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Referendum - January 2010

REFERENDUM PASSED!
We'd like to extend an enormous THANK YOU to the Los Alamos community for your support!  To all those who voted on the referendum, we will do all that we can to either confirm or build your confidence in us.  We are proud to be part of a community that places such high importance on education and all aspects of student success!


The Los Alamos Public Schools Board of Education will submit to a vote the question of continuing to impose a property tax of $3.246 per each $1,000 of net taxable value of property for the years 2010 through 2015. The Los Alamos County will mail ballots on January 11, 2010 to registered, qualified voters.

The passage of this referendum does NOT increase tax rates. This referendum is a vote to continue a tax that property owners have been paying for the past five years.

According to information provided by the County Clerk’s Office, ballots must be physically received by 7:00 PM 2/2/10 at the County Clerk’s Office in order to be counted. Any ballot received after that time will not be counted.

Questions? Contact John Wolfe @ 663-2239 or at j.wolfe@laschools.net

Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Superintendent, Dr. Eugene Schmidt

The Referendum Provides Funding For:

{Funding} What will funding pay for at MY school? (PDF)
  1. Upgrading technology for student learning
  2. Remodeling, making additions to, providing equipment for or furnishing public school buildings
  3. Improving public school grounds
  4. Purchasing activity vehicles for transporting students to and from extracurricular school activitie
  5. Administering the projects undertaken pursuant to subsection 2 and 3 listed above, including expenditures for facility maintenance software, project management software, project oversight and district personnel specifically related to administration of these projects; provided that administrative expenditures shall not exceed five percent of the total project costs
  6. Any combination of these purposes
Read more on the Superintendents Weekly Update Blog

A Test of Your Knowledge about LAPS School Funding…


The following statements about Los Alamos Public School Funding are all true. Read each one carefully and decide which one surprises you.

  1. LAPS referendum votes in this county have always been for continuous support & do not raise county taxes.
  1. A YES vote in February on the LAPS question will not raise your taxes, but it will allow us to fund our future for instruction & safety.
  1. Referendum monies fund all schools’ technology assets. If the Referendum does not pass, there will be no money for technology purchases for 6 years. We will be teaching our children in 2016 with 2009 technology.
  1. Referendum monies can & will be used for minor building maintenance projects.
  1. Referendum monies are necessary to fund Title IX requirements, which means gender equity access in all sports activities.
  1. Referendum money cannot be used to pay salaries.
  1. Referendum money cannot be used to build offices or schools.
  1. Only 1 other state funds operational money the way New Mexico funds – Hawaii.
  1. Other states allow districts to receive operational monies from their local governments in a continuous stream. The districts with which the Lab competes for its highly trained & skilled work force receive continuous funding from their local governments.
  1. New Mexico uses a State Equalization Formula to provide each student the same unit value into its operational funds across the state. This provides for necessary equity among the 89 school districts.
  1. While Los Alamos County receives gross receipt taxes from businesses operating in our county, LAPS can never access those funds because it is against state law.
  1. The only way that any NM school district can receive funding from county residents is through Referendum elections for assets costing less than $200,000 and Bond Elections for capital building projects.
  1. In these elections, you give permission for the county to collect taxes & then give them to the schools. This is the only way NM allows LAPS to receive funds on a continual basis.
  1. The Lab is trying to bring a workforce to town, which is used to the most current & relevant education opportunities in the nation. These parents will expect us to provide that opportunity for their children.
  1. Providing these opportunities requires funding for the changes required by industries of the future. These global market changes require technological infrastructure and 21st century resources.
  1. Bond elections are expressly for projects costing over $200,000 – large, capital outlay projects like buildings, sidewalks, plumbing, roofs, etc. Your recent 32% tax increase came from the passage of a Bond election, which will provide new high school, middle school, and elementary school structures. Referendum money cannot be used for this purpose.
  1. Referendum elections are expressly for supply & fixed assets: computers, classroom supplies, software, carpeting, desks, chairs, tables etc.


Last Modified on 2/3/2010 3:00:45 PM