The Delmar School District’s superintendent makes the case for an operating referendum to school board members.
Details on a potential referendum, like how much of a tax increase the district would ask for and when the vote might happen, remain in limbo for now. But at a meeting last month, Superintendent Andrew O'Neal laid the groundwork for the ask.
“Without additional funding, we may be forced to cut programs in the arts, athletics, career and technical education, and these programs are not just nice to have, but critical to our students' success," he said.
Among the most pressing needs is a growing classroom crowding problem.
“Del Mar's middle and senior high schools are approximately 124% over programming capacity, putting pressure on our classroom space," O'Neal told board members. "Currently, we have some classrooms with 32 to 35 students.”
With a request for state funding to build a new school denied, the district would need to add modular classrooms to handle the overflow, the superintendent said.
O’Neal also highlighted the impact of inflation on the district’s bottom line and the need to raise teacher salaries for the first time in years.
Technology is also a concern for the district. O’Neal told board members that since the 2019-2020 school years, the amount of student technology, like laptops, has grown by 72%.
At the same time, the district Chief Operating Officer, Monet Smith, warns of the impact of potential changes to state funding coming from the Public Education Funding Commission. But no funding model has been approved, and the commission has committed no district losing funding as part of the process.
The Board of Education will discuss a potential referendum at a special session in the coming weeks.
