School board adopts tentative budget and millage rate

At a public hearing this afternoon that saw no comment from a member of the public, the Sarasota County School Board voted unanimously to adopt its tentative budget and proposed millage rate for fiscal year 2013-14.

The millage rate will rise slightly over last year, from 7.816 to 7.970. The increase is due to a roughly 7% increase in the required local effort millage rate, which is set by the state legislature.

School board member Shirley Brown emphasized that this is a tentative budget, with teacher salaries still to be negotiated.

Money was set aside for teacher pay raises in the state’s 2013-14 budget, which is a contributing factor to the rising millage rate. Collective bargaining will take place before the budget is finalized at a Sept. 10 budget meeting.

The school board approved the advertisement of the preliminary millage rate and tentative budget at a meeting last Tuesday.

Contact David Conway at [email protected].