From Bible Hub, specifically Matthew 6:6:

So here is another explanation of why the WSFCS school system went into so much debt:

“Not long after we kicked God off the dais, as we may phrase it, we found that our debt had ballooned to nearly $50 million,” board member Steve Wood told host Bill Mixon on WTRU on Saturday.

“That really set everybody’s heart and tone for the meeting, and since we stopped, it feels so chaotic. Things started really going downhill after we took our prayer away,” Miller said. “So, I want to say here now that I am going to fight very hard to get our prayer back into our school board meetings.”

So prayer was “dropped” in June of 2024.

WSFCS financial problems came to light in March of 2025 and ballooned from there.

When the state audit of the WSFCS finances was released in response to this budget crisis this past August, it combed through years of financial statements.

What was found was not a one time incident that set the district astray, but a series of mistakes that compounded upon each other to create this storm of a deficit.

It started in 2017. Three years before the pandemic. Four superintendents ago. Three school boards ago. Four Chief Financial Officers ago. And lots of turnover.

Almost a hundred opening prayers of public school board meetings ago.