Pasco charter schools seek earlier access to referendum tax revenue
Tampa Bay Times | Jeffrey S. Solochek | April 9, 2026
The Pasco County school district may go to the state over a dispute with local charter schools.
It’s all about money.
The charters contend that the district isn’t passing along their share of local property tax revenue — particularly their piece of the amount collected for a referendum bolstering employee pay — in a timely manner.
The district has waited to forward that funding until after it receives its tax payments, the bulk of which arrive by the end of November each year.
Shawn Arnold, a lawyer representing several of Pasco’s 20 charters, contends the district must provide equal payments monthly, regardless of whether it has the money in hand.
“School districts have been prohibited since 2016 from delaying the payment of local operating funds to charter schools based on the timing of the school district’s receipt of such funds,” Arnold wrote to the district in October, referring to state law on charter schools.
Superintendent John Legg, himself a former charter school operator, said the district should not have to borrow or dip into its reserves to ensure that the budgets of independent charter schools are viable.
Districts serve as the agency to pass tax money to the charter schools as it becomes available, he added, suggesting that was the intent he understood from his years in the state Legislature. He pointed to a separate section of the same law that Arnold relied on.
“I can’t in good faith recommend we advance funds that we haven’t yet collected,” Legg said. “We don’t do it with state money or federal money. Why would we do it for local money?”
The district is asking voters to renew its property tax referendum in November.
School board members, who are scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to pursue the attorney general’s opinion, said they agree with Legg.
“It is challenging to issue a payment that has not yet been received,” vice chairperson Al Hernandez said. “This approach places unnecessary financial strain on the district and may not be sustainable from a fiscal standpoint.”
Chairperson Colleen Beaudoin said it’s “unreasonable” for the charters to make the ask, and board member Jessica Wright noted that the district has shown good faith by moving the payment from February to November last year.
“If there was some evidence of any actual hardship, we maybe could discuss that,” Wright said.
Getting an opinion from the state would clarify once and for all what the law intends, added board member Megan Harding, who expressed displeasure at the notion of the district borrowing money solely to give the funds to charter schools.
Reached by phone, Arnold declined to comment, saying his letter to the district laid out clearly why the district is wrong. In it, he referred to a case that led the Pinellas County district to change its charter funding practices.
He also stated that no other districts have attempted to follow the reasoning that Pasco is pursuing. One other district delayed payment after winning a referendum in 2024, he added, and when informed of the law, it shifted gears.
“While I am hopeful that PCS will agree to fund Pasco County charter schools as required by statute, my clients will be forced to take action to protect their rights in the event of any further delay,” Arnold wrote.
Legg said he hoped to avoid litigation by getting an independent interpretation. It’s unclear whether the Attorney General’s Office would accept the request.
