Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Ask Voters to Renew School Tax That Funds Teacher Pay

Voters in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will decide on Nov. 3 whether to renew the one-mill property tax that pays for teacher salary supplements, school police and mental health staff in Florida's three largest school districts. Together the levies raise well over $1 billion a year, and superintendents warn that losing them would mean steep cuts to teacher pay and, in Palm Beach County, hundreds of teaching jobs.

The renewals have passed comfortably before, but district leaders are worried about a new complication this year: Amendment 3, the statewide constitutional amendment that would sharply raise homestead exemptions on non-school property taxes. School officials fear voters intent on cutting property taxes could vote against the school levies by mistake, according to WLRN.

Three districts, one ask

Each district is asking voters to continue an existing one-mill levy, or $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value, for four more years. District officials stress that the measures are renewals at the same rate, not new taxes. The key details by district:

All three measures need a simple majority to pass. Florida law limits voter-approved school operating levies to four years, which is why the districts return to the ballot on a regular cycle. Charter schools share in the proceeds in all three counties.

Miami-Dade: teacher pay on the line

Miami-Dade County Public Schools estimates the renewed levy would raise about $585 million a year, according to a school board resolution, at a cost of less than $316 a year, or 86 cents a day, for the typical homeowner. The current referendum money, which expires June 30, 2027, goes 88% to teacher salaries and 12% to school safety. When voters first approved the tax in 2018, it generated about $232 million a year, according to WLRN.

District officials estimate the system could lose about $500 million if the measure fails, and that average teacher salaries could fall from $73,030 to $57,814, a drop of roughly $15,000 a year. Superintendent Rafael Villalobos, who took over the district in September, warned that the county's high cost of living would make recruiting harder without the supplements. "You won't be able to attract more teachers just because of the cost of living in Miami-Dade County," he said, according to WLRN. A political action committee, Secure Our Future, is campaigning for the measure.

Broward: Secure the Next Generation

Broward County Public Schools' measure, called the Secure the Next Generation referendum, appears on the ballot as School Board Question 1. The district says it raises about $358 million a year, including $283 million for district-operated schools and $75 million for charter schools.

Under the current allocation, about 75% of the money pays compensation supplements for teachers and support staff, including security, paraprofessionals, maintenance, food service, transportation and clerical workers. About 17% funds roughly 393 safety and security positions, including school resource officers and armed safety officers, and about 8% funds roughly 224 mental health positions such as counselors, psychologists and social workers. If renewed, the district plans to devote 90% or more to compensation supplements, with up to 10% for safety and mental health programs. About 13,400 teachers receive the supplements, according to WLRN.

The district estimates the levy costs the average homeowner, with a market value of about $652,756 and a school taxable value of $417,877, about $418 a year, or $35 a month. The average condo owner pays about $230 a year. The stakes are sharpened by the district's tight budget: Broward's 2026-27 budget includes no teacher raises because of a shortfall.

Broward voters approved the current levy in August 2022, when the district asked to raise the rate from half a mill to one mill. School board member Rebecca Thompson said the district's role is limited to informing voters, telling WLRN the district is "here to educate" rather than advocate for the referendum. Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said families "want their teachers to not have to work two and three jobs."

Palm Beach: 900 jobs at risk

The School District of Palm Beach County's levy raised $361.4 million in fiscal 2026, with $42.1 million going to charter schools, according to WLRN. The district says half the money pays teacher supplements averaging $8,000 a year, a quarter funds more than 900 teachers in arts, music, physical education and specialized career and choice academies, and a quarter pays for school police, security staff and mental health professionals. An independent citizens oversight committee reviews spending against the ballot language.

Supplements are tied to experience, ranging from $1,000 after a teacher's first year to $5,000 for five to nine years and $10,000 for 10 or more, according to WPTV. For a home with $300,000 in taxable value, the levy costs about $25 a month.

Superintendent Mike Burke said that if the measure fails, about 900 choice-program teachers would lose their jobs and teacher pay would drop by about $8,000 a year. He called that outcome "like a doomsday scenario," according to WLRN, while adding that he does not tell people how to vote. Burke has said Palm Beach County ranks 46th nationally in education funding and that the referendum moves it to the mid-30s.

Palm Beach voters have backed the tax twice: 72% approved it in 2018, and 74% voted to renew it in 2022.

The Amendment 3 problem

The school measures share the ballot with Amendment 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments after that, and cut the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. It would not change school property taxes or the $25,000 homestead exemption that applies to them. As a constitutional amendment, it needs 60% of the vote to pass.

Because the school levies and Amendment 3 both deal with property taxes, education leaders worry that voters who support cutting property taxes might also vote down the school renewals, or assume one measure cancels the other. WLRN reported that the concern is shared across all three districts. Amendment 3 has drawn opposition from city and county governments and public safety groups, and its ballot title and summary were revised after a Leon County circuit judge found parts of the original wording misleading.

Florida's funding context

District leaders say the local levies help close a gap with other states. Florida spends about $13,487 per student, compared with a national average of $17,619, placing it among the bottom 10 states, according to figures cited by WLRN. In South Florida, where housing costs are among the highest in the state, superintendents describe the supplements as essential to keeping teachers from leaving for other districts or other careers.

What's next

Early voting runs through Nov. 1 in Miami-Dade, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. If the renewals pass, the levies continue without a change in rate, starting in 2027. If they fail, the current funding expires in mid-2027 in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach and at the end of 2026 in Broward, and the districts would have to rebuild their 2027-28 budgets without the money.