Smyrna School District referendum fails

Smyrna and Appoquinimink are the two school district’s with unsuccessful referendums this academic year.

Smyrna School District’s capital and operating referendum to raise local revenue for it school’s has failed.

It’s request to raise local funds was rejected at a vote of 820 “yes” and 1,129 “no” (57.9%).

The other ballot option – which would authorize the district to issue bonds for capital projects like building a new intermediate school – also failed, with a vote of 874 for and 1,079 (56.1%) against.

Statement from Smyrna

Smyrna’s request

Smyrna was seeking $8,618,951 in local funds for market pressure needs after already being approved for $98,854,141 in state-matching funds. It was also seeking $5,510,000 in local funds for operational costs.

The first question on the ballot requested the local portion of $8.6 million, and the second question on the ballot was for the $5.5 million to address the operating expenses.

“These expenses include recruiting and hiring new constables for every school building, delivering mental health support in every school building, maintaining competitive salaries, enhancing student instructional technology materials and providing extracurricular activities for the new middle school,” said Jessalynn Kenton, Smryna’s community relations and family engagement specialist.

Some of the capital needs include:

• Major capital project at North Smyrna Elementary School, including new mechanical systems and a ballistic-rated vestibule
• Chiller rebuild at the central plant to effectively cool Smyrna High School and Smyrna Middle School facilities
• Lighting upgrades that have yielded nearly $30,000 in energy rebates
• Bottle filling stations installed and located in all eight schools
• Resurfacing of athletic areas at multiple locations throughout the district
• Enhance safety features with access controls and updated cameras, doors and locks throughout the District
• Currently upgrading components of  the HVAC system in Smyrna High School

The district also plans to reconfigure its grade alignment at its soon-to-be nine schools:

Smyrna, which spans areas in both New Castle and Kent counties will be responsible for 23% of capital costs, while the state is on the hook for the other 77%.

The capital projects are a new intermediate school on Rabbit Chase Lane, the expansion and conversion of Clayton Intermediate School to Clayton Middle School, and the expansion of North Elementary School.

Smyrna is likely to go to referendum later this year. District’s can have an unsuccessful referendum twice before the state revokes its share of capital funds.

Jarek Rutz

Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.

Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz