During a special meeting on Thursay, the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) voted to accept a recommendation by interim Superintendent Kamela Patton to advertise the preliminary budget and millage rate for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The total proposed Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) budget for FY 2025-26 is set at $585,136,199. This includes $345 million for the general fund, $46 million for special revenue, $8.9 million for debt service, $130 million for capital projects and $52 million for internal service.
If the budget stays unchanged, it represents a $27.6 million reduction from last year’s final budget.
Vice Chair Tina Certain pointed out that this is the district’s first year without ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds, which the federal government offered to schools as part of COVID-19 relief packages to address impacts on elementary and secondary schools.
Certain said this is also the second year that they’ve had the universal vouchers.
“That is impacting every school district across the country, not just with lower enrollments, but that’s also translating into fewer dollars through us in revenue from the state,” she said.
Certain also noted that the school district is having to deal with the “empowerment” or the federal funding freeze of title grants.
“We haven’t gotten any feedback on how that’s going to affect us,” she said.
For property taxes, ACPS has five separate components that add together to create its overall millage rate.
The current budget breakdown includes $81,398,117 in required local effort (RLE), $27,105,600 in voter referendum, $20,274,989 in discretionary and $40,658,400 in discretionary local capital improvement—equaling a total revenue of $169,437,106.
The RLE is proposed to be 3.003 mills, voter referendum (last approved in 2024) at 1 mill, discretionary at 0.7480 mills and discretionary local capital improvement at 1.5 mills. The total proposed rate would come to 6.251 mills.
The proposed 6.251 rate is less than the 2024 rate of 6.261 mills. But the proposed rate is 2.4% more than the rolled-back rate of 6.237, meaning the school district is considered to have a tax increase. Even with a lower rate, higher property values mean the school district will generate more income.
A consultant for ACPS is expected to verify whether the total proposed millage rate is in fact 2.4% greater than the rolled-back rate. Regardless, school officials noted during the meeting that there will be a tax hike.
Board Chair Sarah Rockwell, who attended Thursday’s meeting via Zoom, said she had received several emails from community members urging the board not to increase taxes.
Rockwell said that the school district doesn’t decide its millage rates, adding that this is set by the state, and the school board votes to approve it.
Rockwell also said that even though the proposed advertisement will say it’s a tax rise, it’s an increase “on the total revenue based on changes in property values on the total tax roll.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, the board will move toward adopting a tentative budget and finalized millage. A public hearing is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 31, inside the ACPS District Office Board Room (620 E. University Ave., Gainesville).
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News.