Monday, December 17, 2007
Local voters: No, no, no
Voters in Auburn, Opelika and Lee County rejected a 7-mill school tax increase in a special election Tuesday, sending school officials back to the drawing board.
August 29, 2007
Voters in Auburn, Opelika and Lee County rejected a 7-mill school tax increase in a special election Tuesday, sending school officials back to the drawing board.
The largest percentage of voters against the special school ad valorem tax hike was in the unincorporated county, where just over 82 percent voted no.
Turnout in Lee County was just over 10 percent.
Lee County Schools Interim Superintendent Stephen Nowlin said the county board of education will reassess its priorities.
“We have $50 to $60 million in building needs and there’s just no way that we’ll be able to come up with all of it,” said Nowlin.
He said the BOE may choose to not fill certain positions within the school system.
In Opelika, 64 percent voted against the school tax increase. Turnout was just over 17 percent.
The Opelika BOE had hoped to use the 7-mill tax increase to help fund a new main building at the high school, among other areas.
Opelika City Schools Superintendent Mark Neighbors said the school system’s priority will now shift to expanding curriculum programs instead of a new building.
“Educational programs are more important than a building,” he said.
The vote was closest in Auburn where the referendum failed by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. Turnout was about 14 percent.
The two-year laptop pilot program in Auburn City Schools could be eliminated or drastically scaled back by the end of this year without the additional funding, said ACS Superintendent Terry Jenkins.
The renovations to Auburn High School’s band and choral rooms, as well as the addition of a middle years International Baccalaureate program will also be taken off the table, Jenkins said.
Jenkins will meet with the Auburn Board of Education to discuss options regarding the fate of other programs such as the culinary arts course at the high school.
“We’ve got the rest of this year to make those kind of decisions,” he said.