The Caesar Rodney School District will ask residents for more money early next year.
Board of Education members voted unanimously to approve a referendum, which will go on the ballot next February. The proposed referendum would increase the average homeowner’s tax bill by $274 a year.
The district’s last successful referendum was in 2015; an attempt to pass a referendum in 2023 failed with more than two-thirds of voters turning the measure down. In the last decade, Caesar Rodney Superintendent Corey Miklus says the district has been doing more with less.
“We currently have the lowest tax rate in the county, and we also have the highest student population.," he says. "So when you take a look at things, just with the amount of money we have coming in, our per-pupil rate of how much money goes to our students is the lowest in the county with the highest student achievement.”
Miklus says, if approved, the additional revenue from the referendum will fund enhancing school security, increasing student supports, and teacher retention and recruitment. He notes that Caesar Rodney has some of the lowest teacher salaries in Kent County.
The referendum is projected to raise $6.1 million in its first year.
