Palm Beach County Teacher Pay Is on the Nov. 3 Ballot in a One-Mill Referendum Renewal

Palm Beach County voters will decide on Tuesday, Nov. 3, whether the School District of Palm Beach County keeps a funding source it has used since 2019. The Palm Beach Post, in reporting read in full this cycle, said the referendum would renew an existing one-mill ad valorem levy and would not be a new tax, according to the district's website. One mill is one dollar per $1,000 of assessed value.

According to the district's website as reported by the Post, 50 percent of the funding goes to supplementing teacher pay to attract and retain educators, 25 percent funds more than 900 teachers in arts, music and specialized academies, and 25 percent goes toward school police, security staff and mental health professionals. The district says the funding provides salary supplements that average $8,000 per year to teachers, and that without it teachers would face a pay cut and more than 900 teaching positions would be eliminated.

The ballot language, as published from the district's website, asks whether the district shall have continued authority to levy 1.00 mill for operational needs of public schools dedicated to funding school safety, school police, mental health services, arts, music, physical education, career and choice program teachers, and improved teacher pay, beginning July 1, 2027 and automatically ending June 30, 2031, with oversight by an independent committee of citizens and experts. Early voting in Palm Beach County runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.