Proposed tax plan would force South Florida school districts to share millions with charters

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.

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.”

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