Miami-Dade Schools to ask voters to pay more for teachers and school safety
The Miami-Dade School Board will ask homeowners in November to boost their property tax bill by slightly more than $50, on average, to increase teacher and staff pay and bolster student safety and security measures on campuses.
The School Board approved the final language voters will see on the ballot at its May 18 meeting and directed officials to send it to county commissioners for final approval.
This year’s request is a continuation of the previous referendum voters approved in 2018, only with a higher tax rate: The district is asking for a millage rate of 1.0, up from .75, over the next four years — $100 for every $100,000 in assessed taxable property value.
The .75 millage rate from the 2018 referendum is set to expire in June 2023.
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If approved in the fall, the tax increase would bring in nearly $400 million for the district and would cost the typical homeowner in Miami-Dade County an additional $54.74 in their annual property tax bill, according to the district. Instead of paying about $165 annually, a typical homeowner would pay about $219 in school taxes, according to the district.
The calculation is not based on the market price of a home in Miami-Dade, but instead on the assessed value of a home, which is $243,947, according to estimates from the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s Office, staff said.
On Wednesday, preliminary estimates released by Miami-Dade and Broward counties show the valuation for all types of property rose more than 10% by the end of 2021, compared to the previous year. The last time Miami-Dade saw similar jumps in property values was in 2007; the rapid rise in valuations has prompted calls to cut property tax rates for the 2023 budget year.
In fact, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia sent a memo to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and county commissioners recommending a 3% property tax rate cut throughout the county so property owners were not stuck with large tax bills due to the rising values.
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The school district’s estimations were based on calculations before the soaring property values throughout the county were announced on June 1 by the property appraiser’s office. Officials did not immediately respond to questions Friday about how, if at all, discussions from county officials to potentially decrease the millage rates would change the district’s calculations moving forward.
Charters get part of revenue
The reason the district is seeking the increase is twofold.
On one hand, the money would ensure the district can remain competitive with nearby districts in recruiting and retaining teachers and staff.
Eleven other districts in Florida plan to ask their constituents to renew or increase the millage rate on the August or November ballots, and all but one is asking for 1.00 mill. Broward County Public Schools, for example, is expected to ask voters in August to increase the millage rate from .5 to 1.00.
In addition, the money would supplement the portion of revenue the district is now required to share with charter schools. (Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeals earlier this year ruled charter schools were eligible for funding brought in through the district’s referendum.)
In Miami-Dade, the average base salary for elementary and secondary teachers is slightly more than $53,000 annually, according to the district. With the supplemental bonus from the 2018 referendum, which on average is a little more than $8,000, it’s closer to $61,000, records show.
But as a result of the court ruling that charter schools are entitled to their share of the 2018 referendum proceeds, charter schools would get roughly $65 million of the approximately $230 million the referendum generated. Without this latest referendum seeking nearly $400 million, teachers could see a roughly 6% decrease, or about $3,900, to their supplemental pay, the district said.
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According to Ron Steiger, the district’s chief financial officer, the charter school allocation amounts to about 25% of the district’s referendum dollars. So, by increasing the millage from .75 to 1.00, the district is essentially saying to the public, “You’re going to keep MDCPS completely harmless, and that extra .25 mill will go to charters,” he told board members at the May 11 workshop.
Antonio White, United Teachers of Dade vice president, at last month’s board meeting referred to the required allotment to charter schools as an “increased burden,” albeit manageable. He informed the board at its regular meeting that the union was “in full support.”
“We are committed to being partners in this process,” he said.
Follows 2018 referendum that raised $232 million
In 2018, the school district turned to voters to bring in additional revenue to be used for teacher and staff salaries and to increase the number of school resource officers on campuses.
At the time, education funding from the state had “failed to keep pace” for higher-cost districts where the cost of living was increasing, officials said. The 2018 referendum also came after state lawmakers passed a law requiring districts to have a school resource officer on every campus following the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland in Broward County, which killed 17 students and faculty.
The new law didn’t come with additional funding for districts, so the two issues happening concurrently “indicated we needed to do something,” staff said. Voters approved the 2018 referendum, known as Referendum 362, with more than 70 percent of the vote, despite their tax bill going up by $165 per year.
School Board members said at the time they would spend 88 percent of the funding, or around $200 million, on pay increases for teachers and staff. The remaining funds were to go to hiring more school police officers.
The 2018 referendum wasn’t the district’s first request, either. In 2012, voters approved a $1.2 billion bond referendum to support the district’s capital needs, such as technology upgrades at all schools and modernizing and constructing new schools across the district.
Still, despite the previous support of the community, some board members, such as Mari Tere Rojas, had initial concerns about asking constituents for more money, given inflation rates and the rising cost of living in Miami-Dade.
However, at the workshop, she said, “It makes sense because we are adding the charter (schools) at this time. If we do not stay afloat, we’ll lose teachers. We have a problem, without a doubt. We have to increase the base salary for our teachers and workers.”
For Vice Chair Steve Gallon III, informing the community about the need to pass the referendum will be essential over the next few months. The message, he said at the workshop, must focus on four constructs: Teaching and learning and safety and security. The workshop was before the May 24 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead and 17 wounded.
“If you’re a taxpayer, who cannot be an advocate for teaching and learning for all children, and who cannot be an advocate for the safety and security of all children?” he said. “No matter who you are, no matter what side of the aisle you sit, you cannot argue with these particular issues.”
Those concepts, he said, “are applicable to every taxpayer.”
