Greenwood School District Holds Informational Meetings on April 7th Referendum
Thursday, March 12th, 2020 -- 9:38 AM
-The Greenwood School District has been holding informational meetings regarding the district’s operational referendum on the April 7th ballot.They held one of those meetings yesterday evening at the Willard Community Center. As the referendum that passed back in April of 2016 expires, the district is asking Greenwood residents to approve another that will begin in the 2020-21 school year and run through the 2024-25 school year. As the previous referendum expires, the district will be asking to exceed the referendum limit by $900,000 in the 2020-21 school year, which is broken down into $750,000 from the final amount of the 2016 referendum and $150,000 added to it from the new referendum should it pass. Then for 2021-22 they’re asking for $1,050,000, $1,100,000 for 2022-23, $1,150,000 for 2023-24 and $1,200,000 for 2024-25. All of those amounts would strictly come from the new referendum should it pass. Like most districts that ask for these approvals, the district is facing small increases in revenue limits and declining state aid. Back in 2009-10, the district’s revenue limit was $4.68 million compared to $4.85 million for this school year. That’s an increase of only $175,000. Revenue limits were enacted back in 1993 and have not been adjusted to match the change in education in the over 25 years since then. For state aid, the Greenwood School District received $2.91 million back in 2009-10 compared to $2.32 million received for this school year. That’s a decline of $600,000 ($725,000 when adjusted for inflation) over 10 years or 20.7%.
Delving further, for taxes, Greenwood residents will actually see a decrease in their levy, or mil rate, from this school year, $11.05, to the next school year, $10.82. From there, residents will see a slight increase every year into 2024-25. It’s estimated to have a levy of $10.85 in 2021-22, $10.86 in 2022-23, $10.88 in 2023-24 and $10.90 in 2024-25. Those amounts are based off of $100,000 of property value. Currently, should the referendum fail, the district is looking at significant budget deficits in the coming years. For the next school year, 2020-21, they’re facing a deficit of $189,983 and that would increase to $1,389,256 by the 2024-25 school year. However, with the referendum passed, it still won’t completely solve the district’s deficit problem. The district would still be responsible for finding cost savings and efficiencies to eliminate the deficit. But, should the referendum pass, they would face a deficit of $39,983 in the next school year and, if nothing were to change, it would increase to $189,256 by the 2024-25 school year.
So, what will the district use the money for? They will use it to maintain their current 4K-12 educational programs. They also want to maintain their small class sizes in the elementary, keep their academic and elective course offerings, keep their athletic and co-curricular programs, continue to update instructional materials, continue to update technology and pay for operational and maintenance costs. It should be noted that this referendum will not be for new buildings or remodeling. It will only be used for operational purposes in order to maintain the current programs and services the district offers. Should the referendum fail, the district would be forced to make major reductions in all areas, which would result in the loss of academic and co-curricular opportunities for students.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.