GOP commissioners halt Hillsborough vote on tax for schools

Axios Tampa Bay | By Yacob Reyes | July 18, 2024

The Hillsborough Commission has swung back into Republican control, and Commissioner Joshua Wostal is already flexing his renewed muscle.

Why it matters: Wostal, backed by his GOP colleagues, stalled a ballot referendum that would have given Hillsborough’s sprawling school district the means to raise teacher salaries.

• His move tees up a legal battle with the school district.

State of play: The commission’s new makeup is a fresh face on an old GOP agenda.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Republican hopeful Christine Miller last month to replace Michael Owen, whose resignation had created a short-lived deadlock on the commission.
• Miller’s first vote on Wednesday is a sign that she intends to fill Owen’s former role on the commission: a reliable vote for fiscal conservatism and Wostal’s priorities.

The big picture: Republicans wrested control of Hillsborough County from Democrats in 2022, and have leveraged that power to torpedo Pride commendations, slash affordable housing programs and more.

Zoom in: If voters had approved the tax referendum, the school district would have raked in nearly $200 million, with 90% of the funds earmarked for teacher salaries.

• There are about 500 classroom vacancies in Hillsborough County, and teachers in Florida are among the lowest-paid in the U.S.

Friction point: The school district’s referendum had long attracted ire from Republicans, who cited it as a reason for slashing the funding schools received from the commission under its half-cent tax.

• The Hillsborough Commission slashed the school district’s cut of the tax from 25% to 5% a year, a loss of tens of millions each year that it used to build new schools and maintain existing facilities.

• Superintendent Van Ayres said in March that “the school district cannot build schools fast enough, and we continue to have unfunded capital needs … in Plant City” — which Miller represents.

Meanwhile, Republican commissioners supported an estimated $110 million investment in two new sports facilities earlier this year.

What they’re saying: “It is an unprecedented and devastating blow to schools that would have never happened under a Democratic majority,” Commissioner Pat Kemp (D) tells Axios.

• The vote will punish “our schools for decades to come.”