Brandywine tries 2nd referendum of spring

Brandywine School District officials hope a little education can help get an upcoming referendum passed.

The district is hosting four public meetings in advance of its second referendum of the year, which will be held next month.

The first one failed last month, with many voters saying they felt the district hadn't made a sufficient effort to let residents without children know about the referendum.

The vote is scheduled for May 17.

If it doesn't pass, the district will face $8 million in cuts, according to Superintendent Mark Holodick.

That would include getting rid of summer programs, after-school bus runs and school sports – except for varsity, according to a presentation that Holodick gave at a school board meeting Tuesday night.

Staff cuts would total $3.3 million and include teachers, counselors and librarians, among others. Support staff and administrative positions would also be reduced and all of the district's expenditures would be frozen.

The district is trying to get the word out by hosting community meetings to explain what it's asking for.

The district took its bid for synthetic turf athletic fields off of the ballot, but kept the rest of the request the same. It is asking voters for an extra 28 cents per $100 of assessed value in order to support the regular operating budget and is asking for money to fund a capital project, which would cover work on three school buildings and the demolition of a school that has been empty since 2010.

The capital project would cost local property owners just over $19 million, but it wouldn't actually increase the taxes they've been paying because it would pick up where a large capital project, passed in 2005, left off. That was a $63 million project that renovated two schools, built three new ones, demolished one, relocated the district office and purchased a transportation facility.

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The last time that the district asked for a referendum and won was in 2012 and, at that time, it had planned to get through three years before putting up another one, Holodick said.

"We got an additional year out of that referendum," he said, since it has now been four years, each of which typically brings increases in expenses for staff and energy.

The district has also lost revenue from industrial tax payers totaling $1.4 million, Holodick said.

Since 2013, the Evraz steel plant in Claymont closed, Astrazeneca consolidated its operations and Chemours closed its Edge Moor plant.

Holodick will be giving the presentations at each community meetings, accompanied by other administrators, and will take questions, he said.

Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909, sspencer@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SSpencerTNJ.

INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS

Scheduled for 7 p.m. on:

• Thursday, April 21, at Claymont Elementary School;
• Wednesday, April 27, at P.S. duPont Middle School;
• Tuesday, May 3, at Carrcroft Elementary School; and
• Thursday, May 12, at Brandywine High School.