Voters in the Cape Henlopen and Christina school districts approved referendums on Wednesday.
The Cape Henlopen referendum for elementary schools won by a two-to-one margin in the fast-growing coastal area in Sussex County, Radio 105.9 reported.
A referendum in the Brandywine School District was voted down.
The Operating Referendum request by the Christina School District was narrowly approved by residents on March 23 by a margin of 145 votes after two previous defeats. The unofficial results were 6,770 votes for the proper tax hike and 6, 625 votes against.
The district is primarily in the Newark area, but has a sliver of territory extending to Wilmington.
The Christina referendum funding will be used to reduce class sizes by hiring teachers, restore budgets for schools and classrooms, and programming, according to a release.
The effort in Christina featured the popular song from the movie “Frozen,” with Gov. Jack Markell, who grew up in the district, taking the rare step of speaking in favor of a yes vote.The Christina district has also earmarked an additional $1 million to address school discipline, as well as a small amount of planning funds to begin developing expanded educational options and opportunities for Christina families. The last successful operating referendum was in 2010.
“I’m just so proud of the community who came out in support of our children,” said Christina Acting Superintendent Robert Andrzejewski. “During these difficult economic times when so many people are living paycheck to paycheck, and our seniors are living on fixed incomes, and 600 of our students are homeless – for them to come out say ‘yes, we’ll support our schools and our kids is very satisfying. The economic issues facing our community today are challenging, but this is the beginning of a whole new era for Christina. Not only Paving the Way – in a very short period of time we’re going to be leading the way.”
In celebrating the victory, Andrzejewski wore a “Let It Go” shirt and a victory video was aired.
