Nine districts to hold referendums amid worries that voters will say no

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7 thoughts on “Nine districts to hold referendums amid worries that voters will say no

  1. It’s important for people to know that a great deal of this – referendums – is the result of an unintended consequence that resulted from the property tax caps. Because while the caps helped to fix a problem, it has taken revenue away from local units of government, including schools. School corporations, by and large, are responsibly managing the public monies entrusted to them. A well performing school corporation is a huge factor in influencing the quality of life within a community. I’d encourage anyone who REALLY wants to understand what is going on with their schools, attend a school board meeting, volunteer at one of your schools or reach out to the school board member that represents the district or township, or anyone on the Board, including the president or write a note to the superintendent of your schools. It’s been my experience those people care far more about the job they’re doing than they get credit for.

    1. Excellent comment, because “it’s complicated”. So much is taken by federal taxes, we forget how important our local entities are to us, and how they are supported, with schools, local tax levies, frozen by the legislature. It is so easy to feel the pinch of $1,500 more in property assessment and ignore the $15,000 that came out of personal income you never get to see. That $15,000 is so far away, that complaining can be safely ignored by the bureaucrats that spend it.

    2. I disagree that it was an unintended consequence. I’d argue it was very much intended to defund and restrict local government, pushing more control to the Indiana legislature which has very much shown that they feel the educational system doesn’t need any more money, regardless of how far behind Indiana falls behind other states in any number of metrics.

      The only education groups they’re interested in giving money to are churches and their charter school donors.

  2. What are the schools doing with all the money they’re getting from the increased assessed value of homes? I know I’m paying an extra $1,500 a year due to my increased assessment.

  3. I see both sides of this but it is not a good time to be asking for a referendum. Taxpayers are getting hammered enough with the current economic conditions. As a former teacher and school board member I see the big picture and there are needs and wants and am pretty sure all of what is being asked for are not all needs. I bet there is some fat that can be trimmed … I really shudder when I see requests to spend more money on things like security personnel, more administrators, etc. Many good comments on this and we need to support public education while also being practical and using common sense.

  4. When property tax caps were proposed, politicians said the state would replace the lost local revenues. That promise was not kept.

    The state now has a HUGE surplus but still refuses to catch up on all the funding cuts and refusals to keep up with inflation of the last 15 years. If our state legislature and the last 3 Governors had kept the promise to replace property tax revenues with state dollars, it’s doubtful any local community would be forced to seek property tax referenda to keep pace with costs.

    The pandemic forced many new sanitation and technology costs on schools. Staff illnesses forced additional costs to hire hard-to-find substitutes. It’s no surprise that test scores have suffered. It’s time to catch up, but the overwhelming Republican majorities in both houses of our legislature have not risen to the need and apparently won’t unless voters send them a huge message this election day that voters have had enough of unkept promises.

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