Here Are The Schools Asking Communities For Referendum Funding This May

This year’s first round of school funding referenda includes 10 school corporations, with a handful of the schools asking voters for more funding for the first time.

Four referenda are from districts that have never tried to pass one: Frontier, Franklin Community, DeKalb County Central United and Plymouth. In Franklin, teacher pay and mental health supports for students are a driving factor.

In Elkhart, voters will consider replacing a current tax, with a new, higher one to help boost school staff pay and pay for social workers in elementary schools.

Most of the referenda asks are proposing tax hikes that range between 20-60 cents per $100 of a property’s assessed value. But in Lake County, River Forest Schools are asking for a tax hike of more than $1.19 per $100 of property value.

Local tax expert and Purdue professor Larry DeBoer says River Forest’s measure is one of the highest ever proposed, and will be interesting to watch for two reasons.

“Rates that high in the past have not done very well, on the other hand they’ve won before and those who have won before have often done very well,” he says.

Just two referenda proposals in the state focus on construction, in Hanover and DeKalb. The rest mostly focus on staff pay, transportation, school safety – including mental health – and building updates.

Construction

Dekalb County Central United School District - Dekalb and Steuben County

• Property tax rate: $.3391 per $100 assessed value
• Project total: $37.6 million
• For: Renovations for Watson Elementary School, DeKalb High School and DeKalb Middle School

Hanover Community School Corporation - Lake County

• Property tax rate: $.5605 per $100 assessed value
• Project total: $44,090,000
• For: Renovations and security upgrades for schools, new resource center and facility for upper elementary students

Operations Levy

Duneland School Corporation - Porter County

• Property tax rate: $0.22 per $100 assessed value for 7 years
• For: Teacher pay, safety, education programs
• Note: This will extend a current tax already in place.

Elkhart Community Schools - Elkhart County

• Property tax rate: $0.58 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: Teacher and staff pay, social workers in elementary schools, school safety, class sizes
• Note: This measure would replace a tax levy currently in place

Franklin Community School Corporation - Johnson County

• Property tax rate: $0.23 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: School safety, mental health, teacher pay

Frontier School Corporation - White County

• Property tax rate: $0.21 per $100 assess value for 8 years
• For: Class sizes, finding and retaining teachers, education programs

MSD Decatur Township - Marion County

• Property tax rate: $0.289 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: student transportation, safety, building maintenance and electricity
• Note: This would replace a current levy in place and reduce the tax by one cent

MSD Wayne Township - Marion County

• Property tax rate: $0.35 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: school safety, recruiting and retaining teachers, maintaining daily education operations

Plymouth School Corporation - Marshall County

• Property tax rate: $0.19 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: Attracting and retaining teachers, school safety, mental health supports

River Forest Community School Corporation - Lake County

• Property tax rate: $1.19 per $100 assessed value for 8 years
• For: Funding for teaching and other staff positions, transportation, education programs