Higher property taxes or teacher pay? At Tampa forum, not much debate.

TAMPA — For supporters of a real estate tax to boost teacher pay in Hillsborough County, Friday’s Tiger Bay Club forum was a chance to fine-tune talking points.

Panelists described South Hillsborough teachers who commute to Manatee and Sarasota counties for higher pay. They described students who are not prepared for Advanced Placement exams because their teachers quit midyear.

But guests who came to hear a robust debate on a question that will be on the November ballot were disappointed. There were four panelists in favor of the tax and just one — Temple Terrace City Council member Alison Fernandez — against it.

Fernandez called on the school district to perform “a full and comprehensive financial analysis to find where you are spending on redundant contracts … where you have superfluous administration downtown, and where you are staffing schools in the wrong locations before I would ever agree to a new tax.”

While not denying there is waste, panelist Damaris Allen, a public schools advocate, said the tax has the potential to raise $177 million a year. “I challenge anyone who has an idea of where you can find $177 million,” she said, to step forward.

The district has proposed a tax of $1 per every $1,000 in assessed property value in the kind of arrangement that already exists in most large Florida districts. Early plans call for more than 90% of the money to go toward pay supplements: $6,000 a year for teachers and administrators, $3,000 for support employees, including bus drivers.

A similar referendum was narrowly defeated in 2022.

Meanwhile, teachers union president Rob Kriete said there are more than 1,000 instructional vacancies. District officials said they are focusing on closer to 400 positions based on projected student enrollment. But they have been very clear about their struggle to compete with Pinellas, Pasco, Orange and other counties at a time when fewer adults are entering education as a career.

Audience members asked the panelists how voters should chose between the schools tax and the county’s community investment sales tax, which includes some money for school construction, and will be on the same ballot.

“I would just say, vote for the kids,” said Kim Huff, executive director of the Hillsborough Association of School Administrators. “The children are our future. I know that’s overused, but it’s true.”

They were asked how growing use of state-funded charter schools and private school vouchers might affect chances of the tax’s passage. Fernandez said that even though state law allows charter schools to share in school tax proceeds, she believes many charter school families will vote against the tax because “their children’s educational needs are served outside of the traditional public school system.”

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When the supporters were asked how they will sell the tax to residents who do not have children, Chris Taylor, president of the Hillsborough Education Foundation, said “there is nothing more important to a community than student success,” and the benefits include higher property values.

Andy Scaglione, a real estate investor in the audience, said the district used “bad timing” in proposing the tax at the same time as the county’s campaign for a capital tax, which he said is crucial for the county.

“This will hurt affordable housing,” he said. “Landlords are going to pass it along to the renters and people are going to be hit with an additional bill.”

Scaglione also said he was disappointed that there was so little balance on the panel.

“That’s just not good practice,” he said.

Tiger Bay Club President Lee Lowry said her organization tried to build a more diverse panel, but could not find more speakers who opposed the tax.

The four supporters, meanwhile, are part of a larger network who have been meeting in recent months to formulate a campaign. Kriete is hoping the union and district can reach a pay agreement soon, making it easier to work together on the tax question.

“There’s never a good time to put a new roof on a house,” he said. “We understand that asking the community to do this at this time is a stretch. It’s difficult. But it’s necessary.”