The Kanawha County Board of Education plans to finalize on July 21 the excess levy property tax proposal that will go on voters’ ballots this November.
As of now, residents may still weigh in on what the money should, or shouldn’t, go for. The current proposal would bring in $61.7 million in the first year alone, without raising or lowering current tax rates, and would fund things from counselors to additional air-conditioning work.
Once the school system finalizes the ballot language and voters approve it in November, the school district will have to use the money for whatever it promised voters on that ballot.
Two people showed up at Tuesday’s school board meeting to express concern about the dozen disguised and armed school “marshals” that the current proposal would fund. They’re part of a $2.7 million annual “safety and security” line in the current proposal — a line that also includes “installation of weapons detection equipment in all high schools.”
Rob Ferguson, a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran and Kanawha high school teacher, said hit rates are very low in combat environments.
“If you’re going to hire people, they need to be vetted carefully,” Ferguson told the board.
Keith Vititoe, Kanawha schools’ executive director of safety and security, said he intends to use recently retired law enforcement officers to fill these roles. County schools Superintendent Tom Williams said Vititoe will present on the proposal July 21, the day of the planned finalization vote.
Board member Tracy White said the school marshals proposal is what she’s hearing the most discussion around.
Melanie Meadows, the school system’s treasurer, said the board could vote to change the proposal on July 21. She said the latest the board could act is the beginning of next month.
“You could always give it to HVAC, always,” Meadows said, using the acronym for heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Williams said a new state law means Kanawha must run, and pass, its excess levy extension either this November or in the May 2024 primary election — right when it’s set to expire. Otherwise, the school system could lose all the excess levy funding it relies on.
“We’re doing the best we can, but we have to do it now,” he said.
Another new feature of the current proposal would be retaining the presently higher-than-normal number of maintenance positions, which are currently funded with federal COVID-19 pandemic relief money, Williams said.
In November 2018, Kanawha County residents approved raising their excess levy property tax rates supporting the public school system to the maximum level state law permits, save for allowing some support for the county library system. That 2018 vote ended a quarter-century of the school district bringing in less money than the law allows.
But those increased property tax rates are set to expire, and the school board is currently considering asking voters to renew them at the max rates for another five years. The current rates will continue to support the school system through the end of the 2023-24 school year, Williams said, but voters will get to decide this November what happens after that.
Also Tuesday, board members unanimously elected White as the new board president for the next two years. She was sworn in by her husband, who, having survived hospitalization from COVID-19, walked using a cane to the lectern to do the honors.
CLICK HERE to follow the Charleston Gazette-Mail and receive
