Disney World workers and Orange County teachers crowded into the Taft Community Center on Thursday night with a pointed demand for one of Central Florida’s biggest employers: drop the property-tax lawsuits. They argue the legal fight is tightening school budgets and holding down teacher pay. Speakers described cuts to mental-health staff and other classroom supports, which they linked to ongoing disputes over how the county values Disney’s resort properties, turning a dry tax case into a fight with immediate classroom consequences.
At the town hall, union organizer Ella Wood and Orange County Classroom Teachers Association president Clinton McCracken told the crowd that the lawsuits are already shaping district bargaining and services. Organizers say a petition demanding Disney back off the litigation has topped more than 1,000 signatures, and volunteers have knocked on more than 12,000 doors, according to Orlando Weekly. Unite Here Locals 362 and 737 represent thousands of hospitality and tourism workers across Central Florida, while the teachers' association represents roughly 13,000 instructional staff. Several Disney cast members who work on the property showed up to tell personal stories about health-insurance hikes and thin staffing.
Per the district's FY26 budget presentation, Orange County Public Schools has placed a combined $119 million into escrow for “pending litigation,” drawing on both General Fund and Capital Improvement Tax reserves in case property-tax valuations are adjusted. That contingency figure, along with annual transfers the district says it has been making to cover large commercial taxpayers, has factored into talks over a tentative 0.93% pay offer and proposed cuts to counselors, social workers, and psychologists. District slides show that the transfers and escrow were built into multi-year planning that started in 2021, according to Orange County Public Schools.
Legal context
Disney has responded to those tax bills with roughly a dozen lawsuits challenging Orange County’s 2024-25 property assessments for its theme parks, resorts and other holdings. The company argues that the property appraiser used improper valuation methods and folded in intangible values that are not allowed. The court filings ask judges to cancel the original tax bills and order corrected assessments. Local reporting lists EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom among the parcels at issue. As ClickOrlando reported, the suit names Orange County Property Appraiser Amy Mercado, Tax Collector Scott Randolph, and the Florida Department of Revenue as defendants.
Why schools are nervous
Property taxes are the largest local revenue source for Orange County Public Schools, and enrollment is down. If the litigation leads to lower assessed values for major taxpayers such as Disney, the district could face refunds or reduced future revenue. The district's FY26 budget slides lay out the contingency planning and transfers it has made since 2021 to prepare for possible repayments, and local reporting shows the school board this spring approved plans to close seven under-enrolled campuses as enrollment and funding fell. Those pressures help explain the tentative pay offer and the unions' push to frame the lawsuits as a local classroom issue rather than a distant corporate tax dispute, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Organizers say Disney did not respond to a request for comment and that the petition drive and canvassing will continue as contract talks and budget deliberations play out locally. Their campaign is trying to move a technical appraisal fight into the center of community debate, tying it directly to counselors, classroom staffing, and teacher pay while the courts slowly work through the company’s challenges.
