Escambia County School Board approves $797 million budget
On Thursday the Escambia County School Board finalized the 2023-2024 millage rate and budget.
The vote was a unanimous 4-0, with District 1 Board Member Kevin Adams not present for the meeting. The budget goes into effect immediately.
The budget is $797 million, compared to the 2022-2023 budget of $782 million.
The budget boils down to about $739 million in useable funds, after internal service funds for things like health insurance and worker’s compensation are removed, according to Escambia Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Business Services Terry St. Cyr.
This year’s millage rate will be decreasing to 5.144 from the previous year’s 5.274 but is still considered to be a “tax increase” because under Florida law, any millage rate not set tocollect the exact same dollar amount as the previous year despite increases in property values, known as the “rollback rate,” is considered a tax increase.
“Millage rate decreased by 0.130 mills but is considered a tax increase because the approved rate exceeds rolled-back rate by 9.60%. However, the required local effort and discretionary operating millage rates are set by the state,” St. Cyr. said. “The district did keep the capital millage rate at the same 1.214 mills as the prior year.”
ECPS budget unpacked: Escambia School Board approves tentative $739 million budget. What's inside?
One mill is 0.1 cents or one thousandth of a dollar. So, a mill rate of 1 means a home owner pays $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value.
In a series of special meetings over the summer, school board members and district staff announced priorities to focus on issues such as facility maintenance, teacher raises and retention.
One of the major victories for the 2023-24 budget was securing the starting salary increase for teachers of $47,500, which cost the district about $2.5 million.
Although this increase does help the district reach compliance for the state law that took effect on July 1 requiring a baseline starting salary for Florida teachers, it does not help alleviate the salary compression for veteran teachers who have worked steadily for decades without commensurate wage increases.
As far as building renovations, now that Pleasant Grove Elementary has been completed and ready for students this fall, Myrtle Grove Elementary is next in line on the list of major school renovations.
Keith Wasdin, director of facilities planning for the district, said that a major renovation to each high school has been in the works for years, but have been postponed by all the schools that needed to be rebuilt entirely.
“Each of the high schools will be significantly touched over the next 36 months,” Wasdin said in March.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County School Board finalizes $797 million budget
