Last year, South Florida voters supported paying more in property taxes to put hundreds of millions of dollars toward school safety upgrades and teacher raises in public schools.
The windfall will help school districts meet new student safety mandates enacted after the Parkland massacre, but it also provoked the ire of charter school operators who said they were unfairly shut out.
A tax package approved by a Florida House committee Thursday seeks to settle the dispute by requiring school districts to share revenue generated through property tax increases with charter schools.
That could amount to a substantial financial hit for traditional public schools in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, along with districts elsewhere across the state that raised taxes to make security upgrades.
Broward County voters approved a property tax increase in August that will provide an estimated about $400 million over the next four years for school safety and teacher raises.
The ballot language specified that charter schools with more than 900 students are eligible for school safety funding, but only employees who work directly with students at traditional public schools would receive raises. About 72 percent of the new revenue in Broward’s increase is going to raises, 20 percent to school safety and 8 percent to add guidance counselors, social workers and behavior specialists.
The measure (HB 7123) under consideration in the Legislature is estimated to direct about $18 million annually over the next four years to charter schools in Broward, said John J. Sullivan, director of legislative affairs for Broward County Public Schools.
“We are not anti charter schools,” he said. “Our whole issue with the bill is they are making it retroactive, and we feel that goes against what local voters voted for.”
Charter schools are independently operated schools funded by taxpayers. School boards renew them annually, subject to their performance.
The bill also would affect school tax increases approved last year by voters in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Palm Beach County voters approved $800 million to improve school security and boost teacher salaries. The language did not include charter schools.
That has drawn lawsuits from three charter schools seeking access to those funds.
Julie Houston Trieste, a district spokeswoman, said it’s too early in the process to comment on how Palm Beach County schools could be affected.