Wesley Chapel homeowners with a $300,000 assessed home would pay about $275 a year under the school tax renewal on Tuesday's ballot.

That figure accounts for the $25,000 homestead exemption that applies to school taxes, according to Pasco Community, which broke down the math ahead of the Nov. 3 vote. A homeowner's school-taxable value, not the home's market price, determines the cost.

The charge is not new. Pasco County Schools is asking voters to continue an existing one-mill levy, equal to $1 for every $1,000 of school-taxable property value, for four more years starting July 1, 2027. The current authorization expires June 30, 2027.

Voters first approved the millage on Aug. 23, 2022. Florida law limits this type of voter-approved operating levy to four years, so the district must return to the ballot to keep collecting it.

What the money pays for

The levy generates about $60 million a year to supplement salaries for non-administrative employees, according to the district's referendum FAQ. Teachers, bus drivers, instructional assistants, custodial workers and food-service employees are among the intended beneficiaries, according to the district's financial information page. A smaller share would fund school safety personnel.

The district's 2026–2027 budget projects approximately $67.8 million in revenue from the one-mill levy for the current fiscal year.

The district says employees would face an approximate 12% salary reduction without renewal and that other funding cannot replace the revenue. That projection is the district's own assessment. The ballot itself does not mandate a specific pay cut.

How the math works

One mill means $1 per $1,000 of school-taxable value. But school-taxable value is not the same as a home's purchase price or its full assessed value.

Under Florida's property-tax system, assessment limitations can reduce assessed value below market value. The first $25,000 homestead exemption applies to school taxes, but the additional homestead exemption that lowers other property taxes does not apply to school levies.

So a home assessed at $300,000 with the standard homestead exemption would carry $275,000 in school-taxable value. At one mill, this levy would cost $275 a year. A property with $200,000 in school-taxable value would pay $200. One with $400,000 in taxable value would pay $400.

If the renewal passes, the rate stays the same. But the dollar amount can still rise if a home's taxable value increases.

Competing views on results

Salary Referendum Oversight Committee Chair Robb Sercu told the school board at its Oct. 20 meeting that the 2022 levy delivered on its promises, as first reported by the Hernando Sun. Sercu said classroom vacancies on the first day of school fell from 296 three years ago to 53 and that the district's fill rate is above 99%.

He said the starting teacher salary rose to $51,000 for 2025 and that hourly workers received raises of $1.15 to $4.65 an hour.

Bus driver Colette Esselbach disputed that picture during public comment at the same meeting. She said operations staff told drivers that incentives are gone and the $2.15-per-hour referendum increase would go with them. She called the average $35,000 annual bus driver salary uncompetitive.

District spokesperson Jessica Meek told the Hernando Sun that drivers face no salary reduction for 2026–2027 and that the $2.15 per hour is the minimum additional pay bus drivers receive through the referendum. The district has proposed continuing the incentive program with the same amounts and criteria as the prior year, Meek said, though the plan requires union agreement.

What's on the ballot

The school question appears on the second page of the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections' sample ballot. A yes vote continues the levy through June 30, 2031. A no vote ends it when the current authorization expires in June 2027.

The measure is separate from the Penny for Pasco sales tax, which funds school construction and capital needs. Those dollars cannot legally be used for salaries or safety personnel, the district says.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3.