TAMPA, Fla. -- The Hillsborough County school board voted Friday to put a tax referendum on the No. 6 ballot.
The half-cent referendum would raise more money for school repairs and construction. The district has struggled to keep the air conditioning working at its 200-plus schools.
If passed, the tax would bring in roughly an additional $131 million each year.
If the Nov. 6 referendum doesn’t pass, the board will ask for another countywide vote in March 2019.
Revenue from the referendum would also be used to improve security on campuses, renovate facilities, upgrade classroom technology and workshops and classrooms for career and technical workforce training.
Some parents who attended the meeting along with board members expressed frustration over Florida's lack of funding for public schools.
According to Education Week, the Sunshine State ranks 41st in the nation in K-12 education funding.
This past year, the state increased base funding by just 47 cents per student.
“I'm OK with doing whatever it takes to get my kids an education they deserve and the teachers a classroom that they can actually work in,” says parent Rachel Nestor.
“We have a lot of serious issues here in Hillsborough County that we can't afford to wait for someone else to fix,” says another parent, Kim Klaze.
Hillsborough County has more than 230 schools, some in need of major makeovers now: 40 need immediate A/C replacements and 20 need new roofs.
In the next five years, 28 schools will need new roofs and 63 will need A/C repairs or complete replacements.
That's not all: the sales tax would also be used for new paint for schools, exterior lighting enhancements and new playground equipment.
District leaders say because of inadequate state funding, students are faced with learning in aging and crowded schools.
It’s a $3 billion challenge attributed to deferred maintenance, county growth and paying off mortgages for more than 60 schools.
“Our focus is to take care of our kids," says Hillsborough Superintendent, Jeff Eakins. "We know there is a lot of politics involved in the decision making, but we can't get caught up in that.”
Eakins explains money was taken away during the Great Recession, and even though the district tried to get that funding back, it never happened.
“That's almost 30-40 million more dollars we could be getting to fix some of our facility needs,” says Eakins.
Board members April Griffin and Melissa Snively voted against the referendum. They said pushing the responsibility to Hillsborough residents is unfair.
“In my opinion, the district has a history of mismanaging finances and not communicating enough to the public the efforts to prove to taxpayers that it has done everything possible and that it deserves a tax increase,” says Snively.
The sales tax could only be used for long-term capital improvements, but board members agreed they would like to use any leftover money to pay for excess bond debt.
If passed, it would be the first in the county, specifically for education.
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