Janelle Irwin Taylor
Supporters of a proposed referendum in Hillsborough County that would provide an estimated $177 million per year for the state’s third largest School District are planning to kick off their “Vote Yes for Students” campaign this Thursday, despite lingering questions about the ballot initiative’s fate on the ballot this year.
The extra funding, which would come through a new property tax assessment of $1 per $1,000 in taxable property value, would boost teacher, faculty and administration pay to ensure competitive salaries to attract and retain quality education staff.
Organizers for the initiative plan to officially launch the campaign on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association headquarters, located at 3102 N. Habana Ave. in Tampa.
The campaign is supported by the Hillsborough Students Deserve Better political action committee.
But even as organizers prepare for the campaign ahead, its fate is unclear after Hillsborough County Commissioners — all Republicans in the board’s majority — voted earlier this month to postpone the referendum. The county sued and, on Wednesday, received word that the Judge on the case would not be setting a hearing and instead would issue a ruling by Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
While that’s a setback for those who oppose the referendum, and a win for supporters who need certainty by Aug. 20 in order to make printed ballots, it still leaves a question mark over whether the measure will proceed, or be forced to land on a later ballot, likely in 2026 as opposing Commissioners had suggested.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is among detractors, arguing the Hillsborough Schools district should instead live within its existing fiscal means.
If the measure were to make the ballot, and receive approval from voters, it would fund $6,000 supplements for teachers and administrators and $3,000 for support staff each year, for four years. After the four-year initial period, voters would be asked to reauthorize the property tax assessment.
Voting to delay the measure were Commissioners Donna Cameron Cepeda, Ken Hagan, Josh Wostal and Christine Miller, the board’s newest member appointed by DeSantis to fill the term of Michael Owen, who resigned to run for a seat in the House.
