Rural McLean County school superintendents have several possible uses for the money that would come from the countywide school sales tax on the ballot for the April 1 election. From saving property taxpayers money to adding student behavioral and mental health supports.
A similar sales tax proposal failed in McLean County in 2014. The new proposal features an expanded set of rules for how the money can be spent than the previous one; safety and security, school resource officers and mental health spending are all allowed under the new ballot measure.
A new website with information about the referendum has been launched as a joint effort by schools in the county. Several individual school districts plan to hold their own informational meetings to present and answer questions in front of voters within their school districts.
If approved by a majority of voters, the sales tax in McLean County would increase by 1 percentage point for eligible items such as retail purchases, prepared food and gasoline. A $10 meal at a restaurant would cost an extra 10 cents. It would not apply to groceries, prescription drugs or services like getting a haircut.
Heyworth
The Heyworth school district intends to use the funds for property tax relief.
Heyworth's tax rate is currently $5.16 for every $100 of a property's taxable value. Around 80 cents of that goes toward paying off debt. Superintendent Lisa Taylor said if the district could use a third to half of the estimated $1 million in new yearly revenue towards paying off debt, it could reduce that by up to 35 cents. For the owner of a $190,000 home, they'd save around $222 a year.
That debt includes a new district office adjacent to the high school, upgrades to the gymnasium, and a new football stadium which is currently in the bidding phase.
“The values of homes in McLean County are just going through the roof, and so trying to soften some of that burden on taxpayers, if this is another way that helps the school district do that, they will at least put it out to the voters and ask,” Taylor said.
Another way the new money could be used for is facility improvements. Taylor said the Heyworth Junior and Senior High School's HVAC system has led to some extra e-learning days when temperatures change.
“It's just an older system that's not running at full efficiency, and so if it gets really cold and stays cold for a long time, we're unable to keep the building heated like we should be able to,” Taylor said. “We did bid it out a couple years ago, but it came in about three times the anticipated cost with construction cost up.”
Taylor added roofing repairs and new cafeteria furniture would also be helpful for the district.
Tri-Valley
The Downs-based Tri-Valley school district expects $1.5 million per year from the new tax should it be approved. Superintendent Ben Derges said school safety is one of two areas the school would like to invest in.
“We're starting to come up with a plan for what kind of things we'd like to do. Bringing in this 1% sales tax would be a big factor in us being able to move much more quickly in those purchases and facility upgrades,” Derges said.
Student behavior is another focus.
“Particularly at the early childhood levels, we're really seeing a need for more supports for not only the students in helping them to adapt to a school setting, but then also resources for teachers,” Derges said. “So that we can support them as they're trying to help students work through socio-emotional things, or also just the learning of behavioral development.”
Derges added the district could direct “upwards of a third” of the revenue gained by the tax to allow for property tax relief. He said that a resolution to commit some of that money towards tax relief will be voted on at their next school board meeting.
Tri-Valley will hold a community meeting to explain the referendum in March.
Olympia
Olympia Superintendent Laura O’Donnell said her district could receive anywhere from $750,000 to $950,000 per year from the sales tax.
“I think a lot of us in the smaller districts have wanted this to be put on the ballot and wanted the voters to decide whether or not this tax would pass for multiple years,” O’Donnell said.
Olympia passed a referendum in spring 2024 that changed its tax approach to create more funding for its operations and maintenance fund. That helped renovate Olympia’s high school pool and cut into its education fund deficit. It also funded a facility study that helped the district find other projects in need of funding.
“However, the board was very clear that won't happen until we have the money for that to happen, so we've been telling taxpayers and staff we're looking at three to five years,” O’Donnell said. “If this county facility sales tax does pass, that will simply accelerate all those building projects that we have on our list.”
Safety, security and mental health needs could also be aided by this revenue.
“We have a lot of kids, especially at the middle school and high school, in need of counseling. We have wait lists for kids to get into counselors,” O’Donnell said. “We have actively solicited some additional social work time for next year and an additional counselor from the Center for Human Services, and so the funds would help staff those mental health service providers.”
El Paso-Gridley
El Paso-Gridley already benefits from a similar 1% sales tax revenue enacted in Livingston and Woodford counties. Superintendent DeAnn Heck said more than 300 of the district’s 1,149 students come from McLean County.
“I think it's been a nice plus to already know, hey, this is how it works, and it's a good thing,” said Heck.
Passing the tax would bring in an additional $400,000 to $450,000 per year. The district would use the revenue for school resource officers, safety and facilities, according to Heck.
“We have some really old buildings in the district," she said. "We have worked on the entryways for both our elementary schools and made those safer this year using the one-cent sales tax from Woodford County and Livingston County. So McLean would be the third edition, and it would be a really nice increase in that.”
The referendum requires a majority vote to pass. Early voting starts on Feb. 20.
This story is part of WGLT's expanded K-12 education coverage, supported by a grant from the Google News Initiative and the Institute for Nonprofit News. Tell us what education stories you'd like us to cover by filling out a quick survey at WGLT.org/EdSurvey
