Brevard County voters will decide on Nov. 8 whether to increase school property taxes, primarily to pay for a boost in salaries to Brevard Public Schools staff.
A measure on the November ballot would require additional taxes of $1 per $1,000 of taxable value of Brevard properties. That would be $153.10 more per year for the median Brevard single-family home, which has a taxable value of $153,100.
The current school property tax rate is $5.495 per $1,000, and it would increase to $6.495 per $1,000 under this proposal.
District leaders and School Board members say the increase in the tax rate could be the district's best option to raise pay for veteran teachers and other employees.
Recent legislation has raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for school employees, and established a minimum salary for teachers. But that means more experienced employees and managers now make little more than their just-hired peers.
Like many other districts in the United States, Brevard Public Schools is facing a shortage of key staff, especially teachers and bus drivers.
BPS Superintendent Mark Mullins has said budget cuts would be insufficient to tackle these challenges, because the district already has made several million dollars in cuts in recent years, and is reaching "the bottom of the barrel."
Opponents of the proposal have argued at School Board meetings and online that...
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