Vote nears on Palm Beach County property tax for teachers, school safety and mental health
Voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to continue a property tax that generates hundreds of millions of dollars every year for Palm Beach County schools.
When they approved the tax in 2010 and 2014, the school district collected a lower amount — averaging $42 million a year — and financed hundreds of teaching positions for art, music and physical education, along with teachers for magnet programs and career academies.
The original tax followed the Great Recession and cuts to state education funding. And in 2018, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, voters agreed to not only continue the special tax, but also to increase the rate and fund resources for school safety.
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The tax, which now raises well over $200 million a year, helped schools to hire more mental-health professionals and law-enforcement officers, and to continue funding teachers in art and specialty programs.
The added money also provides teachers with a yearly supplement worth between $1,000 and $10,000, depending on their years of service in local schools.
And though the school district originally pushed charter schools out of the referendum language four years ago, a handful of charters sued for a slice of the pie.
Starting in July 2021, charter schools — which are public schools with fewer regulations and more autonomy — started receiving about 12% of the money, an amount based on their student enrollment.
That totaled nearly $26.7 million in the last fiscal year, a time span that stretches from July to June.
Charter schools will receive a share of the tax revenue going forward, a right that's since been enshrined in Florida law.
Money collected from the voter-approved tax is increasing with rising home values. And all public schools, whether they be district-run or charters, can expect to enjoy increased tax revenue thanks to rising home values in Palm Beach County.
The tax, which equates to $1 for every $1,000 on a home’s assessed value, is set to expire at the end of June.
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In a resolution approved this year, the school board said it would have to make "severe cuts to its operating budget,” including “significant reductions” to art programs, if the tax expires.
Palm Beach County is among more than a dozen Florida school districts seeking voter approval for new or continued tax referendums in November, according to the Florida Education Association, a statewide teachers union.
Locally, the money is supervised by the Independent Referendum Oversight Committee. The group of volunteers has continually reported that local schools are spending the tax revenue in line with what voters approved.
The committee also voted in August to endorse the tax's continuation.
The property tax on this year's ballot is separate from the school district’s voter-approved 1-cent sales tax increase, which funds school renovations, classroom technology and school buses.
That tax is overseen by a separate committee and will expire in 2026.
How exactly do Palm Beach County schools use money from the tax referendum?
Heather Frederick, the district's chief financial officer, said the Legislature largely decides how much the school board can tax residents.
The mix of state funding and local taxes, she said, is only enough to meet Florida’s minimum education requirements.
The voter-approved tax provides more resources to the public school system, allowing the district to go beyond the bare minimum and provide extra support to students and teachers, Frederick continued.
That includes supplements for teachers who continue to work in Palm Beach County despite a recent surge in the cost of homes and rentals.
The amount of their annual supplement depends on years of service:
$1,000 per year for teachers with one to four years of experience.
$5,000 per year for teachers with five to nine years of experience.
$10,000 per year for teachers with more than 10 years of experience.
More than 11,700 teachers currently receive a supplement, and the majority — about 7,600 people — receive the $10,000 annual payout, Frederick said.
Nearly 700 other teachers have less than one year of service and don’t yet qualify for the payment.
The tax also generated about $65 million for the fine arts during the last fiscal year, including nearly $58 million for district-operated schools and nearly $7 million for charters.
It also raised about $18.6 million for mental-health professionals during the same time period, including $17.2 million for district-run schools and $1.4 million for charters.
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Most of the mental-health funding went toward hiring and paying behavioral health staff, who are now at every school in the district. The money also funded psychologists, school counselors and teams that respond to students experiencing a crisis.
While increased spending on mental health resulted from the Parkland shooting, it became doubly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students faced isolation and anxiety, Frederick said.
As a result of the tax, she said, 30,158 students received mental-health services between July 2021 and June.
During the same period, the tax also raised $19 million for school security, including $16.2 million for district-controlled schools and $2.8 million for charters.
Frederick said the school district uses its base budget to staff every school with a police officer, a requirement in Florida. The added tax revenue pays for security beyond the minimum outlined in law.
That includes school police officers, detectives, trainers, police aides, school security monitors and security for school events, along with equipment such as vehicles and software.
And to fund all of the improvements to local education, including teacher supplements, art programs and new mental-health and security positions, the school district generally spends more than the tax generates.
Fiscal year 2021 is the first time the school district had unspent money, thanks to an increase in employee vacancies, especially during the pandemic, the finance chief said.
The $4.6 million in unspent funds rolled into 2022, and the district has now spent that money, along with millions of dollars above what it collected from the tax.
School board hires consultant to advertise tax renewal
With so much on the line, local groups are scrambling to educate voters and advocate for the tax's renewal.
The school district is treading carefully since Florida law prevents government agencies from sending political advertisements or other communications to voters when it relates to a referendum.
Districts can, however, provide factual information on their websites or in public forums. The Palm Beach County School District has done both.
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The district website, palmbeachschools.org, featured the tax referendum on its homepage. And red signs lined the entrance leading into the district's office on Forest Hill Boulevard.
"Enhance school safety, support student mental health, keep arts and music education, improve teacher pay," the signs read, before offering a note in fine print: "for information only."
Other signs throughout the county are more direct: "Vote Yes for Kids and Teachers."
Those signs are paid for by a political-action committee run by Justin Katz, president of the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association.
The PAC, he said, was not directly affiliated with or funded by the local union.
And on July 20, the school board approved up to $393,500 in spending with Cornerstone Solutions Florida, a consulting firm based in Royal Palm Beach that "specializes in ballot initiatives and referendums."
The firm, according to its contract, will provide community outreach and strategic planning, along with road signs and other tools to inform people about the tax renewal.
Giuseppe Sabella is an education reporter at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at gsabella@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How do Palm Beach County schools use the voter-approved property tax?
