EUREKA, Mo. — It is exactly one week away from the Missouri municipal election. One of the items on the ballot is a measure to benefit one of our area's largest school districts.
Rockwood School District officials said that Proposition 3 would provide debt-free resources for facilities, technology and safety without increasing the tax rate.
Superintendent Curtis Cain said the passing of the measure is necessary for the district's continued growth.
"We have ongoing needs, and this is a very fiscally responsible and measured way to address those needs in our district," he said.
It's a conversation that Cain said has been happening for nearly a decade.
"We've been working to frame this and literally strategize, to put ourselves in a position to respond in this manner, and we're really excited about this opportunity," he said.
Cain said it's a chance to improve the schools that are educating the minds of thousands of kids daily, without the community spending an extra cent.
"The fastest and I think best way to describe Proposition 3 is reallocation," he said.
If passed, the district would reallocate money out of its debt service fund and put it towards the capital project funds.
According to Cain, the three main things the district would put the money towards are facilities, technology and safety.
"It takes ongoing and reoccurring funds to address the needs that we have in our district," he said.
In terms of safety, Cain said it would help Rockwood update things like communication and intruder alarm systems, as well as, add more security cameras and much more.
"I don't want a student, parent, staff member, community member to ever walk one day in fear. We just have to have the ability and will and willingness to address and go about this a little bit differently when it comes to safety," he said.
As far as facilities, the money would be used towards replacing aging HVAC systems.
According to Cain, 23 of their school buildings are currently using over 20-year-old systems.
"This is a tiger that is going to catch us. We have to have effective means to be able to cool our learning spaces in our schools, gymnasiums, classrooms, hallways, and we are falling behind," he said.
Some of these necessary improvements are things Cain said the students are already feeling the impact of now.
For example, due to a lack of funding, this past year some grade levels didn't receive new Chromebooks.
"We want to close that gap, get our students the technology that they need so they can be as effective and learn to the best of their ability each and every day in the Rockwood School District," he said.
In order to make all of this happen, Cain said the district needs your vote.
"People are very proud of what's happened in the school district. We just want to keep moving forward," he said.
He said the ballot language is a bit confusing and to pay attention to the very end of the ballot language itself.
"When we say no tax rate increase, that's exactly what we mean in our school district," he said.
Also, another question he said they have been getting a lot is how the community will know what the district is spending the money on if Prop 3 passes.
"I promise this community we will develop a mechanism that allows people to have clarity of what we're spending money on and where those investments are in fact going in our district," he said.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Prop 3 needs a simple majority to pass and you can find out more information about Prop 3 here.