Seminole County School board approves $1.5B budget, property tax rate for 2025-26

Seminole County Public Schools approved its property tax rate for the coming year and a $1.5 billion budget Tuesday. 

The board approved a total millage rate of 5.249 mills, a slight drop from the 5.279 rate last year. The millage rate translates to $524.90 for every $100,000 in a home’s taxable value. 

In total, it is a slight decrease from last year, but the school board is getting more money annually because of the increase in property values over the past year. 

“We’re still OK in our reserves,” said School Board Chair Kristine Kraus in an interview with Oviedo Community News. 

SCPS 2025-2026 budget by the numbers
Budget section	Amount budgeted
General Fund	$736,435,030
Debt Service	$54,699,944
Capital Projects	$501,696,109
Special Revenue	$121,669,016
Internal Service	$128,554,376
Total	$1,543,054,475

School board tax rates are different than tax rates set by other local governments. The bulk of the rates are set by Tallahassee lawmakers as a requirement to be eligible for state funding. 

That portion of the tax rate is called the Required Local Effort, and has dropped from 3.56 mills in 2021 to 2.998 in 2025. 

“That rate is set by the state legislature each year and that’s been dropping,” said John Pavelchak, the chief financial officer for SCPS. “Going back all the way to 2015, and you can see that’s a substantial drop in the millage rate over that time, about 39%.”

School board member Robin Dehlinger asked the school CFO to explain why a resident might read that the tax rate was dropping if their total bill goes up a little.

The average homeowner in Seminole County would likely pay a little more than last year in their total taxes because of increases in home values, explained Chief Financial Officer John Pavelchak. This year, the average taxable value in Seminole County was $268,680. 

With a Save Our Homes exemption applied, that average home’s total tax bill of $1,279 annually is about $32 more than last year. That’s because last year the average home’s taxable value was $261,108.

“I just wanted that to be clear,” Dehlinger said.

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Separately, the Seminole County Commission meets next Tuesday night to finalize its tax rate for 2025. The county has voted once already to increase its property tax rate.

In addition to the budget, the school board also approved its contract with teachers. This year, teachers will get a percentage increase in salary, as opposed to a fixed dollar bonus like last year. 

Teachers that are rated “highly effective” would get a 2.33% increase, and effective teachers would get a 1.36% increase. 

“I’m very grateful for the teams, for the professional union reps, for getting this agreement finalized,” Kraus said. “They are true professionals.”

James Evans, a candidate running for SCPS school board in 2026, and who had previously run for school board in 2022, said that teachers are being “left behind financially.”

“Since 2016, in inflation-adjusted dollars, teachers have lost money in their salaries,” Evans told the board during public input. “They are down 12% in inflation adjusted dollars. And unfortunately, this contract negotiation doesn’t actually make them better.”

Teacher pay increases for the 2025-2026 contract year
Evaluation	Percent salary increase
Highly Effective (HE)	2.33%
Effective (E)	1.36%
Grandfathered	1.82%

Charlie Kirk looms over school board meeting

The political climate in the U.S. repeatedly came up during Tuesday’s board meeting, 

Jessica Tillmann, the chair for the Seminole County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said she is planning to attend a memorial for Charlie Kirk scheduled for Sunday at Hagerty High School in Oviedo. 

“And there are several requests to put Turning Point USA chapters in Seminole County, so I look forward to seeing that,” Tillmann said. 

Turning Point USA is the conservative nonprofit organization founded by Kirk, who was gunned down on Sept. 10.

SCPS Chair Kraus said people are struggling with the aftermath of the shooting. She said people need to model themselves as an example for children who are watching what happens. 

“There have been horrific events that occurred the past few months, but violence is never the answer,” Kraus said. “We shouldn’t respond in violence. We hope you’ll consider how fragile our nation is.

“I feel like we’re better than this,” Kraus added. 

Seminole County Public Schools Vice-Chair Autumn Garick said she’s trying to make meaning in the work done in the schools. 

“Last week was marked by violence and division at the national level,” Garick said. “We truly have much more in common, and are much more the same than we are different.”

Board Member Kelley Davis, who represents the Oviedo area, said she wants to recognize students, teachers and administrators who perform acts of kindness. 

“Not only is it necessary that we all demonstrate kindness, but I want you all to start thinking about recognizing our students when you see something kind,” Davis said. “I want to call it catching kindness.”

School board approves field trips, aerospace program 

In other news, Seminole County Public Schools approved a three-year extension of the Aerospace Career Academy, run by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, at six high schools.

That includes Hagerty High School and Winter Springs High School. 

“Last year, we saw 142 dual enrollment course registrations, with students earning over 400 college credits in flight and unmanned aerial systems,” wrote Sarah Barczyk, vice president for communications with Embry-Riddle, in an email to Oviedo Community News. “As we finalize this year’s registration, we already have 78 dual enrollment registrations and 52 students enrolled in foundations and/or aviation technical design courses.

Seminole County Public Schools also approved a field trip for Oviedo High School students to travel to North Carolina Great American Cross Country Festival in October. The board also approved sending 17 Winter Springs High School students in the American Sign Language club to travel to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. for a full immersion experience in deaf culture in February. 

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member.