ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — More than 200 educators, community leaders and members of area education foundations attended a meeting at the C.F. Taylor building (the old Robertsdale Elementary School) Tuesday evening to discuss the proposed “Penny Tax.”

A countywide referendum on the tax will be held March 23. The purpose of the referendum will be to add one per cent to the sales tax for the next three years.

John Hudson, a representative from the Alabama Education Association told the group that the referendum could pass.

“This can be done,” said Hudson. “I have been through this in Mobile.”

He added that the people in the meeting would see negative comments in the press, but, “don’t let the nay sayers turn you off. We all have to work together.”

JaNay Dawson, interim Superintendent of Schools, told the audience that she was brought up in Baldwin County, graduating from Foley High.

“I am dedicated to the employees, too,” she said.

Dawson said that when she began teaching in Baldwin County, classes had “36 to 37” students and there was no “planning period.”

Dawson said that it was possible to go back to those days, “We can do it. But, is it the best thing for our children?”

Dawson mentioned that she has 4-year-old twin granddaughters and she was, “Wondering what kindergarten would look like for them.”

Dawson painted a dire picture of what the school system will face without the tax.

“By 2012, we will be $31 (million) to $33 million in the red. Coming back from that deficit will be difficult,” Dawson said.

She added that without the tax, the district would have to close schools and cut tenured personnel.

Citing the failed “Pay-As-You-Go” plan, Dawson said that there were 104,000 registered voters in Baldwin county and only about “16 percent of them showed up” to the polls.

“I don’t know how the other 84,000 felt,” she said.

The audience broke into smaller groups, based on the “feeder patterns” for the county high schools.

Ramona Hill, of Daphne was a “meeting facilitator” for the evening.

“My children graduated from Baldwin County schools,” she said. “They got a good education in Daphne, and I want that to continue.”