Voters approve extension of half-penny sales tax for schools in Orange
Orange County voters on Tuesday agreed to pay for 10 more years of school construction and renovation, continuing a half-penny sales tax that has been in place for more than a decade.
Voters also cast ballots in School Board races across Central Florida, and in Orange County, incumbent Joie Cadle led teacher Joshua Katz by fewer than 100 votes.
With all precincts reporting, 64 percent of voters supported extending the sales tax, which first passed in 2002. The $2 billion it is expected to raise will be used to replace or refurbish 59 schools and upgrade technology.
"Our voters want to do right by our children, and they have done that," said Dick Batchelor, a consultant who headed this year's Change 4 Kids campaign in support of the tax, as well as the original initiative 12 years ago.
The tax money will repair or replace schools including Union Park Elementary; the four county tech schools; and Boone, Colonial and Winter Park high schools. District Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said Tuesday that she is "thrilled beyond words," and School Board Chairman Bill Sublette said the vote is evidence that "voters trust us to finish the job we started."
But Marcus Robinson, an activist concerned that the district did not renovate Richmond Heights Elementary, said he thinks the vote just means residents are misinformed.
"This is not over," he said, vowing to fight district efforts to extend a 1-mill property tax, which will be on November's ballot.
Because of Tuesday's vote, the total sales tax in Orange will remain at 6.5 percent.
Nearly 40 of the projects that will be funded by the tax extension were among 136 the School Board first promised to voters in 2002. The current tax, which runs out in 2015, will pay for the construction or renovation of 94 schools.
School officials blamed the economic downturn, overestimates of tax proceeds and increased construction costs for the shortfall. The construction department was also the subject of several critical audits that found waste and mismanagement. As a result, the district's chief facilities officer was replaced nearly four years ago.
School officials said construction would have been sharply curtailed without the extension of the tax.