Palm Beach County schools may seek extra tax to fund security, higher pay

Desperate for money after years of neglect by the state Legislature, Palm Beach County schools may ask voters in November to approve a new tax to boost teacher salaries and supplement school security and mental health care.

The School Board will decide on June 20 whether to put the tax on the ballot.

Although the amount of the tax hasn’t been decided, the board on Wednesday discussed adding $1 for every $1,000 in taxable value, or $300 a year for the owner of a $400,000 house.

Voters approved a one-cent sales tax in November 2016 that helps pay for new roofs, air conditioning, paving and other infrastructure projects. And in 2014, they passed a property tax that pays the salaries of 650 art, music, physical education, career and technical teachers. That tax expires this year and would become part of the proposed new levy.

Board member Karen Brill wondered whether voters would be willing to support another new school tax.

“If we ask for too much, we may be risking a whole lot,” she said.

Still, three board members said they favored the tax.

“This security issue is a real issue,” board member Marcia Andrews said. As

for security money approved by the Legislature after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shootings on Feb. 14: “We’re thankful for it, but it doesn’t meet our needs.”

After the shootings, the state made money available to provide a police officer to every school. The state is offering Palm Beach County schools $5.5 million to hire 75 officers so all 180 schools in the district have their own officers. The school district already has its own police force, and all high schools and middle schools have their own officers. Elementary schools have been sharing officers and would each get their own under the new law.

But the district needs $8.7 million to buy or lease police cars and equipment for these officers and pay their overtime for after-school activities, said Mike Burke, chief financial officer.

The state also is offering $3.9 million for a mental health professional on each campus, but the district actually needs at least $5 million to cover every school, he said.

The tax could also pay for a teacher salary supplement, Burke said, such as offering a $5,000 bonus to teachers who stay in the district five years and $10,000 at 10 years, Burke said. He said Florida teachers earn an average $48,992, which is 15 percent lower than the national average.

“This is the only opportunity for the school board to bring more revenue into the district,” Burke said.

Palm Beach County voters have been amenable to school taxes in the past. In 2010, 66 percent approved the arts teacher levy, and in 2014, 79 percent agreed to that tax’s renewal.

The board decided to begin polling voters to see if they would be willing to support a new school tax.