Voters approve Manatee school tax by slim margin

Braden River Elementary School teacher Pamela Smith spent her Tuesday evening brainstorming ways she could use an extra 30 minutes each day with her third-grade students.

Perhaps she could set up more science experiments or have children to more investigations with social studies, rather than just dictating information.

By the end of the night, she learned her dreams could come true.

Manatee County voters approved a 1-mill property tax increase by special referendum with 51.38% in favor of the increase.

“I am so excited. That is time that’s going to go to the children,” Smith said. “I love social studies. I love science. You can’t do any of it in depth with the time we were given. This extra 30 minutes is massive.”

The Manatee County School District expects the additional millage will generate $33 million annually, which it plans to use to increase student instruction time by 30 minutes per day, increase pay for teachers, bus drivers and other staff who work directly with students and expand career, technical and science/engineering programs.

“This is bigger than the superintendent, than the school board,” Manatee County School District Superintendent Diana Greene said. “This is about our students.”

The tax, which will have to be renewed in four years, will cost a property owner with a home valued at $225,000 about $204 per year.

Opponents of the tax said the millage increase is not the best solution.

Garin Hoover, of Bradenton, said pay increases should be permanent, not renewed by popular vote.

“People of Manatee County have made a decision,” he said. “We all want a quality education. I call on the school district to put teachers and bus drivers at the highest priority, to make pay increases permanent so that it’s not (a variable) every four years.”

Myakka resident Dave Cohen said the school district still needs to prove its fiscal responsibility.

“The people against it are not against spending tax money on kids' education, it’s the mismanagement of what monies they’ve had,” he said. “It’s very disappointing.”

School district officials say the district is losing teachers and support staff to higher paying districts, including Sarasota and Pinellas counties, and the number of job vacancies in Manatee continues to grow, often exceeding 200 positions and causing an excessive use of substitutes.

Officials said waiting until August or November during regular election cycles would have delayed the district’s ability to retain, recruit and hire teachers in the next fiscal year.