Referendum Information

Referendum To Approve Levying One Mill For Teachers, Safety, Mental Health, And Operational Needs

In order to raise the salaries of teachers and educational support staff, recruit and retain highly qualified teachers, improve school security, improve mental health services, and fund other essential operations that preserve important school programs, shall the St. Lucie County School District levy an ad valorem annual operating millage of one mill for four years, with all funds reviewed by a citizens advisory committee?

YES = FOR additional one mill for School District for four years

NO = AGAINST additional one mill for School District for four years

The District and the Education Association of St. Lucie Negotiations Teams collaboratively reached an agreement for the utilization of referendum funds earmarked for teacher salaries. In this agreement, the Board and the Education Association of St. Lucie agreed to a four-year provision for all eligible teachers (including new hires) to receive a Referendum Recruitment and Retention Annual Supplement beginning with the 2019-2020 school year.

Negotiated 2021-22 amounts are as follows:

• Beginning Teachers = $1000
• 1-5 years eligible experience = $2000
• 6-9 years eligible experience = $5000
• 10 years + eligible experience = $7800

This supplement is part of the regularly scheduled paychecks, and it also applies to the FRS contribution. Both newly hired and returning certified teachers with verifiable experience are eligible.

Funds a School Resource Officer on every campus, two on each high school campus.

• Supports additional efforts by the district to address the mental health needs of children.
• Funds 6 additional social workers bringing the district total to 20.
• Funds 4 behavior specialists.
• Funds 10 behavior technicians (2 open positions to be hired).
• Funds 3 Certified School Counselors.

1)  A dollar value was assigned to each program/course for every school.  For example, more dollars were allocated for a high school band student than for a middle school student taking an art course.  Considerations were made for instrumentation, refurbishment, uniforms requirements, cost of materials, etc.  A committee distributed the allocation across schools and levels to ensure fairness and equity.

2)  Schools were then allocated based on the enrollments in the various programs.  Schools with high enrollments in the fine arts (especially ones more costly to operate) received more proportional dollars.