ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orange County Public Schools leaders discussed the district’s proposed $7.53 billion budget Tuesday as the officials await Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature on the state budget and monitor a Florida property tax amendment expected to appear on November ballots.<\/p>\n
During their budget work session, district leaders addressed concerns about how the Florida property tax amendment could affect school funding. Orange County Public Schools Board Chair Maria Salamanca said schools would be exempt under amendments made to the initial language.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the initial language, all of us were going to be impacted, but since then, there were amendments created to both bills that said schools would be exempt from this,” Salamanca said. “So, we would not have the same financial impact.”<\/p>\n
Salamanca said that concerns remain, however, when it comes to possible secondary impacts. If property tax cuts mean less money for law enforcement and firefighters, the district could face more costs for school resource officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were to lose money and had to look at SROs, then it could be, perhaps, we don\u2019t have two SROs at our high schools,” she said. “Maybe it\u2019s one guardian and one SRO, so there is a broad range of potential plans for what that would look like.”<\/p>\n
OCPS is entering the final year of its deal to use local school resource officers stationed at every school. The officers are set to be paid $75,000 for the upcoming school year as part of the reimbursement deal.<\/p>\n
District officials said they know parents and staff want SROs to remain on campuses and are making the program a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always supported an SRO, because I think the safest campus is a campus that has trained law enforcement on it,\u201d OCPS Board member Angie Gallo said.<\/p>\n
Gallo said the district is not currently having conversations about SROs, but is discussing another issue on the November ballot: a millage rate increase that could bring in another $256 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s imperative that this passes in November,” Gallo said. “If it doesn\u2019t, we\u2019re going to be \u2014 I just can\u2019t even imagine what the district would look like without it. And I am concerned with the property tax reform being on the ballot and folks will get confused.”<\/p>\n