Orange County Public School leaders have offered further explanation at a State of the Schools address as to why they believe an extension of the half-penny sales tax for education is needed.
A half-penny sales tax is not only needed to literally keep the lights on according to OCPS officials, but to offset the loss of COVID-related funding to schools.
Superintendent Maria Vazquez said these billions of dollars of funds now have to be made up in other ways, including with monies collected from the education sales tax.
If an extension of the sales tax isn’t approved by voters, then she said some tough choices will have to be made.
“We are now having to fund those additional services, which include continuing the mental health supports, continuing the support for our students with disabilities coming from our general fund, which is also the same pot that we use to fund salaries,” Vazquez said.
Orange County School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs said she thinks funding is actually more of a problem across the state than staffing shortages.
“The only way that we can keep the air conditioning running, that we can keep the roofs on, the only way we can is at the mercy and the support of the public with this half-penny sales tax,” said Jacobs. “That's how serious it is.”
In a statement, Andrew Spar, the Florida Education Association President said funding problems at schools throughout the state are contributing to a statewide teacher shortage.
"The teacher shortage is driven by lack of funding and has the greatest impact on student learning. It is why we have called for the Governor and lawmakers to increase funding for Florida’s Public Schools by $2.5 billion a year for the next 7 years. This will move Florida from amongst the worst in the nation to top 10 in funding for schools, average teacher and staff pay and allow for us to better meet the needs of every child,” Spar said.
Voters will decide whether to extend the half-penny sales tax this fall.
OCPS said that the sales tax has generated over $4 billion for the district since 2002, and has funded the construction of 65 new schools.
