JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — Just one day after the vote, some parents in the Fox C-6 School District say they are disappointed after a proposed tax levy increase was shot down by voters.
Parents in the school district say their kids are heading into yet another school year with inadequate funding for teachers and so much more.
“We had to let a lot of educators go last year. I think that we'll probably have to let more educators go. I think the less and less help that we have in the buildings is going to just make things that much harder,” parent Christine Zouglas said.
The proposed increase would have raised taxes by about $1 per $100 of assessed valuation.
“I think I was looking at like $400 or $500 more a year in real estate taxes and I'm a single mom and yeah, it crossed my mind," she said. "But to me, it was worth it."
But to others, it wasn’t.
Jeffco Patriots, a local organization, posted on their website urging voters to say no because they claim the school district is overspending and student enrollment is down. No one from the organization responded to our request for comment.
Dr. Paul Fregeau, Fox C-6 superintendent responded with a statement:
“I would like to thank our families and community members who worked tirelessly on behalf of our students and school community throughout the Prop I campaign. While over 34% of our community supported Prop I, our community has spoken and we respect their voice. As we have said before, we wanted to give our community an opportunity to have a say in the future of the school district.”
“We've had a lot of things that have been deferred, a lot of deferred maintenance that's still even beyond what we see today in some of the updates,” parent Gina Presley said.
Presley says they’re now going to have to have even more fundraisers to keep things going and wants the community to get involved.
“Our students today, they'll become the next doctors of tomorrow, the next lawyers, the next teachers. The list can go on and on and on and on. And if we are not focused on developing them so they want to come back like I did to our community, then our community will not be thriving,” Presley said.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on August 15 at Rickman Auditorium.