Brandywine School District Passes Referendum

Brandywine School District Passes Referendum

Quick blurb because I'm still at Christina Board meeting, but Brandywine has passed their referenda by close to a four thousand vote margin! 9,612 FOR - 5,780 against. Congratulations!  BSD also smashed Christina's total turnout (13,395) by almost 2,000 votes: 15,392 total votes!
Brandywine’s Referenda: Take 2

Brandywine’s Referenda: Take 2

So what’s all this mean? When a District goes out for an operating referendum they’re not going out because the Superintendent wants a raise or because they want gilded flatware in their cafeterias. They’re going out because they can’t keep paying for everything they currently have without more revenue -or- getting rid of existing staff and programs. The only way Districts get more operating revenue in Delaware is by asking residents to raise their own property taxes. Take a look at Christina this year and what changes we had to make because we failed twice to pass an operating referendum last year. Class sizes pushing 40, no librarians in our high schools, scaled back guidance services, no after-school transportation for extracurriculars, most extracurriculars cut. This will be a reality for BSD next year without passage tomorrow. Slashing $8 million out of an operating budget will pretty much decimate the same things.
2016 Statewides–IC–KWS Gets her multiple challengers.

2016 Statewides–IC–KWS Gets her multiple challengers.

I see that Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart has successfully enticed more than one primary opponent to challenge her. You see, that is the key for her continued and unfortunate presence in office: you line up the support of the Gordon-Williams machine in New Castle County, and then you get more than one primary opponent to divide the anti-KWS vote. That is imperative because the anti-KWS vote is always the majority of the vote when there is a primary, as she has never received more than 42.5% of the vote in a contested primary.