This past Thursday, May 22, the Indian River School District turned to the community for its most recent funding project: a current expense referendum, looking for support from district residents in an effort to generate funds for operating expenses, teacher salaries and implementation of full-day kindergarten.
“We are asking residents to approve of a [property] tax increase on a number of aspects to continue the restoration of the district’s budgets that have reduced over 10 percent in the past five years,” noted district Director of Business and Finance Patrick Miller.
The tax increase, if approved, will be added to the current-expense portion of the district tax rate and is based on average district assessment of $24,970.
“Over the years, since 2003,” said Miller, “we’ve had to give back money or have lost revenue from the state of Delaware, due to a base budget reduction initiated by Gov. [Ruth Ann] Minner. Each year, we’ve had to give back somewhere around $460,000 dollars each year, due to this budget reduction. With these give-backs, each year since 2003 has seen a consistent decrease in the district’s revenue.”
District taxpayer were asked to vote Thursday (after Coastal Point press time for this issue) on each of the three questions designed to raise funds from increased taxes. (Visit the www.coastalpoint.com online to get the results from the election as soon as they are available.) The proposed tax increase for all three projects works out to 34.63 cents per every $100 of assessed value, the majority of which came from the first proposal.
Operating initiatives aim to restore funding levels
Approval of funding for operating initiatives was the first question voters were asked to take a stand on, and the proposal included elements such as district-wide textbook adoption, upgrades to middle- and high-school extracurricular programs, technology improvements, additional school resource officers and school-related transportation costs.
If approved, a tax of 22.42 cents per $100 assessed value would be added, totaling $2,847,150.
A cost-cutting measure was made by the district in the 2003 fiscal year, trimming the annual budget in 14 schools across the district by nearly 11 percent. Approval of the operating initiatives would restore the schools’ budgets to the levels seen before 2003.
This would allow for the implementation and maintaining of sports programs at Georgetown, Millsboro and Selbyville middle schools, an aspect of operation that has only been implemented by a select few middles schools in the district. Athletic uniforms, bad uniforms and transportation would also benefit throughout the district.
Currently, there are only two Delaware state troopers patrolling the entire school district, an issue that would also be resolved if the referendum’s first application is passed. Technological advancements, including a five-year computer replacement program, and additional software updates, are considered essential to the ever-developing society students find themselves in each day, according to district officials.
Teacher pay lags behind rest of county
The second feature of the referendum is an attempt to help attract qualified teachers and employees to the Indian River School District.
“Our district performs at almost the top of the list among the other eight districts in Sussex County,” noted Miller. “Student performance on state-wide tests is a direct reflection of a school’s rating, and we’re up there. However, our teachers are among the lowest-paid in the county.”
A lack of a competitive salary scale has made it difficult to recruit and retain qualified a staff, district officials note. Teachers, school administrative staff and school employees, including custodial and health staff, would benefit from this increase that would work over a two-year period. The first year, taxpayers would see an increase of 4.71 cents per $100 assessed value, with an additional 4.92 cents in year two.
“Teachers and faculty are not being paid for what they contributing to our children’s education,” Miller said.
The local contribution to starting salaries for teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no prior experience runs around $9,581 in the Indian River School District, while those with a master’s degree and no experience earn around $11,000 from local funds as a starting rate in the district. Both are classified as the next-to-lowest within the county, while salaries at Sussex Tech lead the lists.
Teacher salaries are typically paid 65 percent from the state and 35 percent from local funds, such as the proposed referendum taxes.
Funds could help district meet full-day kindergarten mandate
Indian River is one of the last districts in the entire state that to implement a full-day kindergarten program, a project mandated by Delaware through legislation from the General Assembly.
Implementing the full-day kindergarten will require the hiring of more teachers and the purchase of additional instructional supplies, but, according to Miller, it would not necessitate additional facilities.
“That was one area we were concerned with,” he stated. “Accommodation. We’ve spoke to elementary school officials, though, and they’ve told us that they are confident that they would be able to support with their current facilities.”
Approval of this element of the referendum would add for 2.58 percent per $100 assessment value for taxpayers, providing the district with $426,746 for the program. The district has applied for a waiver from the state mandate for full-date kindergarten for the 2008-2009 school year but would aim to implement the program in the 2009-2010 school year.
Supporters, including those behind the state mandate, say that full-day kindergarten would provide students with more quality instruction in core subjects, increase one-on-one interaction between students and teachers, and provide additional screening and assessment opportunities to individual student needs.
Miller also noted the importance of kindergarten in the transition from home to first grade, as it prepare students to develop appropriate learning skills.
If voters approve all three questions in the referendum, the average district resident would see an increase of roughly $86.48 on their taxes (again, based on a $24,970 assessment), with $74.19 coming the first year with approval of all three portions, and the remaining $12.29 the second year, toward continuing funding for the increased salary budgets.