The board president of the Springfield School District says there's no chance a tax referendum will get on the November ballot.
A community group is pushing an idea to raise property taxes, and the board's vice president is pushing for a county-wide sales tax hike. Both would benefit district 186, though the county sales-tax hike would help all schools in the county and most the money would have to go to facility costs.
But school board president Chuck Flamini has been in the district long enough to see tax referendums fail before. And he says he doesn't yet see enough support in the community to get the idea through: "I think it just takes too long, and we don't have that much time. And you have to have an organization - you have to have people from the community who will push this. It can't be the 7 people up here - it will not sell anything." It's been decades since Springfield voters approved a school tax referendum. Meanwhile, the district is looking to fill a budget hole of at least $5 million dollars.
