Sarasota and Manatee County voters approved a property tax increase that’s expected to go a long way toward making schools safer.
The tax will generate $33 million dollars each year for Manatee County schools and $56 million for schools in Sarasota.
The money will primarily go toward salaries for teachers and support staff, but it will also be used to hire additional campus monitors to help school resource officers. It’s expected to free up funds to hire 22 more SROs.
“Our new dollars come to us by way of the referendum, there just aren’t a lot of new dollars that are coming to us from the state…That’s really the funding source that we use for any new initiative to include safety and security,” explained Sarasota Schools Superintendent Dr. Todd Bowden. “They [school resource officers] are unarmed, they’re eyes and ears, they circulate our campuses, they help regulate the coming and going of visitors….They’re the ones that can tell you- I’m not sure that individual belongs on our campus.”
In Manatee County, the property tax money will help teacher salaries remain competitive with other counties. But they’re focused on security as well.
“It does help in knowing we had a strong fund balance ending last year and we believe we’ll have a strong fund balance at the end of this year,” said Manatee Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene. “I want our students to feel safe at school and I want their parents to know they are safe at school.”
Manatee County still needs $1.4 million to keep SROs in every school by fall. This tax money will help them reach that goal.
“When parents drive up and drop their children off and they see a law enforcement officer, it immediately gives you a sense of comfort that my child is being protected,” said Dr. Greene.
The extra money will also allow both counties to free up funds to provide for campus security upgrades and improved surveillance systems.
