LOUISVILLE, Ky.A tax increase for schools appears poised to face Louisville voters this November.

A group behind apetition to put a Jefferson County Public Schools tax increase to a vote says it has nearly 5,000 more signatures than needed likely clearing the bar to get on the November ballot.

The Jefferson County clerk will validate the signatures within the next 30 days and ultimately determine if the petition was successful. JCPS then has 10 days to appeal.

The petition needed at least 35,615 signatures by Friday to force a vote. The group said itturned in 40,320 signatures.

School board members, on a split vote, approved a 7-cent property tax increase in May about an extra $70 a year for a $100,000 home.

Kentucky school boards can raise property taxes enough to boost property tax revenue 4%. Since the increase would raise district revenue past thatcap, it was subject to a voter recall an ultimately successful effort.

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"We still have a lot of work to do, but I hope we will be able to look back on this effort and say this was a turning point, when the citizens of Jefferson County stood up and demanded that JCPS do the job it is paid to do, which is to provide a good education to every student," Theresa Camoriano wrote on the No JCPS Tax Hike Facebook page Friday. "No more excuses!"

Camoriano, who lives in Anchorage, spearheaded signature collection for weeks. She reserved the website NoJCPSTaxHike1.com ahead of the school board vote and managed multiple Facebook pages updating supporters and explaining their rationale.

In the weeks before signatures were due, libertarian advocacy groups including the Bluegrass Institute and Americans for Prosperity backed the petition. Kentucky Secretaryof State Michael Adams, who lives in Jefferson County, also encouraged voters to sign the petition.

JCPS, which has around a $1.65 billion budget, should better manage the money it already has, Camoriano and others opposing the increase said. Raising taxes during a pandemic is not ideal, they've said.

Reducing transportation spending by ending "busing" the district's practice of creating diverse classrooms by assigning West End kids to schools across the county would be one way to save money, some opposing the tax increase argued.

JCPS is proposing a student assignment model that would allow West End students to go to school closer to home effectively ending its lauded and criticized diversity plan but it said it would need about $139 million to build new schools in the West End to make it happen.

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And that money is supposed to come from the tax increase, district officials have said.

In the final days before signatures were due, one of the most vocal pro-JCPS groups Dear JCPS said it also wanted the tax increase to be put on the ballot.

While understanding the money is expected to go to the district's high-needs students and classrooms, Dear JCPS said the coronavirus may have shifted budget priorities. The district needs more time to determine how the money should be spent, it said.

"Giving our community until November to have these necessary but difficult conversations will not only increase community buy-in as solutions are developed, but it will increase the likelihood that new tax revenues will be spent in the best ways possible," the group wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

New revenue would help the district provide more supports for its most disadvantaged students, who often find themselves on the losing end of academic gaps, and the schools they attend, JCPS said.

It could also help to make up for past opportunities in which school boards did not take the full tax increase they could, shortchanging kids in the process, officials argued.

JCPS' property tax rate, 73.6 cents for $100 of assessed value, is among the lowest in the area. An increase to 80.6 cents would bring it closer to peer districts like Fayette County that serve large groups of students living at or near poverty.

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Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4471, and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth. Support strong local journalism by subscribing: courier-journal.com/subscribe.

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JCPS tax hike likely to be on ballot after opponents gather thousands of signatures - Courier Journal