Could school referenda be voted out in Delaware?

Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware has seen an increasing number of referendums denied by voters in recent years, which can strain districts’ ability to plan for the future. The First State is one of just a few to send school funding questions to voters, raising questions about whether it’s the best course of action.

Through the cold rain and snow, thousands of Delawareans trudged to the polls in a well-worn tradition in February.

No, they weren’t voting in this year’s presidential primary. They were casting ballots in their local school referendums.

Delaware is one of the few states left that require school districts to get approval from voters to increase funding for both operational budgets and capital projects. It’s a rare pocketbook check on school administration that often bedevils a district’s ability to plan and grow, but is also a direct democratic function that legislators have been hesitant to change.

This year has already seen six districts schedule referendums – the most in 14 years – and they come after a rising number of districts have been stymied at the polls in the last decade.

In December, the Appoquinimink School District that serves the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend corridor lost its first referendum in a decade. Nearly a year ago, the Caesar Rodney School District south of Dover lost its first referendum in 15 years. In 2019, both the Christina School District near Newark and the Indian River School District in southern Sussex County suffered high-profile losses at the polls.

The debate over the wisdom of Delaware’s unique referendum funding system will likely only increase as lawmakers and advocates begin discussions over how to address a legal settlement concerning the equity in the state’s educational funding model.

Why a referendum?

Public schools in Delaware build their annual budgets from three major funding sources: state and federal contributions, which are based on a district’s student population, and local share from district taxpayers.

That local share is set by the tax rate established by referendum and any changes to it are subject to a vote by residents. They range widely from $1.59 per hundred in the Colonial School District to $4.91 in the Laurel School District,  depending on the wealth of the residents and the needs of the student body.

The reason for school referenda dates back to 1929, when legislators approved the use of local taxes to support the operation of schools around the state. Today, they are the last remaining piece of direct democracy in the First State, where even legislative ballot initiatives are not possible.

Paul Herdman, a longtime education policy expert and the president and CEO of Rodel of Delaware, a nonprofit that works on public education policy in the First States, said the issues surrounding school funding in Delaware haven’t been addressed in generations.

“It’s like you have a leak in your basement and you put a bucket under the leak, and then  maybe throw some duct tape on it. It’s still leaking and eventually you realize it’s actually messing up the foundation,” he said. “I kind of feel like after more than 80 years of patching the system, we’re at a place where foundationally I think people are saying, ‘Wait a minute.’”

Increasing debate

Anne Marie Corrozi said that she felt obligated to come out and support the Feb. 13 referendum for the Brandywine School District, where her 14 grandchildren attend schools. So too did Talitha White, whose nephew attends Concord High School.

“Although it will increase my taxes, they haven’t been raised since 2016. Everybody else is feeling the pain, I know they’ve got to be too,” she said, referring to inflationary cost pressures for the district.

Lynne Howard, an education policy advocate who was supporting the referendum, also said she didn’t think referendums — which can hinge on a day’s weather and turnout on a small number of voters — were the best solution to local funding.

While they were among the thousands who backed an overwhelmingly successful referendum in Delaware’s northernmost district, other districts are learning to deal with a heightened discourse around referendums.

Appoquinimink is deep amid such a scenario, where school leaders have hosted dozens of information sessions in recent months and compiled responses to common criticisms that have spread online.

One post by resident Tim Hurst that broke down the impact of his proposed tax increase has been widely shared on area Facebook groups and NextDoor pages, drawing dozens of comments from locals.

Hurst, an operations professional who serves on the finance committees for his church and homeowners association, said he was shocked to see the proposed 17% percent rate increase in December. It would have raised his tax bill by more than $500.

“The bottom line is they’ve jacked up our taxes 78% in 13 years. It’s 38% in the last two referendums alone. It’s never enough and every one is an emergency,” he said. “I’ve lived here my whole entire life and I remember them saying the same stuff when I was a kid.”

It’s never enough and every one is an emergency.

Tim hurst

Since his post went viral locally, Hurst said that he’s had many seniors commend him for sharing information on the impact of the proposal, with many concerned because they are on fixed incomes from Social Security or retirement funds.

Cost to districts too

The growing debate over the referendum caused Tony Marchio, the retired superintendent of the district, to take to social media with his own messages. After overseeing five different referendums over 15-year tenure at the helm, Marchio knows the toll that referendums can take on school leaders. 

They eat up weeks of leaders’ time and attention, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in election costs, marketing campaigns and employees’ time.

“It’s extremely draining, and I think that’s the point that people don’t realize,” he said, noting that Appoquinimink leaders have held dozens of presentations for the latest referendums in the last six months.

Marchio concedes that the district’s request will be a financial burden, but noted that strong schools help to inflate home values, make for more involved citizens and a stronger workforce. Appoquinimink, the state’s fastest growing district, is uniquely challenged, he said, where referendum requests must prepare for a few years of uncertain growth.

“When I started at Appoquinimink in 1995, we had 3,200 students in four schools. And when I retired in 2010, we had 9,500 in 14 schools,” he said, noting that he took over following three years of failed referendums in 1995.

“The schools were terribly overcrowded and it was an awful situation. I remember Cedar Lane Elementary School had no art room or music room; those teachers were teaching those subjects from a cart. We had four kindergarten classes sharing the cafeteria with dividers between them,” he recalled. “I don’t want to ever get back to that and that’s why it’s just critical to keep up.”

What could change?

Few states require school districts to go to referendum to increase their local share of funding like Delaware does.

In New Jersey, increases to property tax rates are limited to 2% per year, but can be exceeded with a referendum. In Pennsylvania, property taxes can be raised annually to keep pace with inflation; however, “extraordinary tax increases” must be approved by voters. Maryland has no limits on property tax increases, but also does not have dedicated school taxes with funding flowing from county budgets.

Most states allow some degree of tax increase without a referendum for operational costs, allowing districts to at least keep pace with inflation, while some require referendums to take on bonds for capital projects.

In 2019, State Sen. Laura Sturgeon (D-Brandywine Hundred) attempted to move Delaware toward its neighbors with a bill that would have allowed districts to raise rates up to 2% annually without a referendum. As a retired teacher, she saw firsthand how referendums challenged districts.

The bill failed to advance in the General Assembly, however, because even many in her own party were wary of taking away the decision-making from voters. Sturgeon noted that school referendums are the only time that voters have direct democratic control over budgets though, with representative democracy handling municipal, county, state and federal budgets.

“I think sometimes those votes against raising school taxes don’t necessarily reflect the satisfaction with our schools, but rather are an exercise of a right that they don’t have otherwise,” she said.

Although Sturgeon, who now chairs the Senate Education Committee, remains supportive of referendum reform, she still doesn’t believe an appetite exists among a majority of legislators to support change. That could change with continued denials at the polls or as conversations intensify around Delaware school funding reform overall.

“It’s politically tough, and I have some very good colleagues who I align with on almost every other issue when it comes to education policy, but yet when it comes to this one I just can’t get them there,” she said.