Cape seeks support for school construction
Cape Henlopen School District kicked off community meetings seeking to raise support for a referendum to pay for a new middle school and high school addition.
Only two residents attended a Feb. 20 meeting at Rehoboth Elementary – the first of four events with remaining presentations scheduled Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Cape High; Monday, March 5, at Milton Elementary; and Thursday, March 15, at Love Creek Elementary. All presentations are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
School district officials are asking residents to maintain debt service tax of about 69 cents per $100 of assessed property, originally used to pay for new and renovated elementaries, to pay for a new 600-student middle school and 20 new classrooms at the high school for about 450 students.
Voters approved the tax rate during referendums held in 2014 and 2016, but they must approve using the previously set tax rate for new building projects, said Brian Bassett, director of capital projects.
“What you thought you would spend will now pay for these two other things,” he said.
Once the existing Shields Elementary is vacated, the building will be torn down to make room for a new middle school.
Student enrollment continues to increase in the district, said Superintendent Robert Fulton. About 400 new students have enrolled since 2014, he said.
Already, the district's two middle schools are over capacity, with an eighth-grade bubble that will soon be replaced with a large fifth-grade class, Fulton said.
To accommodate the bulging middle schools, Bassett said the district must spend about $130,000 to lease a two-classroom modular building for five years at each of the schools. At least one, possibly two, will be placed along the cafeteria wall of both Beacon and Mariner middle schools, Bassett said.
A new middle school, even if approved, would not be ready until 2023.
While the district can build a new middle school and put a classroom addition on the high school without raising the debt service tax rate, a tax increase is needed to pay for teachers, administrators, electricity, maintenance and other services at a new school. Fulton said the current expense increase would be permanent, but it would be spread out over two increases – five cents in 2019 for about $12 for the average resident and 15 cents more in 2022 for about $35. The total operating expense increase would be about $47 a year for the average homeowner. An average district home is valued at $250,000 with an assessed value of $22,500.
If the referendum does not pass, district data show the debt service tax rate would still increase by 2020 to 69.1 cents, but would drop by about a penny by 2022.
If it passes, together with the current expense increase, the tax rate for an average resident would be about $70 a year more before the debt service tax rate starts to drop again.
But by passing it, said Fulton and Bassett, the new schools and additions would satisfy future district growth expected to peak at 6,800 by 2035.
If the referendum fails, Bassett said, it could take another five years before Cape is approved for a building project. Cape was the only school district to receive state approval in 2017 when the state agreed to pay $34 million of the total $55.7 million project. The local share is about $21 million, which would be covered by the existing debt service tax rate.
The referendum will be held 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 20, with polling places at Cape High, Mariner Middle School and Rehoboth Elementary. Voters must be at least 18 and reside in Cape Henlopen School District.
