The Escambia County School District recognized supporters of the 10-year extension of the 1/2-cent sales tax for school construction projects at a luncheon Thursday at the Pensacola Yacht Club. Voters overwhelmingly passed the measure in the September primary by 70.1 percent. The tax is expected to generate about $20 million a year for the school system.
Superintendent Jim Paul says after the school board closes Woodham High School by the end of the year, it will begin embarking on developing a new inner-city elementary school and a new K-8 school on the west side of Pensacola, which eventually may turn into a new high school, if student enrollment continues to balloon there. “The sales tax makes this all possible. We are not even able to do all the roof repairs on our schools with the money we get from the state.”