By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph School District has a tax levy renewal coming up on the August ballot, and Friends of the St. Joseph School District is asking voters to say yes on keeping this levy going through 2030.
St. Joseph School Board president David Foster emphasizes this is not a vote to increase the tax, but rather to renew it for another six years.
"It's a 61 cent levy," Foster said. "It passed in 2019 and takes us up to 2024. We're asking for six years on this sunset, and that would take us up to 2030. It's Proposition R.E.A.D., which stands for Reinvesting in Education, Academics and Dedication. It'll be on the ballot Aug. 2."
If approved, this levy is expected to generate up to $6.9 million before it sunsets in 2030. Foster says much of this, about 70 percent in fact, would go toward a teacher and staff salary increase.
"We also intend to hire additional staff members," he said. "There's a staff shortage pretty much everywhere you look right now. But, if we can hire additional staff members and teachers, that will also make classroom sizes reduced by quite a bit. So, that's the goal."
In addition, Foster says some of the money generated would go toward continued improvements to the HVAC systems at the high schools and other building improvement projects.
"We also have some HVAC upgrades," he said. "We started the project with the high schools, making sure everyone has got proper air conditioning. This would also finish that project over the next 3-4 years actually."
Foster says it’s critical for the St. Joseph School District to remain competitive with its neighboring districts across the region, and keeping this levy in place through 2030, he says, will help them do just that.
"This makes us more competitive with other communities north and south of us," Foster said. "Obviously, teachers and staff members have options. You don't get into teaching for the money, but we do want to make sure we pay a competitive wage."
So far, Foster says the reception that he and Friends of SJSD have gotten while campaigning for this has been overwhelmingly positive.
"We do have a lot of endorsements," he said. "Both teachers' associations (Missouri, St. Joseph Community) have endorsed it. We have quite a few community organizations that have endorsed it. We just got a letter from the Fraternal Order of Police. They're going to go ahead and endorse it as well."
"The district would greatly and deeply appreciate (the levy renewal). When the district benefits, I think our whole city benefits."
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