Community votes down referendum for the 3rd time

Community+votes+down+referendum+for+the+3rd+time

For the the third time in the past five years, the school referendum has failed. The facilities issue has been researched for 11 years, and the district cannot wait any longer for a solution. The Galena Board of Education has a major question to answer: What’s next?

 

On April 4, the referendum failed 1,279 votes to 847 votes. This referendum would have increased property taxes $228 per $100,000 of fair market value of property. Superintendent Mr. Greg Herbst said, “I think the over riding reason why the referendum failed was simply because we were asking for a lot of money.”

 

Herbst sent out a tweet after the votes were finalized reading, “Contrary to popular opinion, I began my day excited by the fact that we now have a path on which to move forward; let the progress begin.” In addition to his tweet, Herbst said, “A lot of people thought I would come to work the following day feeling defeated. I was actually energized by the fact that we now have a path in which we can move forward.”

 

Now with no way to bond money as a result of  the failed referendum, the board has to make some major decisions. “The board of education has been of the consensus that the district should move from three buildings to two. They must decide which two they will keep. The middle school will be part of the plans in any scenario.” If the board was to invest money in all three buildings, they would be apt to keep all three buildings.

 

“The biggest issue we have is the safety of our students. If learning isn’t optimal for a day, we can overcome that. If safety wasn’t optimal for a day, we can’t overcome that,” said Herbst.

This big decision is in the hands of a newly organized board. Incumbent Tom Long will maintain his seat on the board, but new members Michael Einsweiler and Nikki Frank will be taking the seats of Laura Edmonds and Mike Hyland. The new board members will be seated at the meeting on April 18, and they will be thrown into a situation that needs a quick, but comprehensive, decision.

 

“I am energized by the fact that we can move forward. Maybe not as quickly or as in depth as I want, but we can still move forward. We have moved inches in 11 years. Let’s get going,” said Herbst.

 

Changes to the facilities will start happening as early as this summer. Students will not be learning in state of the art classrooms, but they will be safe, and there will be no additional tax burden on the community, as of right now.