Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware is one of just a few states that send all school funding questions to voters through the referendum process. District officials said more money is needed to stem staffing cuts, but Thursday’s vote marked the second failure in three months to raise those dollars.
The Indian River School District’s referendum request to raise $22.5 million was rejected by more than half of voters Thursday, continuing a recent trend of district requests being defeated at the polls.
The vote, which saw 54% of voters in opposition, a margin of more than 1,000 votes, marks the district’s second failed request since its first failed attempt in March.
The failure by Indian River to pass a follow-up referendum means that Delaware will not have a successful school spending referendum anywhere in the state for the first time since 1997.
The percentage of failing referendum requests has also risen dramatically in the last decade, according to a review by Spotlight Delaware. That has led some lawmakers to begin considering whether further reforms are needed around Delaware’s referendum process to ensure that schools can meet current demands from residents, especially as the state continues to see booming population growth.
Indian River School District Superintendent Jay Owens said the Board of Education scheduled the new referendum just three months after the first failure because the district would not have had immediate access to money generated by the tax if the vote occurred after June 30.
The district has said that the new money would be used to pay “increased operating costs and to maintain a competitive salary package.” The statement highlights the inflationary issues that have hit areas in and around the Delaware beaches particularly hard in recent years.
In a statement published after the vote, Owens said the district’s administration and Board of Education now “face some difficult decisions in the coming months.”
“The district has been operating at a budget deficit for the past two fiscal years and operating expenses will continue to outpace local revenue streams. The district has already made significant reductions to staff positions and discretionary budgets among numerous cost-saving initiatives for next year. We will continue to strive to provide our students with the best educational services possible with the resources available,” he added.
Indian River Board of Education members laid out the district’s fiscal woes during a board meeting last January when announcing the first planned referendum.
At the time, they said that even a successful referendum may not eliminate the need to lay off staff to cut costs elsewhere, according to a report from Coastal Point.
While running for her seat on the Indian River School Board, Kelly Kline said one of her goals was to ensure the passage of Thursday’s referendum because the district could potentially lose newer educators if the second referendum fails.
“A lot of the funding goes to our teachers, but as we continue to cut, class sizes go up and we aren’t able to maintain programs and services that we know our students need and deserve,” Owens said.
During the March vote, local opponents of the referendum expressed frustration over the request for new public money, with some saying it points to a need for the county to instead impose additional fees on developers to support local schools.
Millville Town Councilman Bob Wisgirda also told Spotlight Delaware in March that the district’s first referendum was unpopular among many residents because they were “very paranoid” about Sussex County’s recent property reassessments, and the increased tax payments that could come with them.
Other school districts in the state, like the Christina School District, chose to forgo a referendum this year. Instead, they are taking advantage of the tax reassessment process, which allows districts to stealthily raise local school tax rates by up to 10% without voters’ approval.
Owens previously told Spotlight Delaware that the referendum “far exceeds” the revenue the district would generate if the Board of Education chose to go that route.
“I’m not going to say that [the board] would not consider that moving forward, if we were unsuccessful with this referendum to generate additional revenue,” he said.
Get Involved
The next Indian River School District Board of Education meeting is Monday, June 9. To attend the meeting, arrive at 29772 Armory Road in Dagsboro.
The board will go into a private executive session at 7 p.m. and will reconvene into public session once the discussion is complete, at approximately 8:30 p.m.
To comment publicly, complete a public comment form available at the school prior to the start of the meeting.