SRQ's Jacob Ogles discusses the racial and gender breakdown in the previous school referendum election.

As Sarasota County voters prepare for a special election on renewing a 1-mill property tax to support the schools, SRQ Media Group hosted an unprecedented pre-election Where The Votes Are.

SRQ looked closely at the results of the last election on the tax, to some surprising results. While a common worry about school taxes in Florida remains whether a retiree population will want additional resources directed at the school system, the electorate for the special election in 2014, when the measure passed with 76.9 percent of the vote, greater than 73 percent of the electorate was age 60 or older. That means the bulk of voters likely don’t have children in public schools.

The special election also marked a rare county race where Democrats boasted a higher turnout, 19.83 percent, than Republicans, 18.01 percent. But Republican voters in total still outnumbered Democrats by 4,281 votes. Ultimately, that shows wrong bipartisan support for the measure.

The event featured a special presentation by Pam Truitt and Dan DeLeo, both part of the School Board Financial Advisory Committee. Both said that regardless of the popularity of the measure four years ago, they can never take anything for granted. DeLeo noted that in a community like Sarasota County, a whole new group of voters weighs in every four years.

Truitt stressed the importance of the referendum revenue, for teacher salaries, the vast majority of which goes toward paying for faculty. DeLeo said the revenue helps support some positions that might be considered excess with a tighter budget. Without the tax, some elementary schools would have to choose between funding music or science programs. “Some would choose one, some would choose the other,” he says. “Now we have both.”

Sarasota County voters will vote on March 20 whether to extend the tax another four years.

SRQ's Jacob Ogles discusses the racial and gender breakdown in the previous school referendum election.