Indian River schools to go to referendum again after March rejection

The Indian River School District has asked residents of eastern Sussex County to again vote to approve a tax increase, just weeks after a similar referendum to raise more than $22 million was rejected.    

During a board of education meeting late last month, district board members stated they intended to again seek millions of new dollars from the public. On Monday, school district officials provided more details in a press release that said they are seeking $22.5 million to pay for “increased operating costs and to maintain a competitive salary package.”   

The vote will occur from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 5.

“Our operating expenses are increasing at a rate that is simply not sustainable if we are to continue to provide quality educational services to our students,” Indian River School District Superintendent Jay Owens said in a statement.

While districts that fail to pass an initial referendum often decrease its request to voters in its second request, the June referendum for Indian River is nearly identical to the one that failed on March 20 with 53% of voters opposing it. In that vote, district officials sought $22.3 million

Further complicating the matter is the fact that the district’s referendum requests also coincide with the ongoing reassessments throughout the state.

Several voters who spoke with Spotlight Delaware while leaving the polls last month expressed frustration with the request for new public money, with some saying it pointed toward a need for the county to impose higher fees on developers in order to support local schools.

Millville Town Councilman Bob Wisgirda also said that he didn’t believe the referendum would pass because residents were “very paranoid” about the impact of the county’s ongoing reassessments, which could also result in higher property taxes.

Other districts, like the Christina School District, chose to forgo a referendum this year while taking advantage of the reassessment process, which allows districts to raise its local school tax rate by up to 10% without the approval of voters.

Indian River Superintendent Owens told Spotlight Delaware that the upcoming referendum package “far exceeds” the revenue the district would generate if the Board of Education chose to go that route though. It’s referendum request would result in a more than 30% increase.

“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.

If approved, the June referendum would result in a tax increase of 5.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value, or about $269 per year for the average district taxpayer.

Board of Education members laid out the fiscal woes of the district last January when announcing the first planned referendum. At the time, they said that even a successful referendum may not eliminate a need to lay off staff to cut costs elsewhere, according to a report from Coastal Point.

When asked how the district plans to balance its finances until June, Owens said the district has been looking at reductions in educational services “for some time now,” and is looking at the pay scales for extracurricular coaches and similar initiatives.

If the referendum in June fails, he said the district will be as “fiscally responsible” as needed to make sure its finances are safe until they’re able to conduct another possible referendum, which would likely occur next year.

Separately, a threat that the federal government could withhold education dollars has also continued to weigh on districts. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent letters to state governments with a directive that they certify that their public schools do not have programs that federal officials classify as diversity, equity, and inclusion.

If states don’t comply with the certification demand, they may lose federal education funding, the letter stated.