Although Florida’s public school districts are excluded from a major property tax reduction on the ballot this November, called Amendment 3, school districts are still poised to feel substantial financial impacts through the slashing of funds for children’s services like after-school programs, which are financed by special taxing districts and local governments. 

State lawmakers carved public school districts out of Amendment 3’s proposed property-tax reduction, in part after hearing concerns from educators and schools officials about its potential budgetary impacts. Nonetheless, school districts will experience an indirect financial squeeze because programs like summer camps are often funded by agencies that would be affected if voters approve the amendment.

School districts across the state work with children’s services councils, special taxing districts that supply programs to support local children and families. The taxing districts fund or partner with local organizations to provide before and after school programs to students, which are often housed in public school buildings.

Children’s services, which are primarily funded through property taxes, are not listed among the core services within the Amendment 3 ballot language, leaving all councils across the state at risk of losing nearly $100 million by the 2027-2028 fiscal year according to a report from the Florida Policy Institute.

This would leave those taxing districts scrambling to continue providing the same level of services to local schools, or it could force districts to absorb some of the costs of running those programs themselves, passing on heavier fees to families. 

 Leaders of these taxing districts could be forced to make agonizing choices. The Children’s Services Council of Broward County estimates it would lose $17 million in the first year if Amendment 3 passes, which would require a major shifting of priorities.

“Do I cut food programs because arguably, is that primarily our job? Is it the program for the kid with special needs, who now gets to have a great summer experience? Is it the nurse in the school that has helped that child deal with their headache and go back to class, so they’re not missing another day? These are the decisions we’ll have to make,” said Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, president and CEO of the Children’s Services Council of Broward County.

Not every Florida county has special taxing districts that finance those programs. In those places, like Duval County, after-school programs would have to compete for general fund money from their respective local governments, which would face major financial strain due to Amendment 3.  

Jacksonville’s Kids Hope Alliance, which funds early learning, out-of-school programs and juvenile justice diversion for Duval County children, requires annual funding directly from the city’s general fund budget to finance most of its programs as a dependent agency. 

With the city of Jacksonville projected to lose $200 million in property tax revenue by next year’s budget cycle if Amendment 3 passes, it would prove difficult to continue to provide children’s services at the same capacity if local government does not continue to underwrite programming, local officials said. 

Only 7% of the agency’s nearly $60 million budget is made up from grants outside of the city’s budget.

“I don’t know that we would necessarily even be able to keep the grant money because we wouldn’t have anyone here to administer the grants.
And I’m not saying that they would reduce all of the services, but there’s no way that we could continue services the way that they are,” Dana Kriznar, former CEO of the Kids Hope Alliance said.

In addition to providing health and nutritional services to aid children such as paying for nurses in public schools and afterschool meal programs, Duval County Public Schools rely on partnerships with KHA to help bolster educational outcomes outside the classroom.

“Our before and after school programs at our schools where it’s fee based and our programs at our other schools where KHA is such a helpful partner, they’re critical to our success. There’s tutoring after school. There’s playtime after school…It’s amazing to see the environment that’s created after school so that students are able to not only seek opportunities like a chess club, but also get help with homework,” said Duval County Superintendent Christopher Bernier.

‘Very tough decisions’

Were Amendment 3 to pass, children’s services councils would have to lean on other revenue sources to continue operating – or significantly reduce programming. The Children’s Services Council of Leon County, which approved roughly $9 million in spending this fiscal year, could experience a loss of up to $2 million in funds by the next budgeting cycle, almost a third of the agency’s overall budget. 

“… That means our council will have to make some very tough decisions for that next fiscal year. And it would mean a reduction in programs. It could mean a reduction in capacity. What I can tell you is you can’t operate or fund at a level that you don’t have,” said Cecka Rose Green, executive director of Leon County’s children’s council. 

As Broward County Public Schools reach record-low enrollment alongside other major metropolitan districts across the state, school districts have a limited bandwidth to supplement the work of the councils. 

“Will the school district pick them up? I don’t see how,” Arenberg Seltzer, the Broward County’s children’s council CEO, said.

Children’s services take a preventative approach that not only increases academic performance but also keeps children from entering the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

“That saves taxpayer dollars, money in the long run. And so, in the work that we do, solely focused on prevention. While it is a little bit of money out front as part of your ad valorem taxes, it saves a lot of taxpayer dollars down the road by not having to pay for these deeper end interventions that are quite costly,”  Michele Watson said, CEO of the Florida Alliance of Children’s Councils and Trusts.

Billions in value

For public school districts, the value of after and before school programs reaches beyond test scores and homework.

“It’s a combination of both helping the academic side, but also providing students with a safe place to be, staying out of unsupervised situations, and giving, quite honestly, parents’ peace of mind,” Bernier said. 

A study commissioned by the CSC of Broward County found that its programming was worth nearly $6 billion in economic value for Broward County over the past 11 years in the form of improved educational and community health outcomes and reduced involvement in the criminal justice and child welfare systems.

While Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan says she is dedicated to prioritizing children’s services, the city council’s commitment to preserving funding for the Kids Hope Alliance remains unclear. The fights over spending in a vastly reduced budget would put far more pressure on KHA leaders.

“These cuts mean kids will be left adrift because we’ll have to cut afterschool, summer camp, and literacy initiatives. More families will face eviction and higher health care costs. The decision before us in November: what kind of city do we want to be,” Deegan said in a statement.

Trinity Webster-Bass covers education for The Florida Trib. You can reach her at trinity.webster-bass@floridatrib.org.