SUSSEX COUNTY, DE - Cape Henlopen School District officials have announced they will hold another referendum in regards to funding for expansion.
Last month, a vote on a tax increase failed. It would have funded the district's expansion plans and help address its growing student population.
The second referendum will be on May 21, 2024.
This time, there will not be a proposal for an indoor swimming pool on the referendum.
According to Cape Henlopen Superintendent Robert Fulton, the district is in desperate need of this funding,
“We’re at a time now where we are, we’re desperate to find more operations to hire all the staff we qualify for, to keep class sizes as small as possible, and to support our kids.”
He says they understand it's never a great time to raise taxes, but it will only become more of an issue if they wait,
“We realize there’s never a good time, it wasn’t a good time in 2020 when we canceled the referendum 2021 when we didn’t do it, 22, 23, but we’re in a point now where we are in desperate mode," he added.
For some the change is a disappointment, like for Bob Rabatsky who supported the first referendum.
"That's a shame for the kids, that's a shame for the adults," says Rabatsky. "Plenty of us retirees could have used that pool for our daily recreation and exercise."
On the other hand, substitute teacher J.W. Barnes sees the elimination of the pool proposal as a potential turning point.
"It was disappointing to hear so many people focused on that word pool and now that I think that the word pool has been taken away, it will be interesting to see how folks will now address this and may take a different perspective," says Barnes.
The removal of the pool from the plans has also led to a reduction in the amount the district is requesting from voters. The revised proposal now seeks $.411 per $100 of assessed property value, down from the previous request of $.549 per $100.
There will also be more voting locations, with Lewes Elementary School and Beacon Middle School.
Despite the changes, Donna Reed plans to vote yes in the next referendum but disagrees with the timing, as Sussex County is currently assessing property values.
"See how much money they're gonna get from that, cause they're gonna get money from that cause everybody's property value is gonna go up," Reed says.
In contrast, several people say they voted 'NO' once and plan to vote 'NO' again. Many of them say they disagree with need for a swimming pool, and despite that pool now being out of the equation, they say would still like to see the district allocate more funding to teachers and classrooms.
