Escambia School Board seeks to put half-cent sales tax renewal on November ballot

The Escambia County School Board is asking county commissioners to put the renewal of the half-cent sales tax on the November ballot.

The half-cent sales tax, levied by the school board, generates roughly $40 million a year and funds construction and improvement of schools, including technology infrastructure.

The Escambia County School Board passed a resolution last month to continue to levy the one-half cent School Capital Outlay Sales Surtax. Without the additional revenue, district staff say they would be stretched to keep school facilities and campuses up to date.

“The tax goes directly to help improve and build new facilities,” said Keith Wasdin, director of facilities planning for the Escambia County School District. “It's across every demographic that we have. If we did not have the half cent sales tax, we would be so hamstrung that we would literally not be able to maintain and renovate the buildings we currently have because we get no money from the state to do this.”

How is the one-half cent sales tax spent?

In the past several years, Wasdin said the school district has built six schools using the sales tax dollars including Pleasant Grove Elementary, Global Learning Academy, Kingsfield Elementary, and Beulah Middle School.

The district also moved and renovated West Florida High School, renovated OJ Semmes Elementary, is in the process of remodeling Pensacola High School.

Myrtle Grove Elementary School is also being replaced. The old school, built in 1938, was recently demolished to make way for the new, red brick schoolhouse, which will include updated technology and ADA compliant playgrounds, like other Escambia County schools.

Much of the money spent to improve facilities goes into technology, like upgrading infrastructure, using fiber instead of copper wiring, Wi-Fi, and wireless, remote access.

“We've gone from chalkboards to whiteboards to smart boards,” said Wasdin. “They had projectors and now we're using 60-to-70-inch televisions to do their lessons. It's a lot of evolution over a relative quick length of time. Some of the elementary schools we've built have interactive panels so they can walk up and touch the screen and move things around.”

Wasdin said the sales tax revenue also provides funding in the event of an emergency. For example, after Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004, the district had about $90 million in damage. Tax revenue monies allowed the district to make repairs and get students back in school quickly while they waited for reimbursement.

Similar repairs were made after Hurricane Sally in 2020, which forced schools to close for just three days, Wasdin said.

How long has Escambia County had the one-half cent sales tax?

The one-half cent sales tax was first approved by Escambia County voters in 1997 for a period of five years that was later extended to 10 years. It has been renewed several times since.

When it was initially passed, Wasdin said it generated about $6.5 million to $7 million a year. That amount has now grown to between $38 million and $42 million a year. More information about the one-half cent sales tax and the projects it funds is available at the Escambia Cpunty school district's website.

Each time the sales tax is up for renewal it must be passed by a majority of Escambia County voters in a general election. If voters approve the latest renewal the tax would not take effect until 2028, but Wasdin said the school district wants to get it on the ballot early enough to address any issues should it not pass and run it on the ballot again.

The next general election is Nov. 5.

The request to put the renewal of the one-half cent sales on the ballot is on the agenda for the next meeting of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners. That meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 21, at the Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place. Public forum begins at 9 a.m. and the general meeting starts at 9:30 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia School Board wants half cent sales tax renewal on Nov. ballot