• The lawsuit claims the omissions violated Florida's school concurrency statute and a lack of public meetings violated open-government laws, impacting school funding and taxpayer burden.
• The plaintiffs seek court intervention to enforce compliance with legal procedures for school capacity planning and infrastructure development.
• The lawsuit demands the school district rectify past omissions, collect unpaid mitigation fees from developers, and adhere to proper procedures moving forward.

A lawsuit has been filed by a whistleblower and former employee of the Polk County School Board who had worked for its building department.

The lawsuit claims the district withheld information about the available student stations in state-mandated school concurrency letters to Polk County and its municipalities.

The letters, which a local government must have before the governing body can approve a housing development, usually include the number of seats available in classrooms at existing schools in proximity to the development.

The lawsuit, filed May 23 in Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit, which includes Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties, was brought by Pam Luce and the Citizens Defending Freedom. The complaint is against the Polk County School Board, which issues the letters as part of the process to determine whether a new development will comply with state school concurrency laws.

Further, the process of cooperation between the district and the local governments within its boundaries...

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