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Miami-Dade County School Board Holds Public Hearing on Budget For 2017-18

Holly Pretsky
/
WLRN
The budget hearing wrapped up around 10pm. Close to 100 people attended.

The Miami-Dade County School Board Held a public hearing on Wednesday evening about its new $5.1 billion proposed budget, the highest since 2008. 

The board tentatively also adopted a resolution to tax property owners $6.99 for every $1000 in property value. That's down from last year's $7.32 for every $1000 in property value. 

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho repeatedly expressed frustration with lawmakers in Tallahassee for lowering the tax rate school boards can levy. He said though the state economy is experiencing a "time of plenty," public schools aren't reaping any of the benefits.

House Bill 7069, the controversial education bill signed by Governor Rick Scott in June, came up several times. Wednesday afternoon, the school board met with attorneys to discuss legal options for challenging the bill. 

Read more at our news partners, the Miami Herald.

More than a dozen parents and teachers shared input during public comment, including Enrique Baloyra. "At any given time in my classroom I can tell you who's had breakfast, who's homeless," he said. He teaches math at North Miami Middle School, and said he spends his extra money on snacks for his hungry students. "It would break my heart to leave them. I'm asking you to please make it easy for me to make this decision to stay another year in this district."

The second budget public hearing is September 6th.

The Miami-Dade County Public School board is WLRN's licensee.

The audio in this post has been corrected to reflect that the Miami-Dade Public School District estimates a typical homeowner will save $27.84. We had originally reported that the district estimates a typical homeowner will save about $26. We regret the error.

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