98.5 % Passage Rate for School Budgets

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On May 17th, voters across the state approved 666 school budgets and defeated just ten– a 98.5 percent approval rate, just below last year’s record high passage rate of 98.7%. Of the ten districts that experienced a budget defeat, eight were attempting to pierce their Tax Levy Limit and therefore needed a super-majority (60 percent) for approval.

Twenty-eight districts were successful in their attempt to override their Tax Levy Limit. The Florida school district, located in Orange County, had their budget defeated by just one vote.

They needed a super-majority (60 percent) to pass their budget. The vote count was 317 YES to 212 NO, a 59.9% YES vote.

Districts with a defeated budget may resubmit the same budget to the voters, resubmit a revised budget to the voters, or adopt a contingency budget. If a school district chooses to have a budget revote, it must occur on June 21st – the third Tuesday in June. If a second budget proposal is defeated, the district must adopt a contingency budget.

Districts that adopt a contingency budget may not increase the tax levy above the previous year's levy — a 0 percent cap.

The following page provides a listing of those districts that had their budget defeated.

2016 Budget Defeats (by County) 

* District needed a super-majority 60% for approval. The number in parenthesis is the percentage YES vote that the district received.

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