ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s 2026 legislative session starts next week. City, county and school leaders across Florida are watching closely, worried that proposals to cut property taxes could slash their tax bases and their ability to provide services.

What You Need To Know

Upcoming Florida legislative session could introduce property tax cuts

School leaders worry tax cuts will reduce their budgets and services

There are also concerns over private vouchers and charter schools impacting public education

Currently, OCPS is considering closing seven low-attendance schools to save funds

“We are finding it harder to pay our teachers what they deserve to be paid,” OCPS District 6 board member Stephanie Vanos said. “Pay our educators, and make sure our students have what they need.”

Some board members also worry that Florida’s expansion of private vouchers to send students to private and virtual schools will continue to hurt public schools in 2026.

“I think it’s a concerted effort to privatize education. It’s a concerted effort to help certain people make money off education,” Vanos said.

The Orange County School District already faces declining enrollment and shrinking budgets. The district says they’ve lost more than 5,500 students this year, and their budget is down more than $41 million.

Some board members are also concerned about the Florida Schools of Hope Program, which empowers private charter school companies to open charter schools inside the empty classrooms of poorly performing public schools. The law requires public schools to pay most of the costs to run the private charter schools, while the private companies get to keep the state funding for each student.

“I’m worried about Schools of Hope. I’m worried about the additional expense that will cost our district,” Vanos said.

On Wednesday, the school board decided to ask lawmakers to change the law so that private companies can only move into public schools with D and F grades. They also want lawmakers to reimburse public schools for their costs to operate the private charter schools.

“It is not fair to the students that are in that building for us to have to pay for students to which we don’t get funding for. It shortchanges the current students, and it’s not fair,” OCPS District 1 board member Angie Gallo said.

Vanos encourages parents to closely follow what lawmakers do in the next two months.

“Nothing works better than voter power, and parents and stakeholders and community members emailing and calling their legislators to put pressure on them to fund our schools,” Vanos said.

All this comes as district leaders consider closing seven schools with low attendance. District meetings with parents at each school will continue for several weeks. The school district says that closing those seven schools could save $10 million per year.  

Union Park Middle School, Bonneville Elementary, Chickasaw Elementary, Orlo Vista Elementary, Eccleston Elementary, Meadow Woods Elementary and McCoy Elementary School are all set to be closed.