FAQ
The Proposal
A: Officially called the Illinois County School Facility Occupation Tax, it is a sales tax of one cent on every dollar spent on qualifying retail purchases in the county. The Illinois law creating it took effect in 2007 as a way to fund school needs without relying on property taxes. It can only be adopted by a majority vote of county voters, and 58 of Illinois' 102 counties have adopted it.
The sales tax does not apply to:
- Unprepared food (most groceries)
- Prescription and over-the-counter medications
- Cars, trucks, ATVs, boats, RVs and mobile homes
- Farm equipment, parts and farm inputs
- Services
A simple rule of thumb: if an item is not taxed now, it will not be taxed under this proposal.
A: Our schools are facing several serious challenges, all paid for from the same limited local dollars.
- Teachers & Staff. QPS could not fill more than 50 teaching and other staff positions last school year, and the number of applicants for each opening continues to shrink. That means larger class sizes and fewer teachers and staff helping students.
- Students. Our students’ academic, behavioral and mental health needs continue to rise, and a shortage of special education teachers means more students receiving services outside their home community.
- Buildings. Our schools total more than 1.2 million square feet, and the systems that keep classrooms warm, cool, dry and safe are aging while deferred maintenance grows more expensive every year, especially at our junior high and high schools.
- Programs. Career and technical education is limited by space, and several student programs depend on temporary grant funding that is not guaranteed to continue.
The county school facilities sales tax is one of the few funding tools available to Illinois school districts that does not impact property taxes. An estimated 60% of it would be paid by visitors who shop in Adams County but live elsewhere.
A: State law is very specific. Revenue from the one-cent sales tax can only be used for school facility purposes, school resource officers and mental health professionals, including:
- Repairing or replacing roofs, windows, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems
- Safety and security improvements
- Additions, renovations and new facilities
- Energy efficiency upgrades
- Land acquisition, durable equipment and architectural planning
- Paying off building bonds
- School resource officers and mental health professionals
A: The sales tax is the first step in a two-step plan to help Quincy Public Schools address staffing, building needs and long-term financial stability without increasing the district's overall property tax rate. Each step requires its own vote. Only step one, the sales tax, is on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot.
Step 1: The sales tax
Illinois law limits how sales tax revenue can be used. It can pay for school buildings, safety and security, school resource officers and mental health professionals. It cannot be used for teacher salaries, instructional materials or other day-to-day operating costs.
If voters approve the sales tax, it will help the district in several ways.
- It would free up more than $2 million in the Education Fund. Quincy Public Schools currently pays more than $2 million a year for mental health professionals from the Education Fund, the same fund that pays teachers and staff. Sales tax revenue could cover those eligible costs instead. That would free up more than $2 million in the Education Fund for competitive compensation and filling open positions. The district can also use some of its reserves to begin addressing compensation. But reserves are like a savings account. Once that money is spent, it is gone. Teacher and staff salaries must be paid every year. The $2 million and reserves help the district get started, but they do not provide enough ongoing revenue for a long-term solution.
- It would provide another way to pay for school buildings. QPS currently uses its Fire Prevention and Safety levy and Health/Life Safety bonds to pay for projects that qualify under Illinois Health/Life Safety requirements. These funding sources are restricted to work that meets specific state requirements. Sales tax revenue could be used for a broader range of school building needs, including career and technical education, athletic, performing arts and student activity spaces.
- Importantly, step one makes step two possible. Property taxes currently pay for the district’s school building costs. If voters approve the sales tax, sales tax revenue could cover those costs instead. But the district cannot simply move those property tax dollars to the Education Fund. Voter approval is required before they can be used for things like teacher salaries, classroom supplies and other day-to-day school needs. That future vote is step two.
Step 2: The zero-tax-rate change property tax transfer
Step two would be a separate ballot question, at a later election. It would ask voters to move property tax dollars now used for school building payments to the Education Fund, where they could be used for teachers and staff, instructional materials and other day-to-day school needs.
The district's overall property tax rate would stay the same. The same property tax rate would simply be divided differently, with less going toward building payments and more going to the Education Fund.
Together, the two steps are intended to give the district a more stable, long-term way to maintain a balanced budget, keep and recruit teachers and staff, and fill open positions without increasing the district's overall property tax rate.
A: No. The only question on the Nov. 3 ballot is the one-cent county school facilities sales tax. The tax transfer would come to voters later as its own question. Approving the sales tax does not approve the tax transfer, and no money moves to the Education Fund unless voters approve that second question.
The sales tax stands on its own either way. It would begin working immediately funding facility repairs and updates and salaries for mental health professionals. At the same time, it would free up existing operating dollars to help provide the teachers and staff our students need.
A: The plan helps with staffing and operations from day one. Every repair paid with sales tax dollars is a repair no longer paid from the budget that pays for the people and programs that serve students, and that relief begins as soon as sales tax revenue starts covering facility costs.
Sales tax dollars can also directly fund school resource officers and mental health professionals, two growing needs identified during Quincy Together. Salaries for mental health professionals alone are estimated to be more than $2 million per year.
State law does not allow sales tax dollars to pay general salaries, and that is where the second step comes in. Sales tax dollars could eventually take over the building debt payments now made with property taxes. If voters approve the tax transfer in a later election, those property tax dollars could shift to classrooms and educators. Recruiting and retaining teachers and staff was the top priority residents named throughout Quincy Together, and the two steps together address it.
A: Every public school district in Adams County. The one-cent sales tax is divided based on the number of resident students enrolled in each district, and each locally elected school board decides how to use its share within the law. The one cent covers every school district in Adams County.
The Need
A: Quincy Public Schools serves more than 6,100 students, employs more than 1,000 people and maintains more than 1.2 million square feet of school facilities. Throughout Quincy Together, residents said consistently that a strong public school district is essential for Quincy to be a great place to live, work and raise a family.
The cost of running our schools rises every year, while much of the district's state and federal funding is restricted and cannot be used for day-to-day needs. Those pressures show up in several places: unfilled teaching positions, larger classes, rising behavioral and mental health needs, students receiving special education services outside Quincy, and building repairs that grow more expensive the longer they wait. The data behind this is posted at quincytogether.org.
A: In 2017-2018, the district made $1.8 million in cuts across the district. These cuts ranged from central office and building administration and teaching positions to supplies and student intervention programs.
In 2021, the district had a plan to make an additional $1.68 million in cuts, but when federal ESSER dollars (or COVID funding) became available that year, the need for cuts was postponed.
School building and extracurricular activity budgets for supplies, materials, and equipment have remained unchanged for the past decade. Meanwhile, the vast majority of budget increases have been directed toward employee salaries and benefits and rising utility costs.
The district has demonstrated financial responsibility of taxpayer funds, by increasing its cash reserves from 31 days of cash on hand as of June 30, 2016, to 264 days as of June 30, 2025.
A: The last voter-approved change to the Education Fund levy was in 1988, nearly 30 years ago. The levy has remained at $1.84 since then.
A: The sales tax is the first step in a two-step plan to help Quincy Public Schools address staffing, building needs and long-term financial stability without increasing the district's overall property tax rate. Each step requires its own vote. Only step one, the sales tax, is on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot.
Step 1: The sales tax
Illinois law limits how sales tax revenue can be used. It can pay for school buildings, safety and security, school resource officers and mental health professionals. It cannot be used for teacher salaries, instructional materials or other day-to-day operating costs.
If voters approve the sales tax, it will help the district in several ways.
- It would free up more than $2 million in the Education Fund. Quincy Public Schools currently pays more than $2 million a year for mental health professionals from the Education Fund, the same fund that pays teachers and staff. Sales tax revenue could cover those eligible costs instead. That would free up more than $2 million in the Education Fund for competitive compensation and filling open positions. The district can also use some of its reserves to begin addressing compensation. But reserves are like a savings account. Once that money is spent, it is gone. Teacher and staff salaries must be paid every year. The $2 million and reserves help the district get started, but they do not provide enough ongoing revenue for a long-term solution.
- It would provide another way to pay for school buildings. QPS currently uses its Fire Prevention and Safety levy and Health/Life Safety bonds to pay for projects that qualify under Illinois Health/Life Safety requirements. These funding sources are restricted to work that meets specific state requirements. Sales tax revenue could be used for a broader range of school building needs, including career and technical education, athletic, performing arts and student activity spaces.
- Importantly, step one makes step two possible. Property taxes currently pay for the district’s school building costs. If voters approve the sales tax, sales tax revenue could cover those costs instead. But the district cannot simply move those property tax dollars to the Education Fund. Voter approval is required before they can be used for things like teacher salaries, classroom supplies and other day-to-day school needs. That future vote is step two.
Step 2: The zero-tax-rate change property tax transfer
Step two would be a separate ballot question, at a later election. It would ask voters to move property tax dollars now used for school building payments to the Education Fund, where they could be used for teachers and staff, instructional materials and other day-to-day school needs.
The district's overall property tax rate would stay the same. The same property tax rate would simply be divided differently, with less going toward building payments and more going to the Education Fund.
Together, the two steps are intended to give the district a more stable, long-term way to maintain a balanced budget, keep and recruit teachers and staff, and fill open positions without increasing the district's overall property tax rate.
A: Our teacher salaries rank the lowest among Illinois' 55 large-unit school districts. A teacher with 10 years of experience in Quincy earns less than in most neighboring districts,
A: Quincy Public Schools is struggling to compete for teachers and staff because of its low salaries. The number of applicants for each job opening is a fraction of what it was 10 and 20 years ago. Last school year, the district had more than 50 open teaching and other staff positions and nine mid-year resignations.
Students feel the difference. Quincy's student-teacher ratio is 22 to 1, while neighboring districts range from 14 to 1 to 18 to 1. And the shortages reach beyond the classroom, creating challenges in transportation, special education and student services.
A: Student behavioral, mental health and academic needs continue to increase and meeting them takes people the district is struggling to hire. An ongoing shortage of special education teachers and specialists means larger caseloads, larger specialized class sizes, fewer specialized classrooms available locally and more students receiving services outside their home community.
Some academic needs are simply unfunded today, including K-3 art and extended day and summer school programs. Several student programs rely on temporary grant funding that is not guaranteed to continue.
A: About 68 cents of every dollar QPS spends pays the teachers and staff who work with students, and much of the district's state and federal funding can only be spent on specific programs. That means there is no way to make significant budget cuts without cutting the people and programs that serve students.
During Quincy Together, the community reviewed the option of cutting approximately $5 million per year from the budget. That option would cut people and services, leave open positions unfilled and still not address the district's facility needs.
When costs rise faster than revenue, a district can make cuts, or it can find new revenue. More than half of Illinois counties have adopted the county school facilities sales tax to fund school needs without raising property taxes.
A: Students learn best in classrooms that are warm in the winter, cool in the warm months, dry when it rains and safe every day. Many of the systems that make that possible in our schools, including roofs, windows, plumbing, electrical and heating and cooling systems, are aging and nearing the end of their useful life. Safety and security systems need ongoing updates, and space limitations hold back the career and technical programs that prepare students for local jobs. During Quincy Together, community members toured Flinn Stadium, Quincy Junior High School and the Quincy Area Vocational Technical Center and saw these conditions firsthand.
Just as homeowners must sometimes spend money to maintain their homes, the district must spend money to protect the investment our community has made in its schools. Right now, every dollar of that maintenance comes from the same budget that funds teachers, staff, and classroom resources — meaning essential repairs compete directly with student needs.
A: The cost of repairs will only increase as our buildings age. And every year that salaries trail neighboring districts makes it harder to keep experienced teachers in front of Quincy students. Addressing these needs now costs less than addressing them later.
