New approach wins money for facilities; Colorado: Montrose County School District RE-1J.While many school districts nationwide are operating schools in buildings that are outdated out·dat·ed adj. Out-of-date; old-fashioned. outdated Adjective old-fashioned or obsolete Adj. 1. and in disrepair, a district in Colorado had good reason to be disheartened dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. about the outlook for improved facilities. Since Montrose County School District RE-1J was reorganized re·or·gan·ize v. re·or·gan·ized, re·or·gan·iz·ing, re·or·gan·iz·es v.tr. To organize again or anew. v.intr. To undergo or effect changes in organization. in 1965, the school board had tried to win voter approval for 11 school bonds. Only two attempts were successful. The board's most recent attempts to obtain construction funding through property tax increases--in 1998 and 1999--had also failed. Some district school buildings were nearly 100 years old, and renovations and expansions related to community growth over the past decade had resulted in a wide variety of school designs, construction and maintenance issues. One thousand of the district's 5,300 students attended courses in 38 portable classrooms, which had no water or bathrooms. In 1999, a citizens group initiated by the local Rotary Rotary can refer to:
In February 2001, a citizens group began working to develop a recommendation to the Board of Education for a package of facility improvements and an innovative way to pay for them. After two years of work, the group surveyed likely voters and determined that the district needed $23 million in improvements and that any effort to raise the money solely through property tax increases would likely fail. The citizens approached the city of Montrose and requested a ballot question asking voters to approve a temporary sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. increase to raise $12 million and a school bond proposal for $11 million. The city agreed to the approach, but the citizen volunteers knew they would have to educate the voters to win approval. They created a speakers bureau, which included several high school students, to make presentations throughout the community. Presentations, made in English and Spanish, explained why the schools needed improvements and why the decision was made to ask for a temporary sales tax increase. The presentations also covered how to register to vote and what a mail-in ballot would look like. Students worked with the citizens committee to organize a door to door campaign where they took signs to place in yards and more information about the election. In November 2002, the voters approved a sales tax increase of one-half of 1 percent until $12 million was raised. They also approved an $11 million property tax bond. The district has since shared the fund-raising model with districts across the state. For more information, contact Superintendent George Voorhis George David Voorhis or as some say it as "Voorhees" (born 1930 [1] in Rock Hill, South Carolina). Was the second person to play Ronald McDonald after Willard Scott did. at Montrose County School District RE-1J, 126 S. 5th St., P.O. Box 10000, Montrose, Colo. 81401, or call (970) 249-7726. The e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address is gvoorhis@mcsd.k12.co.us. |
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