Franklin County and Russellville City voters will head to the polls next week to decide whether or not to continue school funding as they have for the past 30 years.
In 1997, Franklin County voters overwhelmingly voted in support of an ad valorem tax to be used by the two school systems in the county. The current tax structure allocates 4.5 mills to RCS and 5.5 mills to the county school system.
The 4.5 mill number allocated to Russellville schools is the equivalent of 45 cents on each $100 of the assessed value of property in the city limits. The 30-year term that the tax was put into place for is nearing its expiration.
The referendum does not seek additional funding and will not take anything more from local taxpayers than what they have been paying for the last three decades.
“This is not a new tax, but it does generate approximately $1.4 million of local funds for RCS, which allows us to do some extra things for our students,” said RCS Superintendent Dr. Tim Guinn.
“Among those extras are increased campus security measures, such as funding our school resource officers at every school, school visitor management systems at our elementary schools and electro-magnetic locks on all perimeter doors. School safety is just one aspect of how we spend these local funds.”
Guinn said there would be a number of things impacted if the tax is not extended and the loss in revenue would be a significant blow to Russellville schools.
The $1.4 million in annual funds have paid for classroom technology, instructional programs and additional teaching units that lower student-to-teacher ratios beyond what the state provides, giving students more one-on-one instruction time.
The money has also expanded Career and Technical Education offerings. Through a partnership with Northwest Shoals Community College, the district has added programs including welding, industrial maintenance, EMS and fire safety. The system has also maintained programs such as agriculture, business technology, JROTC, computer programming, AutoCAD and accounting.
Ad valorem funds have also paid for updated camera systems at every campus well as automatic perimeter door locks and helped support trained school resource officers at each campus.
“This vote just allows the people of Russellville and Franklin County to decide whether or not to renew and continue financially supporting the school systems as they have been for the past, almost 30 years,” Guinn said.
“This is not a referendum asking for more taxes, just a continuation of the current tax structure.”