The following is a letter to Icon viewers concerning the March 17 Ada school 3/4 precent income tax renewal levy. The Icon welcomes letters on this subject and all must be signed.
Dear Ada Community:
By now you have begun to see signs in the community asking you to vote for a renewal of a ¾% income tax. Mrs. Kim Light, treasurer, and I have had the privilege of speaking to various community groups about it.
It may seem as though we were just on the ballot. Former district leaders and Boards of Education did a good job of balancing the tax burden required to run an excellent district between income and property taxes, so no one group bears all of the tax burden.
However, in splitting the burden, it causes the district to be going on the ballot for renewals quite often, as each of the three levies (two income tax and one property tax levy) expire in different years.
Because of this, the Ada Board of Education has elected to renew this levy for a continuous period of time. We are grateful to the many supportive residents and staff members who generously contribute to levy campaigns each time we ask.
We are hoping making this a continuous period of time will reduce voter fatigue and campaign contributor fatigue as well. This option will allow the Board to consider merging the two income tax levies into one when the next one expires.
Otherwise they would have to wait until those two levies expired at the same time to combine them. This was not set to happen until 2027. This renewal will not cost any additional amount, as it is not a new tax.
The Board of Elections receives the resolution to go on the ballot and determines what type of levy it must be listed as. Since this one is asking for no increase, it must be called a renewal.
Recent successes at Ada Schools include improvements in technology and security, significant increases in the number of College Credit Plus courses offered on campus, a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) series of classes, adding American Sign Language as a foreign language credit option, making additions to middle school electives, and continued implementation of the Literacy Collaborative to improve reading skills for elementary students.
While the district has been responsible with the fiscal resources the community has entrusted to us, and we find ourselves in a situation of fiscal health, the renewal of this levy on this the March ballot is imperative to remain fiscally healthy.
Some of the things we have done to come to this fiscal health include careful consideration of staffing each year, making improvements to the efficiency of the structures and systems (i.e. more energy efficient lighting), and weighing each purchase against our vision and continuous improvement goals. Again, this levy is a renewal, and is asking for no new money.
We have been blessed by the community’s continued support of the district, and we have much for which to be thankful. We depend on that support to continue to maintain the high academic standards our community has grown to expect and our students deserve.
The superior academic programs that we have been fortunate to offer to our students provide them with multiple opportunities to succeed and explore in preparation for life beyond the K-12 walls. It is our desire to continue to support these programs and foster excellence in all we do. The renewal of this levy will allow us to do just that.
Thank you for investing in our community’s most valuable asset…its children. It is the greatest investment a society can make.
Mrs. Meri Skilliter
Superintendent of Ada Exempted Village School District
