JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County voters on Tuesday night voted in favor of a property tax hike designed in part to help teachers and staff of public schools in Jacksonville.
Here’s how the votes stacked up:
Votes
%
Yes
No
The district said the tax is badly needed. It says over the last six years, teacher vacancies have climbed 155%.
School leaders say they not only need to bring in new teachers but also keep experienced teachers on the job.
Also, according to the district, experienced teachers make roughly the same or slightly higher than first-year teachers. As a result, teachers are moving into different jobs or retiring early, and it’s having an impact on students.
“It’s about validating our teachers,” said Board Chair Darryl Willie. “They deserve this. And I’m excited.”
Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene was ecstatic at the decision made by Duval County voters.
“It feels amazing. It feels like a lot of hard work now has come to fruition and our community is going to celebrate our teachers by showing them how much they are valued and appreciated,” Greene said.
“People are the essence of everything we do. Our students need great teachers standing in front of them, great teachers need support, great paraprofessionals, whether it’s school-based principals and assistant principals and all the other employees of our district, all over 12,000 of them come together five days a week and many times on the weekend to ensure our students can have an excellent education,” she added.
The average teacher salary is $47,458. How much more they could make with the extra funding is unclear. Contracts would be reworked, but we could see some teachers get an additional $5,000 per year.
Here’s how the proposed rate hike breaks down. It would increase the school district’s portion of your property tax rate by one mill -- that’s one dollar for every $1,000 of assessed value on your home.
An example: Let’s say your home is appraised at $300,000. After your homestead exemption, you could pay an additional $275 per year or roughly $23 a month.
Where will the new money go?
- 65% of it will go to teachers’ pay
- 12.5% will go to the arts and athletic programs
- 12.5% will go to charter schools
- 10% will go to school staff