LARGO - The Pinellas County School Board agreed Thursday that 80 percent of the money generated by a proposed property tax increase should be used to increase teacher salaries.
The rest would be earmarked for art, music, reading and technology programs.
The consensus came one day after Bill Heller, a civic leader and special education professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, agreed to lead a campaign to pass the tax referendum, which is on the Nov. 2 ballot.
If approved, the measure would increase the district's tax rate by 50 cents on every $1,000 of taxable value. That is expected to generate $26-million a year, or $20.8-million for teacher salaries and $5.2-million to help preserve programs.
"I think that's a good way to go," board member Linda Lerner said. "That's what the needs are today."
The district would try to use as much of the money as possible on one-time expenses, and would review spending each year. Incoming Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said he would produce quarterly reports on referendum expenditures.
The School Board identified several groups it would like to see represented on an oversight committee that would monitor spending of the tax revenue. They include area chambers of commerce, colleges and universities and the Pinellas Education Foundation.
The board told Wilcox and current Superintendent Howard Hinesley to come back Tuesday with parameters for how much the district should invest in the campaign.
Board members said they want the district to show the public why the money is needed and how it would be spent, and to provide specific data to those who request it.
Board members said they don't want schoolchildren bringing fliers home to their parents, or the district using its e-mail capabilities to blanket the county with messages. They called such practices inappropriate.
