Manatee County voters have approved a renewal of the school district’s tax referendum, backing more than $40 million in annual funding for teacher salaries and educational programs.

Just over 69% of voters, or 47,206 people, voted in favor of the tax renewal by Tuesday evening, when all 70 precincts had reported their results.

The outcome stood in stark contrast to the approximately 51% of voters who narrowly passed the tax referendum in 2018.

“After all that we’ve been through over the past two years with the pandemic, our teachers showed up, our schools were open, and this community said, ‘Thank you,’” Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said. “And we thank them for supporting us.”

The additional property tax, which equates to $1 for every $1,000 on a home’s taxable value, brought in more than $37 million in its first year. And thanks to the rising population and home prices in Manatee County, the revenue has grown by millions of dollars every year.

The largest chunk of money — 51% of all the revenue — goes toward higher pay for teachers. Another 15.5% has gone to improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes, along with career and technical education programs.

And for the first time, the school district will include visual and performing arts under that category, boosting the funding for theater, marching band and other programs.

Another portion goes to the county’s public charter schools, as required by Florida law, and the amount is determined by the number of students enrolled at each school.

The remaining funds are earmarked for 30 minutes of extra learning time each school day, along with higher pay for paraprofessionals, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other school employees.

Critics said the school district should pay its employees a competitive salary using a budget that totaled more than $1 billion this year.

But school board members and district leaders have said that state and federal funds are restricted to certain uses, meaning the annual budget, albeit large, was not enough to cover attractive salaries and cutting-edge programs.

That argument prevailed during Tuesday’s special election, which asked residents whether they wanted to renew the tax through June 30, 2025.

Pat Barber, president of the local teachers union, Manatee Education Association, said voters have ensured the expansion of school programs and continued investment in high-quality teachers.

“I’m very pleased that the citizens of Manatee County continue to support our schools and the people who work in them,” Barber said.

The support behind Tuesday’s win

Forward Manatee, the political committee backing Manatee’s tax renewal, spent nearly $293,000 over the last three months, pumping out yard signs, pamphlets and online advertisements.

“Manatee County has spoken,” Ernie Withers, the co-chair of Forward Manatee, said on Tuesday night. “We support our teachers. We support our students, our custodians, our office workers.”

The school district also touted endorsements from more than half a dozen Manatee County organizations, including the Early Learning Coalition, the League of Women Voters and the Manatee Chamber of Commerce.

And Superintendent Cynthia Saunders addressed voters directly at events hosted by Manatee Tiger Bay Club and the Bradenton Kiwanis Club.

The push helped Manatee County schools to overcome fierce opposition from organizations such as the Manatee Patriots and the Republican Party of Manatee County, along with elected officials such as Sheriff Rick Wells and Commissioner Vanessa Baugh.

Opposition to the tax

The Manatee County Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution opposing the tax renewal in late July.

The resolution states that Manatee School Board members showed “a disdain for public tax revenues” by holding a $300,000 special election to pass the original tax increase in 2018, followed by a $400,000 special election to renew the tax this year.

In response, Superintendent Saunders said the school district was not allowed to use taxpayer money to fund special elections. The district, she previously said, uses the revenue from its voluntary childcare programs that are held after school.

The anti-tax resolution goes on to say that Manatee County schools collected far more than was advertised to the public in 2018, when district leaders expected to collect about $33 million per year.

The amount of revenue has increased each year. However, the Republican Executive Committee reported that Manatee schools collected nearly $47 million from the tax in 2020-21, but school district records show a total revenue of about $42.9 million for that fiscal year.

And the independent group tasked with overseeing that money, the Citizens’ Financial Oversight Committee, has said that “no definitive conclusions can be drawn at this time regarding the success” of the tax.

According to a report from last June, the oversight group acknowledged gains in employee retention and student performance, along with improved STEM and technical education programs, but the group was not yet able to link that progress to the tax referendum.

The Republican Committee cited that report and concluded its resolution with a statement against the tax:

“The Manatee County School Board has failed to justify the need for the proposed tax prior to placing it on the ballot,”the Republican Executive Committee said.

School leaders celebrate

While the exact results may be hard to measure, there was no doubt that competitive salaries, extended learning days and improved educational programs were helping to better students and the community, Superintendent Saunders said.

Fellow district leaders and School Board members surrounded Saunders on Tuesday evening, during a gathering at the Anna Maria Oyster Bar’s Landside restaurant in Bradenton.

They watched and cheered as the results poured in, granting a decisive victory to the school district and its supporters.

“There was a lot of angry and loud debate during this campaign,” Charlie Kennedy, the School Board’s chair, said in a speech to the crowd. “But in the end, when we see the results, Manatee County in a bipartisan manner came out in force and, in a very big way, said, ‘We support our teachers. We support our schools.’”

This story was originally published November 2, 2021 8:28 PM.