SILVERHILL, Ala. — It was a very worried group of parents who gathered Thursday, Feb. 25, at Silverhill Elementary School.

The Parent-Teacher Association at the school was to hear from JaNay Dawson, Interim Superintendent of Schools. Her subject was the “Penny Tax,” or the tax referendum March 23 that if passed, will add 1 percent to the sales tax in Baldwin County for the next 36 months. Her words were familiar, but to parents, the issue was often sitting next to them in the bleachers of the gym — their children.

“This vote is very important,” said Sherry Woodard of Silverhill as her daughter, Teanna, 4, played around her feet. While Woodard and her husband, who works in the Goodrich plant in Foley know they can find “another way” to educate their daughter, they would prefer to keep her in the Silverhill School.

“She has just grown so much here,” said Woodard. Teanna is in the pre-kindergarten program.

Woodard, who says she has a learning disability, is very sensitive to the education her daughter gets.

“She is going to have as good as we can give her,” she said.

That feeling was apparent in Dawson’s remarks.

“On one side we have to run like a business,” said Dawson. “On the other side, we’re all about people, especially about children.”

And closing the system’s doors is not an option. While some businesses can simply close their doors, Dawson said, “Every single day of the week, the school doors have to be open.”

Dawson added that the school system does not have any way of raising revenue on its own, and is dependent on the state legislature and the County Commission, which sets tax rates and give the schools their money. Dawson thanked the Baldwin County Commission for permitting the referendum.

Dawson said that if the referendum does not pass, 286 positions and about 73 teachers will have to be eliminated, on top of the 126 or so teachers that the state has said will have to be cut.

Dawson stressed that “100 percent” of the money raised by the three-year tax will remain in Baldwin County.

For those who argue that extracurricular activities like sports and after-school clubs should be cut, Dawson says that the programs “may seem like fluff” but many students, “come to school solely because” of extracirruculars.

While “stimulus money” is in the picture, it is going away after next year, and Dawson said that the amount under discussion now will only give Baldwin County schools $4 million.

One parent commented that her grandson is autistic and going to Robertsdale Elementary school. With two aides, the boy was able to take “three-quarters” of his classes in a regular classroom, the rest in the special education classes. Now, she commented, her grandson is not doing as well without the aides, spending about half the time in the special classroom.

“The government is not going to bail us out,” the woman said.

Dawson said she appreciated the comments and that if there is an “upside,” is the realization that all are now focused on every penny that is spent.

“My hope is that when the economy is in better shape we can say to the state that we need to figure out a way for stable school funding.”

Carmen Godfrey, the president of the Silverhill PTO said, “When my husband and I moved here seven years ago, we came here because of the schools.”

“I went to school with 30 kids in the classroom,” Godfrey said. “I want better for my kids.”