Governor DeSantis hammers Hillsborough County School District: 'You do not need to raise anybody's taxes'
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded off Wednesday on the Hillsborough County School District's attempts to put a referendum on the ballot that asks voters to approve a property tax hike to increase teacher salaries.
The governor, who spoke about the issue following an unrelated education news conference at St. Petersburg College, took issue with the district leaders saying they need more money to pay teachers.
"You do not need to raise anybody's taxes," DeSantis said. "Why are you trying to raise property taxes in the midst of some of the worst inflation we've seen in the modern history of this country?"
DeSantis' comments come a day after the Hillsborough County school board held an emergency meeting and approved Superintendent Van Ayres' request to take legal action against the Hillsborough County Commission. Ayres believes the commission violated state law when it voted to delay putting the district's referendum up for a countywide vote until November 2026.
RELATED: Hillsborough school board sues county commission over teacher pay referendum ballot measure delay
Following the meeting, the district filed a lawsuit that asks a judge to force commissioners to put the measure on this November's ballot.
"It clearly states the board shall direct the county commission. There's no wiggle room there. And it's a shame that we have to sit here now, and we have to debate this," said Ayres, who again addressed why he believes the referendum is needed. "We are losing teachers to surrounding counties for increased pay, and we have to level this playing field."
Ayres, who declined to respond to the governor's comments, has previously pointed out 25 other counties, including several in Tampa Bay, already have voter-approved property tax increases, with most of them focused on educator salaries. Hillsborough, meanwhile, has more than 500 teacher vacancies.
Although the governor didn't directly address the lawsuit, he made it clear he agrees with the four commissioners who believe families are already stretched too thin and that this is not the time to ask for a property tax increase.
"How come we're not raising taxes at the state level? How come we're cutting taxes? And, oh, by the way, this year's budget, we have $1.25 billion, a categorical, it can only be used to increase teacher salaries," DeSantis said. "Why don't you manage things better rather than trying to come and jack up people's taxes? It's just not the right thing to do."
The superintendent and Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, which also declined to respond to the governor's comments, have previously criticized the state for ranking 50th in the U.S. in teacher pay. DeSantis has called that a bogus ranking.
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