Sarasota County elections: Voters approve renewal of school district millage referendum

Samantha Gholar, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·3 min read
Sarasota County School Board members Jane Goodwin, left with back to camera, and Shirley Brown, second from left, hug as they watch results of the school board referendum at the Supervisor of Elections Office on Tuesday night. Voters overwhelmingly passed the renewal of the 1-mill tax for property owners. Dan DeLeo, center, President of Citizens for Better Schools and fellow school board member Tom Edwards, right, are busy texting results.

Officials are celebrating the renewal of the Sarasota County School District millage referendum, which will be continued for another four years following overwhelming support from voters.

The referendum maintains the 1-mill tax rate for property owners in the county first implemented in 2002. The tax was approved for renewal with 85% of voters supporting the referendum at the polls and via mail-in ballots and 14.5% opposed.

According to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office, nearly 65% of votes were submitted via absentee, while 28% of ballots were cast Tuesday at in-person voting sites. A total of 100,724 ballots were submitted in the county, totaling a 28% voter turnout for the nonpartisan special election.

Previously: Tuesday's election is set to have a higher voter turnout than the March 2018 election

Related: Sarasota County School board members support referendum as election approaches

By the way: Sarasota County school superintendent explains the value of renewing one-mill school property tax

Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen
Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen

With the approval of the referendum, the school district is poised to collect over $71 million dollars for local schools.

The funds will be used as supplemental capital to help fund specific needs such as after-school programs, pre-Kindergarten classrooms, and art-centered education. The bulk of the referendum dollars, however, are allotted for paying instructor salaries for an extra 30-minutes of instruction time each day.

At the polls Tuesday, election volunteers said a small steady flow of voters dropped off mail-in ballots throughout the day.

At polling site 131, located off Fruitville Road near McIntosh Middle School, poll workers cited just over 100 voters had brought in their ballots for the referendum vote by the late afternoon. In-person votes were cast at all 99 Sarasota County precincts for the referendum vote, according to the election's website.

Early Tuesday afternoon, Sarasota resident Kevin Lawrence dropped off his ballot for the referendum in person at the election's office near downtown Sarasota.

Lawrence and other voters trickled into the polling site helping push the referendum forward — accounting for a small percentage of the 85% of taxpayers who support the additional funds for the district.

“I want to make sure that I do my part to ensure that the school tax is maintained,” Lawrence said after dropping his ballot into the collection box.

After the ballots were counted Tuesday evening the 1-mill tax that goes to the Sarasota County School District will be continued for another four years.
After the ballots were counted Tuesday evening the 1-mill tax that goes to the Sarasota County School District will be continued for another four years.

Referendum voting results praised by school board members

District 1 board member Bridget Ziegler applauded local voters for their efforts in renewing the referendum.

Ziegler, an outspoken conservative and supporter of the referendum, said she was excited for the district's students following the results of Tuesday’s election.

“Our generous community illustrated once again that they believe in the value of education and that our students and educators are worth investing in for a better future,” Ziegler said. “I remain committed to ensuring we are good stewards of our community's tax dollars by making fiscally sound and transparent decisions centered on academic growth and excellence so that every Sarasota County student achieves their God-given potential.”

OPINION: Support Sarasota County schools to maintain excellence

By the way: Donations pouring in for Sarasota School Board race ahead of March 8 millage vote

Board member Jane Goodwin also was elated to see an increase of active voters for this year’s referendum, she said, citing an increase of more than 30,000 voters casting ballots for the millage tax.

With 100,000 votes cast, up from 62,000 votes in 2018 for the same referendum, Goodwin says she’s confident of the community’s support for district students.

“I don't know of any referendum in this state that has done 85% (approval),” she said. “We know that they believe in our wonderful public schools, and we won't let them down the trust that they have shown in voting this strongly for us.”

Samantha Gholar covers news for the Herald-Tribune and USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at sgholar@gannett.com or on Twitter: @samanthagweires

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Election results: Sarasota County School District referendum renewed