Dayton Schools Ponder Levy Options

DAYTON - Members of the Dayton schools' Facilities Committee will meet later this month to decide how to move forward after the school improvement bond levy that was put before voters last week went down to a big defeat.

The preliminary results posted on election night showed that 993 voters cast votes to reject the measure, compared to 381 voting in favor. 56.52% of registered voters in the district cast ballots in the special election. The county web site says 46 ballots are yet to be counted.

"Obviously I'm disappointed," said Dayton School Superintendent Doug Johnson. "The committee put in a lot of work," on planning for the project.

Johnson said he was frustrated with the inability of himself and others on the facilities committee to communicate with the public. "Nearly 1,000 people voted against this measure," he said. "And yet, we held five public meetings to discuss the project with the public and less than 75 people total showed up."

Johnson said that the facilities committee will meet May 13 to discuss what next steps should be taken. He said the committee has a number of options. One is to run a revised levy measure in November. Another is to address the most pressing building renovation needs through a series of shortterm capital levies that don't involve bond purchases.

Johnson says he and the rest of the committee understand that the amount of money requested in the defeated measure was a lot, and that property owners see the potential tax increase as an unbearable burden. "I want people to talk to us and tell us what they want and what they can handle," he said. "I can't believe people in the community don't want our schools to be repaired and maintained."