Sarasota County Schools will fund a $23.5 million North Port trades academy with its own money after the County Commission revoked a $7.5 million federal grant.

Superintendent Terry Connor and School Board member Tom Edwards are pushing back on the county's rationale, saying staff misrepresented the district's position before the unanimous vote. The commission and the district are now trading competing timelines of who knew what and when.

The commission voted Aug. 26 to pull the grant, which came from federal Hurricane Ian relief dollars. County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said in an Aug. 27 letter to Connor that the district failed to get county approval before advertising for a construction manager in December, violating federal procurement rules tied to the money.

Connor disputes that. He said the district posted the December solicitation through the county's own government platform, which he argues proves the county knew about it. He acknowledged possible misinterpretations about how the process would work but said the district never left the county out of the loop.

The grant was supposed to help expand the Suncoast Technical College (STC) campus in North Port, adding training space for welding, automotive, electrical, nursing and advanced manufacturing programs. Construction alone is estimated at nearly $15 million, not counting planning, furniture and classroom equipment.

Edwards told The Daily Sun on Tuesday, Sept. 1, that the district reached out to a local builders' association in May to explore waiving the federal compliance rules after finding they would consume a large share of the grant. He said the outreach was not meant to go over the county's head but was perceived that way by county staff, triggering a defensive reaction.

The district then asked to change how the money was spent. Its revised plan would have dropped new construction from the grant and split the funds: $6.54 million for equipment and supplies at the North Port campus and $960,000 for the Sarasota campus. County financial management director Steve Hyatt told commissioners that shift would require a 30-day public comment period, new federal approval and an environmental review costing about $10,000. Hyatt said five of six other hurricane-relief modification requests had been approved.

At the Aug. 26 meeting, county staff told Commissioner Joe Neunder three times that the district had refused to alter its request.

"If it's what you're telling me is an ultimatum … well, for me, that's a pretty easy decision," Neunder said.

But neither the county's nor the district's timeline includes a record of any ultimatum. Lewis confirmed in his letter that the district never gave a "take it or leave it" proposal, though he argued the district did not signal willingness to revert to the original plan.

At a Wednesday, Sept. 2, School Board workshop, Connor said county staff misrepresented the district's request and did not give his team a chance to clarify before the vote. He said the district will use capital funds to cover the full $23.5 million project, though no completion date has been set.

Edwards has also raised questions about the broader context. Commissioner Teresa Mast's husband, Jon Mast, led an organization whose own $7.5 million trades academy bid lost to the school district in 2025. Edwards said he has received calls from residents asking whether the revocation was retaliation.

The grant's fate is not final. The county's 30-day termination notice period is still running, and commissioners will decide what to do with the funds once it expires. All federal Hurricane Ian money allocated to Sarasota County expires at the end of February 2030.