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Christina School District's second chance referendum fails

Delaware Public Media

Residents in the Christina School District rejected another tax referendum Wednesday.

The revised referendum failed by an 894-vote margin.  It was seeking a tax increase of 37 cents per $100 of assessed property value, phased in over three years. 

The final unofficial vote tally of 5,074 for and 5,968 against was much closer than the nearly 4,000 vote setback a February proposal asking for 65 cents per $100 of assessed property value suffered, but still not enough to bring additional operating revenue to the district.

Christina officials announced 1.8 million dollars in budget cuts in response to February’s referendum result – and more are expected with this result.

District officials previously said that if this referendum failed it would cut about 100 employees - most of them teachers, and reduce or eliminate athletic programs, after-school programs and extracurricular activities.

Individual school budgets for supplies, materials and other items, including books, paper, field trips, Smart Boards and laptop computers, substitute teachers and supplies for school nurses, are also slated to be reduced.

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.
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