With today being election day, the Valders School District is giving one last plea to voters to approve the operational referendum on the ballot.
The district is asking to exceed its revenue limit by $1.5 million for items it calls needs, not wants.
Specifically, the district is looking to hire a school resource officer and a math interventionalist and purchase items for English language support, and technology upgrades while also reopening the pool and covering a budget shortfall.
Some may hear the term “budget shortfall” and wonder what is keeping them from continuing to overspend.
However, the amount the district receives from the state has not kept up with the rate of inflation.
In fact, the difference between state aid and inflation equates to $3,380 per pupil in the Valders Area School District.
Connie Denk, an English teacher and member of the referendum committee, explained to SeehaferNews.com that the district has actually been rather smart with its money.
Since 2015, the district has dropped its mill rate from $10.54 to $7.27 per $100,000 of a home’s value.
This referendum is very similar to one that was denied the last time it went up for a vote, mainly because voters said they wanted more information.
Superintendent Kristen DeTroye tells us they have been making sure everyone was as informed as possible this time around.
“We’ve had several listening sessions,” she explained. “We had one at Meat’s, we had one at Seven Lakes, one here, we had one at St. Thomas for our Spanish-speaking families.”
DeTroye also told us that if it does not pass this time around, the district will not bring it back up, and will have to make some “tough decisions” moving forward.
