MIAMI (WSVN) - Local city officials and elected leaders met with voters to persuade them to vote yes on a referendum that they said would benefit educators and students.
When voters hit the ballot boxes next month, they will be met with Referendum 362. The initiative would increase property taxes then allocate the funds toward teacher’s salaries and improved school security.
“We care about our children, we care about our teachers and we want the best for them,” said Gepsie Metellus with Secure Our Future Miami.
The property tax would bring in $232 million each year, for the next four years. Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said about 80 to 90 percent of the funds it brings would go toward increasing teacher pay, and the rest going toward security.
“With these funds, Miami-Dade County Public Schools will be able to place trained school officers permanently at all public schools,” said Secure Our Future’s Tony Argiz.
Carvalho helped voters paint a picture of the low-cost investment they’d be making by voting yes.
“Thirty-nine cents a day for the average taxpayer in our community,” he said. “That’s $3 a week, that’s $12 a month to dignify, to honor and compensate adequately teachers in Miami-Dade.”
The tax increase would translate to roughly $142 a year for the typical homeowner. Carvalho said he often gets asked if there are any other options.
“We’ve gone to Tallahassee to try to get more money,” Carvalho said. “The truth of the matter is that funding levels in Miami-Dade today are still what they were before the recession begun. That’s just not right.”
If the referendum is passed, it would not be permanent. Voters would have to weigh in on it again in four years.
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