Now that the Sigsbee Charter School board has its contract with the Monroe County school district, it must find a way to staff the school with teachers, janitors, office staff and other employees.

The contract -- it starts July 1, the first day of the next fiscal school year -- means the jobs must be advertised in the next month or so and filled soon thereafter.

Sigsbee board member Sandra Higgs said the school is finalizing the principal's job description and will advertise the job in January. Teacher positions will be posted sometime in March, she said.

The half-dozen or so teachers at Sigsbee Elementary School likely will not stay for financial reasons after the school transitions from a public school to a privately run nonprofit. The new charter school will not participate in the Florida Retirement System (FRS), and the pay will be less. Also, the teachers will not be represented by United Teachers of Monroe or any other union.

"We're assuming the majority (of teachers) is going to leave," Schools Superintendent Joe Burke said.

Though the school system loses the money the state gives it for each student once Sigsbee leaves the fold, it won't cost the district any money to hire the teachers who leave Sigsbee. Those teachers will get first shot at replacing the district's public school teachers who retire at the end of the school year.

"We have an obligation to the teachers," Burke said. "We're going to have to hire them as people announce their retirement. We'll have to freeze the openings until we take care of those people from Sigsbee."

The charter school cannot afford to offer the retirement and other benefits now, but will try to match the district's pay and benefits plan, board President Leslie Crabbs told The Citizen.

Burke said the new charter school will have to keep costs down.

"One of the ways they survive, they don't have to pay union wages and don't have to pay into the FRS," Burke said.

In addition to a principal and an assistant principal/guidance counselor, the school's budget projections show the Sigsbee board also will need teachers for kindergarten through fifth grade, specialized instructors for science, staff aides, a media specialist, a computer lab technician, a bookkeeper, an office manager, a nurse, custodians, cashiers and food service assistants.

There is not much time to get the staff in place in time for the opening, which takes place after June 30.

"Our time line is aggressive as we will be opening our doors as soon as the district closes Sigsbee," Crabbs said. "As soon as (the principal) is hired, we'll then look to hire staff."

The Sigsbee board hopes to fund its new school with state and federal funding that public schools in the district enjoy.

The charter school hopes to raise $2.31 million for its first year of operations with:

• $250,000 from a federal Department of Education startup grant;

• $939,073 Florida Education Finance Plan money;

• $309,516 in class-size reduction funds;

• $309,674 in local property taxes; and

• $359,000 from other property taxes.

Current Sigsbee Elementary School students and the children of charter school board members are offered slots first.

jguerra@keysnews.com