AM850.com

As budget cuts threaten some Alachua County Public Schools programs, the county is turning to voters to save the quality of education. School nurses, art and music programs along with elective courses and availability of classroom materials and technology are all on theb brink of extensive reductions, and in some cases, elimination. In a school board meeting last night school Superintendant Dan Boyd suggested the school board plan depend for a property tax referendum to be placed on teh general election ballot. The referendum would call for an increase by a half-mill or one mill effective July 2009, and would continue for four years until voters reapproved the legislation. Currently Alachua County faces five million dollar cut from public school funding which translates into $213 per student--the second biggest cut in the state. Voters have the option to change that by choosing to increase the property tax in the Novemer election.