Bob Fulton

DAILY STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO

By Brian Gilliland

LEWES — The same Cape Henlopen School District board of education — with a new vice president but the same superintendent — could soon make the same argument for a referendum, largely to the same electorate, as it did last spring.

On Thursday, district officials approved superintendent Bob Fulton’s contract — a vote held in conjunction with the board’s third and final retreat of the year.

The retreat was not open to the public, and it included discussions with Mr. Fulton, as well as other executive session topics, before the unanimous vote was taken as part of a two-minute open session.

Board members and Mr. Fulton may have more to say during its next open session and meeting, this Thursday at 6 p.m. at Milton Elementary School, 1270 Kings Highway.

Also on the agenda, and up for possible action, is the district’s certificate of necessity request to the state, a precursor to the next referendum, expected in spring 2025.

The school board last heard the staff’s proposal for a coming referendum during its July 26 gathering, and the proposal was a familiar one — exactly the same as the voters rejected in March.

The cost to taxpayers as proposed earlier this year was $0.549 per $100 of assessed property value. It was rejected by about 490 votes in what was then the largest referendum in district history.

Following the loss, the district took the risk to come back a second time for another vote but removed a pool request and tinkered with the plans, bringing the tax increase down to about $0.391 per $100 assessed. This, too, was defeated by about 600 votes in what then became the largest referendum for Cape schools.

The main issue, according to district officials, is the need to expand the high school. The projections being used to measure the population increase in Sussex County have become unreliable, they say, as the true rate of growth has been much higher than expected.

However, there were some projects that needed to be finished before the high school could grow, like removing the current administrative office to improve stormwater management. The office would need to be built somewhere else, along with a new school, so a land purchase was included, as well.

A bus maintenance facility would be added onto that land, and an indoor swimming pool for the district’s students was floated, too. Though a contentious item at the time, each referendum failed, with and without the pool proposal, leaving the school board to pass a flat budget while starting the 2025 process in mid-July.

As part of Thursday’s meeting, the board will also hear a capital projects update, its financial positions report and a preliminary fiscal year 2025 budget draft.

Mr. Fulton has been superintendent since 2012.