By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Due to lower assessed values, the Osceola County School District will collect about $25.1 million less in property taxes this fiscal year than it did last year.

The district’s 2010-11 budget is still $13 million more this year compared to last year: $847 million versus $834 million. The Osceola County School Board approved the budget Sept.7 for the fiscal year, which started July 1. The district is able to offset some of the lost tax revenue with federal funding.

Since the 2008-09 school year, the district has collected more than $53.5 million less in taxes due to falling property values, causing district officials to make deep cuts wherever possible.

“We're trying to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,” Dana Schafer, community relations director for the School District, said. “We're trying as hard as we can not to impact daily instruction for teachers and kids.”

While the majority of cuts were done last year, this year, so far, 125 teachers had to be hired to fulfill the class size requirements of fewer students per classroom.

Furthermore, the School Board also approved adding three discretionary taxes to the overall millage, bringing the total rate to 7.7150, or $771.50 per $100,000 of assessed value. Despite the increase, the district expects to collect 16 percent less in taxes for the coming fiscal year.

While there is an increase in millage from last year, many homeowners could see smaller tax bills because their property value went down, William Collins, the district’s chief business and finance officer, said.

The additional millage totals 2.498 mills; the board approved one of the millage rates, worth 0.250, by a super-majority and it can last only two years. It is the last year this millage can be implemented without a referendum and the School Board chose not to include it on November's ballot.

The other two millage rates are set by the legislature each year and the board can approve to implement them each fiscal year.

The district has seen some additional funding sources this year. About $29 million  in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money went into the general fund, of which the district can use $18 million freely. The remaining $11 million is part of the Education Jobs Funds Program, which must go toward salaries and benefits for school-level personnel and support staff.

“We've squeezed,” Collins said. “The state made up part of the difference but we've made substantial budget cuts.”

The federal stimulus funds are short-lived. Next year, the district will not see $36 million in ARRA money and other funding.

“We're not going to hire a bunch of people for a year or offer raises we can't sustain,” Collins said.

Raises were not offered for any district staff two years ago and only teachers were offered raises last year, according to Collins.

The district will receive roughly $5.7 million over four years as its part of the $700 million awarded to the state as part of the Race to the Top federal grant competition.

The district is working with the Osceola Classroom Teachers Association to design a detailed plan that will be submitted to the Department of Education, specifying where and how the funds would be used.

“We're just in the early planning. Race to the Top is going to require us to keep a lot more data on students,” Collins said.