Pension Bonuses prove Nassau Schools Have a Spending Problem, Not a Revenue Problem

In 2027, Nassau County voters will be asked to approve a 1-mill school property tax to once again to increase all school employee salaries. Before you cast your vote, look at Nassau School’s pension bonus taxpayer rip-off. This is not about “the children”—it is about a culture of fiscal irresponsibility that prioritizes “Triple Dippers pensions bonuses” over taxpayers and students.

The $22.9 Million Pension Bonus Scandal
Currently, 87 school employees are using your property taxes to fund 8-year pension cash bonuses totaling a staggering $22.9 Million. These public employee Triple Dippers sign fake retirement paperwork and for 8 years collect a paycheck and a pension at the same time to do the same job. The Third dip is they don’t pay the standard 3% of their salary $1,108,214 annually to the retirement system shifting personal responsibility to taxpayers. While 85% of taxpayers don’t have a pension but are being forced to pay for pension bonuses with higher property taxes. See https://tripledippers.org/
The school pension bonus greed is systemic. For instance, 27 Nassau School employees—including Politician Superintendent Kathy Burns—were not satisfied with a 5-year pension bonus. They used their public positions to take an 8-year bonus, which is nearly 50% larger. Superintendent Kathy Burns decided her 5-year bonus of $425,334 and salary over $190,000 was not enough money and used her Political power to take an 8-year $755,155 pension bonus.

Disastrous Academic Results
The Superintendent and School Board claim they need more money, yet spending has consistently outpaced inflation and new growth. What are we getting for this investment? According to U.S. News & World Report, the trajectory is alarming: the longer students stay in Nassau schools, the lower their math and reading scores become. Despite the “A” district label, 61% of Nassau High Schools students fail basic math tests and 39% fail basic reading. Only 40% of Nassau High School students graduate! That means 60% of students don’t have basic work skills. Ending pension cash bonuses would divert approximately $6.9 Million which should be spent on tutors. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/florida/districts/nassau-108962

The Solution: A Clean Slate on June 30, 2026
Every school employee is under a one-year contract ending June 30, 2026. The School Board should simply not rehire these retired “Triple Dippers.” By hiring younger, healthier, and more recently educated staff, the school district could save 40% on base salaries and eliminate the 22.02% FRS surcharge paid on top of those inflated salaries.
Based on the current list of 85+ pension cash bonus Nassau school employees, this move alone would save taxpayers approximately $3.1 Million every single year. Only 28/78 32.9% Pension cash bonuses are going to traditional classroom teachers.
Privatization and Policy Reform
We must look at the “Duval Privatization Model” for support services. We are currently paying pension bonuses and top-tier benefits for:
8 Bus Drivers/Aides
6 Janitors
2 Cooks
3 Maintenance/Grounds Keepers
8 Secretaries, Bookkeepers, and Accountants
1 Mechanic

The mechanic alone has banked 2,298.04 hours of time off. That is 57.45 weeks—over a full year of work—to be cashed out at his final, highest salary rather than the rate at which it was earned. This is an artificial “spiking” of the final year’s salary to increase the lifetime pension, paid for by taxpayers.

Conclusion
The School Board must restore fiscal sanity. They should cap banked hours at 40 and require all unused days to be paid at the salary rate they were earned. The School board should simply not renew the contracts of the 86 Retired School Employees collecting a paycheck and a pension at the same time to do the same job and replace these triple dippers with younger, healthier, more recently educated young men and women saving taxpayers at least 40% which could be used to hire tutors for students who keep failing basic math and reading tests. The one-mill tax rate applied to a higher property base produced $6 million more than anticipated. Instead of $13 million in new taxes, it generated $19 million in 2023. Greedily, the school district is keeping the entire windfall instead of rolling back the tax rate to only collect the requested $13 million for salary increases. https://ameliaislandliving.com/fernandinabeach/2023/12/higher-school-taxes-are-here-to-stay-in-nassau-county-florida/

Remember: 85% of Nassau taxpayers do not have a pension, yet they are being forced to fund massive cash bonuses for public employees through higher property taxes. Nassau County schools do not need a new tax; they need to eliminate pension cash bonuses, privatize food, transportation, janitorial and other support services. Vote NO on the school 1-mill property tax in 2027.