Manatee voters make statement by backing school tax referendum

For Cliff Dawson, the director of bands at Braden River High School, it was work as usual, preparing his marching band on Election Day.

While he and his dozens of students were practicing, voters were headed to the polls to decide whether to continue to support the School District of Manatee County’s 1-mill property tax referendum, which supports visual and performing arts programs like Braden River High’s marching band.

Dawson said the funding from the referendum “has done so much for the students” by injecting money into arts programs in Manatee County that was “desperately needed.”

“It is kind of crucial to our success,” Dawson said. 

Voters understood the importance and voted overwhelmingly to approve the continuation of 1-mill property tax referendum. 

The vote was expected as was the domination by Republican candidates over Democrats and NPAs in every Manatee County race.

Support for the additional school tax continues to build. In 2021, voters approved a continuation of the school tax referendum during a special election after initially approving the referendum for the first time during a special election in March 2018.

Jason Wysong, the superintendent of the School District of Manatee County, said the district is grateful for voters recognizing the progress the district has made over the past three years.

The 1-mill property tax referendum will fund teacher and staff salary supplements, an additional 30 minutes to each school day, visual and performing arts programs, career and technical education, STEM programs, athletics, early literacy initiatives, and school safety and security. 

"This was a important vote to maintain the momentum that's been built," Wysong said. "We have a very talented set of teachers and support staff, all the people who create a positive learning environment at schools. The additional mill from the voters ensures that this workforce is going to stay intact and is going to be here for hopefully the long haul."

Wysong said besides the financial support, the community's overwhelming approval of the referendum demonstrates to teachers and staff that "they have the community's support to educate the children of Manatee County."

New aspects of the referendum include early literacy initiatives, school safety and security, and athletics. 

Funding will go toward paying for transportation, officials, equipment and more for athletics. 

For school safety and security, referendum funding will allow the district to have additional security at after-school events and activities, and more.

Referendum funding for early literacy programs will focus on learners from birth to third grade and support an Early Learning and Family Support Center that provides free developmental screenings. 

"We're excited for all the things we're going to be able to continue as well as the new items added by the board," Wysong said. "We've had lots of informal conversations about possibilities about the opportunities the funding will bring in those areas, so now we will really get to work on building a proposed budget to implement those items."

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

The school tax victory was just one of the landslides on Election Day.

After two previous defeats in her attempts to earn a Manatee County Commission seat, Myakka City’s Carol Felts got the job done in 2024.

Felts lost in 2020 and 2022, but on Nov. 5 she won the District 1 seat in a landslide over Glen Pearson, the Democratic candidate, and Jennifer Hamey, who ran with no party affiliation. 

“I was just happy to win the primary,” Felts said. “Honestly, I’m as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Now, people expect things from me. It’s easier to be an activist.”

Felts celebrated at a Chinese buffet in Bradenton with eight of her campaign volunteers. Volunteer Charlene Kow placed a plastic tiara on Felts’ head after they heard the good news. 

A grassroots candidate from her first run in 2020, Felts earned only 299 votes on write-ins that year.

During the current election season, Felts’ campaign raised $26,251.97 to Steve Metallo’s $101,155 for the Republican primary, which she won with 54% of the votes.

Metallo had been labeled a “puppet for special interests” by a coalition called Take Back Manatee and that fueled Felts' momentum.

“Carol Felts started this whole movement eight years ago,” campaign volunteer Selena Cunningham said of Felts' desire to limit the power of developers in the Commission chambers. “She was posting on the Myakka 411 Facebook page and was telling us to get informed.” 

Unlike other candidates, Felts’ end goal wasn’t always to get elected. 

“The point of this journey was to inspire others,” Felts said. “I thought somebody bigger, faster and stronger would run, but it just so happened that it ended up as moi.” 

As a resident, Felts wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. As a commissioner, she said she’ll do a lot more listening. She’s comfortable that the rest of the board knows where she stands on most issues. 

More importantly, she said she doesn’t need to explain her decisions to those on the dias, only to the people.

Felts benefitted from the voters favoring Republicans in Manatee County.   

In other races, Commissioner George Kruse sailed through the general election against Democratic candidate Sari Lindroos-Valimaki to keep his seat in District 7.

The general election lacked the passion of the primary, in which Kruse defeated fellow commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who had switched races to challenge Kruse.

“The public, as a whole in Manatee County on a bipartisan basis, said they wanted change in how their government was run,” Kruse said. “For the first time in a long time, a majority of this board is beholden to the public and not beholden to any special interest.”

Republican candidate Dr. Bob McCann won the District 5 seat easily. He had won the Republican primary against Commissioner Ray Turner and cruised to victory over NPA Joseph Di Bartolomeo in the general election.

Republican Bill Conerly claimed the District 72 House of Representatives seat by dispatching Democratic opponent Lesa Miller.

In the District 3 Commission race, Tal Siddique prevailed over Democrat Diana Shoemaker.

Courtesy image

In the School Board of Manatee County District 1 race, Parrish’s Heather Felton won a runoff easily over East County's Mark Stanoch.

“My head is spinning a little bit,” Felton said. “I’m looking at the numbers and going ‘22,000 people voted for me.’ A year ago, 22,000 people would’ve never recognized me in a line-up. It’s amazing. I am so excited.”

Felton, a former teacher with experience in the School District of Manatee County, said being a board member will be her full-time job. She said she wants to be an advocate for teachers, students, parents and others. 

Her first priority, she said, will be changing the time of meetings to ensure parents, teachers, staff and other residents are able to attend. 

With Charlie Kennedy winning the District 3 seat on the board, Felton said she hopes she and Kennedy, as former teachers, can be a voice for the teachers. 

“The two of us as teachers will be a good leveling influence in terms of what you can and can’t expect in the classroom and what you can and can’t expect from students, teachers and administrators,” she said.