Dannenburg, created the twelve-county consortium which would later become known as the South Florida Education Planning Council. The concept behind having a council, which was made up of the twelve superintendents of the county school districts within the USF College of Education service area, was designed to increase communication among the school districts and with the College of Education. Each school district paid a modest fee to be a member of the council and met two or three times each year to discuss legislative issues relating to education and their needs for services from the College of Education.
The South Florida Education Planning Council served as a means for the College of Education to maintain a connection and open communications with all of the school districts in the area. The council worked well in the early years. However, the growing size of the school districts and the responsibilities of the school superintendents, made it increasingly difficult to convene council meetings with everyone in attendance.
In 1982, Dr. Marcia Mann was named as the coordinator of the Southwest Florida Education Planning Council and served in that position until December 1990, when she was appointed as the director of the Florida Lottery by Governor Lawton Chiles. Dean Bill Katzenmeyer appointed Dr. Dick Puglisi to assume the responsibilities of convening the council and facilitating the communication among its members.
In recent years, the South Florida Education Planning Council has remained dormant as other organizations with similar missions have been developed to facilitate communication between areas school districts.