Sales tax for school improvements will be on ballot

A half-cent sales tax to fund improvements at aging schools throughout the district, including the Beaches, will be on the November ballot. The decision is the latest development in the struggle between the city of Jacksonville and the School Board to place the referendum on the 2020 ballot
If approved by voters, the proposed tax would run 15 years and raise an estimated $1.2 billion. Duval County Public Schools has released a master plan of more than $1.9 billion in needed improvements and a timeline of how that money would be spent.
The Master Facilities Plan would increase safety and security measures, eliminate more than 400 portables, consolidate schools, and reduce the number of students at schools at or over capacity, while building new schools in areas of growth.
In July, Elizabeth Andersen, District 2 representative for the Beaches, detailed how the plan would impact Beaches schools at a Beaches Watch meeting. Fletcher High School is slated to receive 32 classroom additions to eliminate the aging portables.
“Fletcher High School has a ton of old portables that have not been in the best shape for some time,” she said. “We’re excited to be able to get children in permanent structures that are safe and easier to maintain.”
Andersen said the Facilities Condition Index was used to determine the age of the schools, useful life of the equipment in schools and the health of the overall facilities. While District 2 is considered among the healthiest citywide, it still needs approximately $107 million in repairs and one complete rebuild to reduce the overall age of the schools and decrease utilization from 90 to 85 percent.
“Ideally, we’d like to decrease the age of our facilities," she said. "In Duval County, the average age of our schools is 44. We have schools that are much older and a few that are only 10 years old. We have the oldest schools in the state. The next oldest school district is 31 years old so you can see a big gap there.
“Because a lot of the schools in District 2 were really high performing, a lot were at capacity or way over so being able to decrease the utilization numbers would be great.”
The plan is also expected to reduce the maintenance budget by $1 billion over the next five years, and includes a system to provide equitable funding for charter schools using similar criteria driving funding to repair traditional schools. According to Andersen, the average monthly costs for maintenance is $500,000.
“If we could put some new systems in place rather than continually try and patch the old systems. That would obviously bring down maintenance costs,” Andersen remarked. “Just like at your home. If you are having to repair your roof, AC or water heater constantly, eventually you replace it and your maintenance budget goes down.”
More than 20 community meetings were held to identify critical issues and educate the public in each district. An online survey received more than 1,600 responses, reflecting the diverse concerns. The plan is based on a comprehensive and detailed engineering and site inspection of all school campuses. District officials analyzed long-term enrollment trends and anticipated the impact of future charter schools and other choice options.
Since the sales tax requires voter approval, the Jacksonville City Council and mayor must approve for the referendum to be on the ballot. The Duval County School Board previously approved a resolution for a referendum to create the voluntary sales tax to fund the plan, but the measure was opposed by the City Council. In late August 2019, the City Council voted 14-5 to withdraw the sales tax bill, following a meeting that cleared council chambers after interruption by the audience. The city attorney filed an appeal against the judge's order that the school board can sue, and Circuit Court Judge Gary Wilkinson later ruled that the School Board had the right to hire its own counsel to file suit against the city.
In February, the City Council introduced an ordinance that would effectively get the referendum on this year's ballots, thus ending the school board's lawsuit with the city. The sales tax referendum passed 18-1 in a council vote complying with the board’s terms to drop the lawsuit. Councilman Rory Diamond cast the dissenting vote.
Last week, the Jacksonville City Council approved putting a half-cent sales tax that would help fix aging Duval County Public Schools according to its Master Facilities Plan.