2008 Year in Review

School Board Discusses County Sales Tax Possibility

by Ben Wolf - The Morrison Post

“Do we levy property taxes or use a sales tax?”

That was the question before the Morrison Board of Education last Tuesday, July 22 by the new superintendent, Dr. Suellen Girard. During the public forum, a member of the audience said of the state, “They give you these required projects you have to pay for, and they don’t fund it. Then they tell you that you can raise sales tax to pay for what they won’t. That’s what we have against this measure.”

One of the projects referred to is the large HVAC project at Morrison High School. That project is estimated to cost between $5 and $5.5 million. Board president Sally Gray pointed out that Illinois is 48th or 49th in the country in funding public schools.

Here is how the county sales tax would work. More than half of the school districts in the county would have to ratify a proposal supporting the sales tax. The county board would then consider it, but would not be required to pass a resolution on it. If passed in a public referendum, all sales items excluding groceries, titled vehicles, medicine, farm equipment, seed and fertilizer would be taxed up to 1% of the sale price. The Regional Office of Education would divide up the money collected based on the enrollment of each school. If the tax amount was 1%, Morrison schools could receive around $500,000 per year.

The process for getting this on the November ballot means that the county’s districts would have to pass resolutions and submit to the county before their August 18th board meeting. The Morrison school board will have a special meeting for this purpose on Tuesday, July 29th at 5:00.

The district financial advisor, Jamie Rachlin from Griffin, Kubik , Stephens and Thompson gave the presentation on county sales tax. Rachlin pointed out that this is a way to bring new funds into local schools without impacting local property taxes or relying on the state. It could also give the opportunity to reduce property taxes and future referendums.

Dr. Girard said that she and her husband were pleased to be here, and have appreciated the support of this wonderful community. She said that the world is changing, and that districts need to stay current to make sure they are teaching things that will be relevant to students after graduation. She also pointed out that the district is dependent on state funding, which decreases as enrollment decreases, which it is. She encouraged staying focused on providing the type of education that people want to move here to get and businesses want to locate here to take advantage of.

Several summer projects are being done around the district this summer, and the projects are coming along nicely. All are on track and should be completed by the beginning of the school year, including the swimming pool renovation.

Girard presented information from the tentative budget, which shows a surplus in some funds. These surpluses will be eroded this next year with some of the additional costs the district will be taking on and as transportation costs rise.

One of the extra costs considered, is the addition of a fourth teacher at grade three for the 2008-2009 school year. For three years running, the ISAT scores of the 3rd grade level have dropped. During that time, the class sizes for that grade have risen to a projected 27 students per class in the next school year. The addition of a teacher at that level would drop the class size, and could be a solution to the falling ISAT scores. The board approved the hiring of an additional teacher at the 3rd grade level.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
July 30, 2008