FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A proposed referendum on the November ballot to increase taxes went up for discussion Tuesday at the Broward County School Board. The head of the teachers union is pushing for the money to be used to raise teachers’ pay.

“Budget better,” teachers’ union head Anna Fusco said. “Budget properly.”

The referendum isn’t a done deal. If the board moves forward, it could appear on voters’ ballots in November.

“I think it was a great conversation to see where all the board members sat,” board member Debbi Hixon said. “Ultimately, I think the discussion was (that) we need some more information.”

Everyone on the board agreed that teachers should be better compensated. They discussed Tuesday how to slice up that hypothetical referendum pie.

“(We have) 12,600 teachers now,” Fusco said. “We started in July with 13,700. Do the math.”

Fusco argued that school staff pay raises do not translate to funding cuts to other vital services.

Some board members say the money should be spent solely on raises for school staff. Others say at least 75% should go to raises, and the remaining quarter divvied up to services such as mental health and school safety.

“There are those of us that really want to pay school-based educators with the money that comes from the community and use state and federal dollars to do the things that we want to fund forever,” said board member Allen Zeman.

Regardless of how district leaders decide to allocate the money, first, they need to get the money. That could be in the hands of Broward voters in November.

“It’s really important, though, for our community to know how important passing this referendum is,” Hixon said. “That it is for our teachers, it is for our staff that directly impact our students.”

District leaders are asking for more community input and feedback. They plan to take up the issue again in their meeting on April 21.

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