The School Board circulated their case for a municipal bond issuance to build a school. Next people get to vote on it.
The Voters
The ease or difficulty of passing a referendum involving tax hikes often depends on the demographics in the district. According to Wikipedia, our county (and hence school district) has -
67,864 households, out of which 42.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them.
In 2022, the median household income in Union County was $95,533
The median age was 36.2 years
9.6% were aged 65 or over
So with 42.1% of the district having kids and some money —-this was kind of a slam dunk formality for the school district to pass. When people say “move to a good school district” they should not look at the school rankings, they should look at how easily it is for the school to raise money to support their needs.
Compare that to neighboring Lancaster county (which actually falls in South Carolina)
35,410 households, 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them
The median income for a household in the county was $38,959
The median age was 39.7 years
9.4% of households have someone who is 65 or older living alone. The percentage of the population in Lancaster County that is 65 or older has increased from 15.5% in 2010 to 21.8% in 2022
We’ll never know if a socio-demographic like that would rubber stamp a new school and tax hike like the first county did but I doubt it.
The Value to Parents
Understanding the referendum and really understanding the value behind it are two separate things.
Next year, we’ll start paying around $40-$80 extra per year in property taxes. In return, the area will get an entirely new school with up to date & clean facilities and start planning another. Yet my kids are unlikely to ever even attend the new school.
The value comes in other ways. The cost we pay will keep student class sizes reasonable for the school they do attend. It will ensure they are not re-zoned and have to change schools midway through K-12. It gives confidence to the school board other future fundraising efforts will pass without concern for teachers, further infrastructure or supplies.
By comparison, I pulled the tuition rates for the nearby private Charlotte Latin School for the 2024–2025 school year. Yearly tuition ranges from $23,750–$32,900, depending on the grade level from Kindergarten on.
Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten: $23,750
Grades 1–5: $23,750–$28,950
Grades 6+: $32,900
That’s PER KID. Sending 3 kids through there would be $23,750 x 3 per year! Compare to the the original $40-$80 increase I’ll pay. Sure, the types of families in the school may differ and the curriculums are chosen differently but both schools must still meet state standards and guidelines so you get nearly the same result.
Next week we’ll talk about how Wall Street produces and trades the muni bond created and voted on by the district.
Interested in being on the Trader Dads Podcast in 2025? Shoot me an email! I’d love to have subscribers on to sit for a discussion
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Thoughts? Questions? Comments?
Reach out! Maybe I’ll do a full post on the topic or as a Q&A
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