It would cost someone making $30,000 annually about $300 a year.
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“We hope that we have earned our public’s trust with the things that we are doing with the schools to operate in a lean and efficient matter,” Graham Superintendent Kirk Koennecke said.
The school has worked to implement new programming to prepare students for the future, he said, but to continue those and add new ones, the school needs more money.
If approved, this will be the first time the school will receive new money in 24 years.
“One of the reasons for the timing, we would not fully collect those funds until late 2018,” Koennecke said. “In order to make sure we can be financially stable and be able to operate and maintain the programming that we have now, we felt it was important to be on the November ballot.”
If approved, the money will go to pay for materials to help promote education, Koennecke said.
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“Curriculum and material for students is the No. 1 priority,” he said. “We need up-to-date technology for our students to be using in our labs and classrooms and then to support for the teachers to help them implement them into the classroom.”
If the voters don’t approve the levy, Koennecke said there will have to be serious discussions to see if the district needs to make cuts.
“We will spend some time as a school district and board studying the ramifications of that,” he said. “We would have to look really seriously at how we can maintain all of our programming the way that we are now.”
Resident Marcia Ward said she will support the levy this November because she’s happy with how the school continues to promote career-based education.
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“There is nothing more important to the community than the education of our students,” she said.
The school has worked hard to give students opportunities to focus on their future, Ward said. Koennecke has stressed the importance of students graduating with a certificate and not just a diploma.
Also, Graham is a rural district, Ward said, and the earned income tax is fairer to farmers than a property tax.
“For years the farmers have felt they are always are getting hit,” she said. “This is a more fair way to support our students.”
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