Orange County Public Schools has set aside $119 million to settle lawsuits filed by Walt Disney World and other defendants over allegedly excessive property tax assessments, but some of that money could go back to teacher salaries if the final settlement ends up costing the district less.
Dr. Maria Vazquez, superintendent for Orange County Public Schools, confirmed during a Tuesday press conference on the district’s budget — when pressed by a reporter — that, should the final settlement for those lawsuits amount to less than what they’ve set aside, “Our goal is then to put those money, those dollars back into [teacher] salaries.”
According to Florida Politics, Disney has sued Orange County over its property tax assessments every year since 2015. The school district, which receives a sizable portion of its operating revenue from those local assessments, has been setting aside funding each year to cover a settlement for those lawsuits, should Disney win its case.
Vazquez said discussion of the $119 million money pot is “another example of how we are being responsible and transparent.”
But it’s a sensitive issue at a time of significant funding challenges facing the district. Declining student enrollment for a district of nearly 200,000 students already resulted in a $23 million loss in state funding for OCPS last school year, since funding is allocated per student.
Florida also ranks near dead-last in the nation for average teacher pay — hampering enthusiasm for a profession that has also faced state censorship. The district has pointed to its financial challenges and to pay increases offered to teachers in previous years as justification for offering a meager 0.93 percent raise for educators this year.
“Before educators are asked to accept less, pay more, or do more, the district should be willing to show the community every option that has been explored and every decision that has been made,” said Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, in a statement. “Transparency is not a press conference. Transparency is allowing the public to see the full picture.”
Under pressure
A public petition campaign launched by the Orange County CTA — a union representing over 13,000 teachers and instructional staff — and unions representing Disney workers is urging Disney World to drop its lawsuits.
More than 3,500 Orange County residents have signed onto the petition as of early June, according to unions involved. The campaign has received crickets from the Mouse so far in response, despite media inquiries from Orlando Weekly and others.
Vazquez’s remark about leftover settlement money going to teacher salaries was news to McCracken. He told the Orlando Weekly in a text message that Vazquez hadn’t told him this directly before, but affirmed that they had been pushing for that outcome through their public awareness campaign with Unite Here Locals 362 and 737, which represent thousands of hospitality workers at Disney World.
“We believe any amount that doesn’t go back to Disney should go directly to teachers,” McCracken told Orlando Weekly. Unionized Disney World workers have been canvassing neighborhoods in recent months to raise awareness about the lawsuits and to build public pressure on Disney.
Canvassers mobilized by the unions have knocked on over 42,000 doors in Orange County already, according to McCracken. The unions have also held multiple town halls on the issue in recent months, drawing 100 to 200 attendees on each occasion.
“I think that teachers are advocating for fair wages. They are struggling right now,” Vazquez acknowledged, when asked about the canvassing effort. “We need to acknowledge that they cannot continue to sustain a living with the dollars that we are getting from the state.”
While Orange County faces potentially massive budgetary losses from a new property tax elimination proposal approved by the Florida Legislature — if the proposal is approved by voters this fall — Disney reported $2.6 billion in operating income for its parks division and cruise line (“Disney Experiences”) for this last quarter, representing a 5 percent jump.
Orange County Public Schools (which won’t be affected directly by the final version of the property tax proposal) could also face harder times and tighter purse strings ahead if student enrollment continues to decline.
“Enrollment is declining due to lower birth rates, housing trends, changes in federal immigration policy, and increased competition through taxpayer-funded vouchers and other school choice initiatives,” Vazquez told the press Tuesday. “Because of these factors, we made one of the most difficult decisions a school board and a superintendent can make: closing seven schools for the upcoming school year.”
The decision to close schools wasn’t a decision that was “made lightly” by district leadership, she added. But they do not anticipate having to close additional schools at this time.
Disney previously declined to comment on criticism of its property tax lawsuits on the record, when reached by Orlando Weekly. But the school district is making an ask of Orange County voters this fall to at least help them weather some of the financial challenges ahead.
A taxing affair
Orange County voters will see a referendum on their ballots this fall, asking if they would like to renew a 1-mill property tax.
The tax helps fund field trips, charter schools and salaries for nearly 2,000 teachers, 741 drama and music teachers, and 50 coaches and trainers, according to the district.
“For more than 15 years, this voter-approved investment has helped our district maintain programs, services that directly benefit our students,” said school board chair Teresa Jacobs on Tuesday.
Orange County voters have approved the referendum every four years since 2010. The tax represents $1 of every $1,000 of the taxable value of a property and is currently in effect through June 2027.
School board member Melissa Byrd said 90 percent of the revenue generated by the one-mill tax — currently $242 million a year, according to the district — “is an investment in teacher and educational support staff compensation.”
But McCracken, the teachers union president (and a former middle school art teacher himself), said that Byrd’s framing is misleading. “Teachers in Orange do not receive an additional millage supplement like teachers in other school districts receive,” he said. Instead, he said the district uses it to pay for positions.
The union has asked the district to dedicate 33 percent of the revenue generated from the next one mill to supplement pay for existing teachers. Even this would be below the 90 percent of revenue dedicated by the school district in Broward County, for example.
“In later years they should increase this to be more aligned with what other large districts are doing,” McCracken argued of OCPS. “Others dedicate 70-90% of their referendum.”
Minimum teacher pay in the Orange County school district — one of the largest in the state and in the nation — is currently $50,000, according to the district. In the 2024-25 school year, the average pay was $59,035, but union leaders have long complained that pay for longtime, more experienced teachers has failed to keep pace to make it worth their while to stay on.
Part of that issue, it’s worth noting, stems from state directives that have historically prioritized raising starting teacher pay, while leaving veteran teachers behind.
The state budget proposal for this next fiscal year would dedicate $201 million in funding specifically for teachers with more than 10 years of experience, according to the Florida Education Association, the parent union of the Orange County CTA. But the FEA argues this doesn’t solve the issue of wage compression at its core.
“Fair salary decisions should be made locally, not by one-size-fits-all state policies,” the FEA argued in a breakdown of the budget. “This plan does not solve the real problem of salary compression and underfunding, and continues the pattern of excluding non-instructional staff and education staff professionals from raises altogether.”
Not just pay
The Orange County school district and the CTA are also currently at impasse in negotiations over teachers’ new union contract, which is negotiated annually. The primary sticking point is the cost of teachers’ healthcare plans. But if healthcare costs go up, that will also dilute teachers’ take-home pay.
“We continue to hear that the district’s healthcare system is unsustainable, yet many of the same approaches have been used year after year while expecting different results,” McCracken said in a statement. The union has been at impasse with the district since April. “Transparency means showing employees the data, the contracts, the decision-making process and the analysis behind the recommendations being made.”
Vazquez acknowledged Tuesday that the rising cost of healthcare is one of the “most significant” challenges facing the district. “Florida is experiencing some of the fastest increases in healthcare costs in the country, creating real pressure on our system to keep up,” she said.
Today, she said the district contributes up to $10,555 per employee for healthcare through the district’s self-insured employees benefits trust model. That will increase to $11,611 for next year. “Over the past several years, we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars to offset rising healthcare costs, but the reality is that our current plan cannot be sustained,” Vazquez argued.
The district estimates it would cost them an additional $145 million next year just to keep up. “Failing to meet those costs could put our healthcare coverage at risk and force us to move into a more expensive for-profit model,” Vazquez said plainly. “That’s not where we want to go.”
McCracken argued that the district isn’t being fully transparent about its health plan. And if the district gets its way, monthly premiums for certain health plans would double, while deductibles would increase more than sixfold, according to health plans reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel.
“If the district truly wants transparency, then release an unredacted copy of the Cigna contract. Explain what happened with CVS Caremark. Explain how the district is promoting the many programs and services it already pays for through the health plan, and why it insists on maintaining complete control over what insurance-related information is shared directly with employees.”
A special magistrate appointed by the state Public Employees Relations Commission — the state body that oversees labor relations in the public sector — will hear arguments from both the union and the district on the impasse on July 9 and 10.
Recommendations from the magistrate — based on both parties’ testimony and presentations — should then be available in about 30 days for the school board to review.
“I would hope that we can come to an agreement before that,” Vazquez said, adding that the district has continued negotiations with the union, despite the impasse. “And so, it will continue to be transparency, open communication, and coming up with solutions — real solutions,” she said pointedly, “to the problems we face around healthcare.”
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