JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Duval County Public Schools is considering asking voters to raise their property taxes in order to generate more money for teacher pay, arts and athletic programs.
If approved, it would be on the ballot in the August primary election.
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According to the National Education Association, Florida ranks 49th in the nation for average teacher pay, coming in at just over $49,100 a year.
Duval falls short of that figure, with teachers in the district making only $47,458 a year on average.
The district ranks 40th in the state for average teacher pay.
“Duval is one of the what is called the Big Seven. Our teacher salary ranks last,” said Duval Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene.
Greene believes the low pay is contributing to staffing shortages.
There are currently more than 1,000 vacancies across the district including 393 classroom teachers.
“We’ve had a teacher shortage prior to the pandemic. It was sort of a slow-going teacher shortage, and we could identify very specific content areas, such as mathematics. Now we’re seeing a teacher shortage in every area,” said Greene.
Greene has proposed asking voters to raise property taxes by $1 per $1,000 of appraised property value, to help raise teacher pay.
It would generate an estimated $81.8 million a year, boosting annual teacher pay by about $5,000.
So, an average Jacksonville resident with a home worth $275,000 could expect to pay $275 more each year if the increase passes.
“With the property tax increase, we would not be as far behind the ball. We would be competitive with the other large urban school districts,” said Greene.
Former teacher Ann Stevenson told us she’s all for dishing out the extra cash.
“A teacher is a very special person and especially to our kids,” said Stevenson.
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But others like Armando Ducusin argued times are hard as it is with the pandemic and inflation, and he doesn’t believe working-class residents can afford an additional tax.
“They are experiencing you know, no food to eat. They cannot pay their mortgage,” said Ducusin.
But Greene argued without the hike, staffing problems will only worsen.
“If we don’t have teachers in the classroom, then it makes it very hard for us to deliver a high-quality education for our students, which in turn impacts our community,” said Greene.
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