Public Schools Fighting to Stay Afloat: Referendums

Lost in the education news at the end of a rough and exhausting legislative session, were 5 operating and 2 construction referendums on the ballot in their respective communities across Indiana. Context is everything:
- It is the primary responsibility of the state legislature to fund our public schools. With their failure to fully fund our public schools, communities are often faced with having to tax themselves in order to provide adequate resources, teachers and staff, or safe and updated facilities for their schoolchildren.
- The governor’s legislative agenda of slashing property taxes has also meant an impending cut in revenue for many public schools as well as other public services. Also, charter schools will soon receive property tax dollars in some communities, furthering the drain of public school tax dollars into private hands. Property tax dollars pay for community school buildings and transportation.
- While the final version of the state budget increased funds for education,public schools will still have to operate on funding amounts that are less than what they received in 2010, when adjusted for inflation. The budget also siphoned millions of public tax dollars for private school vouchers for the wealthiest Hoosier families. With the additional effects of property tax caps, revenue for public schools is causing some school districts to struggle.
- Privatization of public education is incompatible with adequate and equitable public school funding. Removing sources of public school funding means that those that can, will and those that can’t, won’t. Some public school corporations will never pass a referendum. Disparity and inequity is going to grow in Indiana between those that can afford to supplement their state tuition support and those that aren’t. This is unacceptable and wholly unfair to Hoosier children. All children in public schools deserve to have fully resourced schools. It is their Constitutional right.
Below are the results of the referendum campaigns. Our congratulations go out to those communities who were able to receive essential support for their kids. Our hearts break for those schools that will continue to struggle. Why do millions of dollars go to the wealthiest Hoosiers to help pay for their private school tuition while children in public schools lose out on services, programs, and good teacher-to-student ratios? Ask your legislator.
DEFINITIONS & MORE INFORMATION
Referendum – A local ballot question asking a school district community to approve a higher, time-sensitive tax levy amount to help improve schools. There are a few types of school referendums in the state. Only traditional public schools, for now, can put referendum questions on the ballot.
Operating Referendum – Pays for resources that directly affect children’s learning, like adding funding to hire more teachers reducing class sizes or using funds to create necessary support positions like reading and math specialists. This referendum type attempts to compensate for the lack of tuition support funding coming from the state via the state budget.
Construction Referendum – Pays for capital projects such as renovations and overall improvements to schools, updating facilities for safety and health or expansion, etc.
Safety Referendum – Pays for services such as mental health programs, school resource officers, and security enhancements.
Further information on referendums, including history, can be found on the state Department of Local Government Finance.
OPERATING REFERENDUM RESULTS
Westview School Corporation: LaGrange County
PASSED
92% YES, 8% NO
Westview School Corporation superintendent, Dr. Randall Miller
Central Noble Community Schools: Noble County
FAILED
Crown Point Community School Corporation, Lake County
PASSED
82.9% YES, 17.1% NO
The property tax caps or circuit breakers were cited as another source of underfunding.
School City of Hobart Corporation, Lake County
PASSED
81% YES, 19% NO
Focused mainly on providing safe transportation to school.
Property tax caps were pointed to as the loss of revenue to run the schools, particularly transportation.
“School City of Hobart Is Losing 81.6% of Its Levy.” (due to circuit breakers!) They asked for a renewal to continue to fund their schools. They also pointed out that their tiny school district had to share some property taxes with a charter school.
Hamilton Community Schools, DeKalb and Steuben Counties
PASSED
80% YES, 20% NO
Superintendent pointed out the confusing ballot language: “Reichhart said the district is proposing an extension now because “the state legislature continues to make it more difficult to pass school referendums.”
CONSTRUCTION REFERENDUM RESULTS
Silver Creek Community School Corporation: Clark County
FAILED
94% NO, 6% YES
This referendum was designed to solve overcrowding in their schools.
Southwest Parke Community School Corporation, Parke County
FAILED
63% NO, 37% YES
Would have built an auxiliary gym so that secondary school students wouldn’t have to rotate through the elementary school gyms for space to practice.
From the superintendent: “Harrison believes the state-required wording of the referendum question was misleading, and indicated the average property tax paid to the school corporation on a residence or on business would increase by 14.2% per year.