Warren Twp. High School district to ask voters again for tax hike to avoid sports, other cuts

Though a proposed property tax hike request failed in the spring, Warren Township District 121, facing significant programming cuts, is going back to voters - this time asking for more.

Entry-level sports teams will be cut next year along with several classes and the school band program because the district missed out on the $7.75 million a year the tax hike of 35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation would have generated, officials said.

But the school board has voted to put a tax hike question to voters again in an attempt to avoid some of the planned and future program cuts. The second referendum question will appear on the June 28, 2022, election ballot and will ask voters to approve a 60-cent property tax hike that would generate around $13.25 million in additional revenue annually.

If passed, the owner of a home valued at $250,000 would pay about $500 more per year in property taxes.

Superintendent John Ahlgrim said district funding is at a critical point. For six out of the last seven years, the district has run a deficit despite making cuts.

Since 2015, the district has cut 66 full-time positions including 48 teachers, nine school support staffers, five transportation staffers, three administrators and one school resource officer, according to district documents.

In recent years, the district has also refinanced debt, reduced the cost of employee benefits, taken other measures to cut costs and drawn down reserves to the lowest recommended level.

"It is one of my highest priorities the next 10 months that people understand," Ahlgrim said of the district's finances.

Officials say that if this second request is also rejected, then all remaining sports teams would be cut in the 2023-24 school year - which would save about $3 million a year.

The district would also eliminate 20 more staff positions, including educators who teach electives such as art, music and business. As a result, the district would go from having eight-period days to seven-period days.

Board President Paul Schulz said he wishes there was an alternative, but there's not.

"We have the highest student-to-teacher ratio, the highest student-to-administrator ratio," Schulz said, referring to other Lake County high schools. "It's not like there are extra teachers or administrators to cut."

Schulz said he thinks part of the reason the spring request failed is officials weren't able to engage with district parents in person because of the pandemic. He said he heard from a lot of community members who assumed the increase would pass and had not voted.

Ahlgrim said even if the tax hike is approved the district wouldn't be able to avoid all the planned cuts for the 2022-2023 school year. The time between the late June vote and the start of the school year would not be enough to schedule games for sports teams or retain a band director.

But if the plan passes, much or all of the student opportunities cut would eventually be restored.

History does not appear to be on the district's side: The last approved tax hike in District 121 was for 12 cents in February 2001, and the only other time voters approved one was in 1972. Proposed tax increases were rejected in referendums in April 1995, November 1995, November 2000, February 2003, April 2007 and earlier this year.