current 1-mill property tax<\/a>, a measure leaders say is critical to improving teacher pay and maintaining key programs.<\/p>\nThe resolution allows the district to request that the Jacksonville City Council place the referendum on the ballot. The vote does not raise taxes but begins the process of seeking voter approval to extend the existing 1-mill ad valorem tax first approved in 2022.<\/p>\n
If voters approve the measure, the tax would generate about $121 million annually for four years, beginning July 1, 2027, and expiring June 30, 2030.<\/p>\n
District leaders say the funding would support competitive teacher salaries, enhance school security and sustain arts and athletic programs. Duval County currently ranks last in average teacher pay among Florida\u2019s seven largest urban school districts, according to district officials.<\/p>\n
Board members and parents said the tax renewal would uphold commitments already made to students and staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m calling on you to launch a transparent, nonpartisan campaign to pass this referendum this November,\u201d said Erin Sharer, a parent who addressed the board. \u201cWe don’t need more latency. We need a board that is vocal, united and unapologetically standing behind teachers who make education possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another speaker, Denise Scott, urged leaders to clarify that the measure would not create a new tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease let the people know this is not a new tax and this is renewing the promise already made to invest in our students and teachers,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
The measure passed with a majority of board members in favor. Board Chair Charlotte Joyce cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she supported a half-mill proposal instead. Joyce said she believes a half-mill option would better balance taxpayer concerns while still supporting district priorities.<\/p>\n
“I can support teacher salary piece. I can support half of it, but I can’t support the whole thing because to me, the arts and athletics are a luxury,” said Joyce.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many places this touches and I think we do a disservice to strip it away,\u201d said board member Darryl Willie in support of the full 1-mill continuation.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s action authorizes the district to formally request that the City Council place the measure on the ballot. The council must still vote on whether to include the referendum in an upcoming election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duval County School Board passed a resolution hoping to continue the 1-mill property tax, aiming to boost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-177365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}