County School Boards Meet Monday Evening to Discuss One-Cent Sales Tax

Representatives of the five public school districts in Effingham County gathered Monday night to discuss common goals; the key among those the one-cent sales tax that could fund capital projects for each district.

Effingham Unit 40 is already discussing construction of Grades Pre-K to 5 facilities, while other districts in the county are looking at projects or at retiring bonding for previous projects.

The sales tax question is expected to be on the November election ballot. A simple majority vote is neede to pass the referendum. One thing that's different from previous tries to pass the sales tax question is that Unit 40 no longer makes up a majority of the student population in the county. Another consideration is that revenue from the sales tax question can be used for some additional purposes, including security and mental health needs of district students.

The districts are expected to vote on placing the sales tax question on the ballot at either their March or April meetings.

Those gathered heard from Norma Lansing of Effingham Regional Career Academy on plans to expand course offerings by the fall of 2024, and from Lucinda Hart of the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce on various undertakings including a Kickoff to Education this fall, and a Career Fair on March 21.