Orange school leaders argue for sales-tax extension
A half-penny sales tax that has paid for school construction in Orange County for 12 years is running out, and school officials will be asking voters next year to extend it for a still-undecided number of years.
Leading the effort, as he did in 2002, is consultant and former Democratic legislator Dick Batchelor. Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette and Batchelor recently sat down to explain why they're going back to the voters.
Q: Why should taxpayers extend this tax?
Sublette: I think the taxpayers have really received a great return on their investment. Our schools' performance as measured by the state has trended up dramatically over the last 11 years. And I always point out to folks that there is a correlation between the quality of the facility a child goes to school in and what goes on within the school.
Batchelor: For the community itself, having a high-quality public school system is a driver. It's extremely important. Having schools that are safe and secure and compatible with learning is extremely important.
Sublette: I believe fervently, with every fiber of my being, that the quality of a community's schools is a reflection of what that community values. We're not asking for a tax increase, we're asking for simply the continued investment of this community in the future of our children and our public schools.
Q: Forty-two of the 136 schools voters were promised in 2002 were never completed, and the facilities department has had problems. Why should voters entrust Orange schools with this money?
Batchelor: As someone who has volunteered again to chair this effort, I'm confident that the changes have been made that needed to be made. I'm very confident to go out and face the public again and ask them for their support, and I think we can explain to them in great detail why we need the money.
Sublette: I don't dispute at all that there have historically been problems in the facilities department. We've gone and cleaned house in that department in the last two years, and that's why they haven't brought up any issues in our facilities department for over two years now.
We've tried to be good stewards of the money. I hope the voters would agree we've done a good job maintaining those newly renovated schools. One of the wise decisions that Dick made in back in 2002 was he insisted on a Construction Oversight and Value Committee. That group has been a wonderful check in oversight on the facilities program. We intend to continue that.
Q: Why wasn't the original list finished?
Sublette: Of course there was the recession, with the plummeting property tax values and the skyrocketing of construction material costs before the economy plummeted. One of the things that never gets mentioned is the class size amendment. [It] dramatically impacted our ability to renovate all the schools that we needed to renovate because it added to our facility space needs.
Q: If approved, what will voters get for their money?
Sublette: The board has made a policy decision that we are going to first finish out the original 2002 list. The sales-tax extension will allow us to finish the other 42 schools that we do not have funding for. We think that's an important compact we made with the voters in Orange County in 2002.
Whether there will be a list that we have to adhere to beyond those 42 schools ... no, there will not. But it's important for the voters to understand that we cannot ask for a tax to fund more than what our shown needs are. So although we will not have a list that we adhere to as far as the exact order, we do have to list the schools that will be renovated with the new sales-tax money. We will be leaving ourselves flexibility to shuffle schools once we get through the original list.
Also, unlike 2002, we'll be using the extension of the sales-tax money to build relief schools to relieve overcrowding at current schools.
Q: Would the sales-tax money be used for any projects other than construction?
Sublette: It will also fund bringing our schools up to the 21st century when it comes to technology. And if we want to compete, not only in the state of Florida, but nationally, we've got to have a technologically adept population, one that is digitally literate.
Another aspect the sales-tax extension will fund would be the continued hardening and securitization of our school facilities. When we build schools now, we renovate them to have secure, limited points of access ... in other words, facilities that are much easier to secure and make safer for our children.
Q: How are you selling this to the community?
Batchelor: We have 94 case examples of improved schools, some totally rebuilt schools [as] poster children for the campaign. One of the other advantages of that sales tax was it was a great economic stimulator.
We made an effort then, and we'll make an extraordinary effort now, to involve everyone in the community in this campaign. The Orange County president of PTA is our secretary. We've reached out to homeowners associations, the Hispanic chamber, to the Haitian chamber. I don't think we can identify a group that will not be involved in this campaign.
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