During a July 30 meeting, the Monroe County School Board approved two referendums for school funding. Voters will see the two items on their ballots in the November general election.
“The renewal of these funding referendums are crucial to the continued operations of our schools,” said board chair Sue Woltanski. “Without the passage of these referendums, which have been in place for over 20 years, the quality of the education we currently provide to our students will most definitely suffer.”
At a public hearing held during the meeting, board members and Superintendent Theresa Axford discussed the two referendums which voters have supported consistently for more than 20 years. One referendum, known as the half mill, allows the district to move funds from the capital fund to operational funding. This helps pay for teacher salaries, as well as for school resource officers in every school.
The other referendum, known as the half-cent, is a sales tax paying for school building development, repairs and athletic complexes throughout the Keys. Neither referendum requires any additional taxpayer contribution over and above what has been in place for decades.
The board discussed the crucial nature of both areas of funding to the daily operation of the schools and the need to continue funding them at the current level so students will not suffer from funding cuts in the classroom.
“We continue to struggle to attract employees at all levels due to the cost of living here in the Keys. And the costs of operating, including supplies, vendors, the cost of construction and maintenance, are so much higher in our county than elsewhere,” Axford said.
“We are proud of the educational opportunities we are able to provide our students and we don’t
want those opportunities to suffer,” she said.
Board members also approved the budget for the 2024-25 school year and a measure to issue tax anticipation notes to cover budgeted items during the first part of the school year, before property taxes are collected.
School budget years start on July 1, but the major source of funding for Florida schools is
property tax revenue, which is primarily collected between November and January. Districts
have to find funding for those first few months, and many do it through tax anticipation notes.
These can come in two basic forms; as a bank loan which is then repaid when property tax revenue comes in, or in the form of a public offering. In a public offering, the public would purchase bonds for a particular period of time with the school district paying the money back with interest. Current higher interest rates on bank loans makes the public offering a better option this year.
