Ballot Issue 4-A is a Mill Levy Override (MLO) advanced by the Dolores School District Board of Education to support teacher salaries, supplies and technology. This is not a new tax, rather an extension of the MLO voters approved in 2008 that sunsets in 2032 and must be revisited and approved every eight years.
The MLO seeks approval of $360,000 in 2024, down $30,000 from the initial mill levy and the 2015 renewal that also included maintenance in the activities it supports. As a result, if it passes, at current assessment rates taxes will go down.
The Journal’s editorial board encourages the measure’s passage. Children are our future and it’s rare that a tax-oriented ballot measure results in reduced taxes.
Without it, the district, which serves just shy of 700 pre- through high school students, 30% of whom are from outside the district boundary, will have to absorb that funding into its already tight $9.5 million budget. It would not be able to compete with other districts that can pay higher salaries to recruit staff and bonuses that help retain teachers.
At an average of $45,000 per year, teacher salaries are much lower than three neighboring districts and recruitment and retention suffer. Teacher and parent wallets will as well when instructional materials, supplies and technology budgets disappear. Since 2008, there has been a budget for these materials providing much needed educational resources for teachers and students critical to their learning.
Interim Superintendent Alesa Reed, who has been with the district for 33 years, remembers those days and hopes not to return to them. Teachers currently purchase classroom supplies (notebooks, workbooks, pencils and more), but to a much lesser extent.
Those concerned about the pending 2023 $11.2 million dollar bond issuance need not worry. Voters approved it with the existing MLO already in the mix of their household budgets and a renewed MLO would have taxes go down.
Vote for our kids. Vote for 4A.
