Key Senator ties charter funding, tax proposal By News Service of Florida Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Lawmakers need to give school districts authority to increase property taxes that fund construction projects in tandem with a bill requiring those funds to be shared with charter schools, a key Senate budget writer said Wednesday.
The Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved the charter-school measure on a 7-1 vote. But even some Republican supporters of the bill expressed concern about its effects on districts’ ability to keep up with obligations tied to traditional public schools.
Sen. David Simmons, the Altamonte Springs Republican who chairs the panel, said he still intends to move forward with an initiative that would allow districts to increase construction-related property taxes and that approving one proposal without the other could be dangerous.