Independence schools hope listening sessions help explain referendum need

After two community listening sessions, leaders in the Independence School District hope residents have more answers than questions regarding a recurring referendum question facing them on the April 5 ballot.

Multiple questions have been raised at the open meetings, but the district has tried to establish three main points, according to Superintendent Barry Schmitt and school board president Joe Bragger.

• The $900,000 recurring referendum would not change how the district operates because it has been utilizing operational referendums steadily for the last 25 years.

• If approved, money could not be used to improve facilities or build a childcare center. The money could only be used to keep the district operating through items such as staff pay and day-to-day fees.

• The tax impact of a passed referendum will not greatly change tax bills for residents and would keep the mill rate low.

Bragger said a big part of the hearings has been helping people understand that tax impact would not be drastic. 

He said one misconception is that because the district is asking for more money — this referendum is for $900,000 and the last referendum that ended after last school year was a $700,000 plan — taxes will go up.

“When you look at where our mill rate is currently and where they’ll be in five years, if we’re consistent in our savings and our spending and we continue on the trajectory we’re at, we end up at almost the same mill rate of our record low $5.68 again in five years,” Bragger said.

Schmitt said $676,325 is the expected deficit for next school year, followed by deficits of $721,277 and $1.2 million the following years. The large jump in the third year is due to ESSER funding falling off, he said.

Another idea that has been rehashed multiple times at the hearings is the phrase “recurring referendum”.

Because the district has been on a cycle of operating referendums over the last 25 years it has basically utilized a recurring referendum already, Schmitt said.

“We basically in all practicality have been on a recurring referendum because when one has expired we’ve had to go back right for another one,” he said.

Bragger argued a recurring referendum helps for planning, too, adding that if the school funding formula or state aid changes, the district can always choose not to levy its amount in taxes if they don’t need it.

“You look at stability for the district, stability for staff, stability for students. This sets us up with a baseline that we can count on for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Schmitt said the number has caused some “sticker shock” for residents because it is higher than the last passed referendum in 2016. He wants people to know, however, that the money is to help offset issues such as inflation and keeping quality teachers.

The money cannot be used for facility upgrades such as a childcare facility or new school building. Such physical improvements would require a separate facilities referendum in the future.

“Yeah, that sounds like a big number. … I think the recurring, they’re just not comfortable with that because we’ve never done that before,” Schmitt said.

The district has performed well academically compared to others in the conference but has the second lowest pay for staff amongst the 10 schools. With teacher shortages and openings across the state, that is not a good equation, Bragger said.

The final listening session was scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Independence High School.