INDIANAPOLIS — Lagging education funds are forcing school districts across Indiana to take a difficult gamble: Do they risk voter backlash in hopes of raising property taxes to boost their general funds, or do they cut services and teachers as funding declines?
Residents in Avon and Indianapolis are among those facing referendums in Tuesday's primaries that ask them to approve more money to support schools. The requests are among 60 general fund and school construction referendums since 2008, when a state law was passed letting voters decide whether to give more money to school districts.
The requests are proving to be a tough sell with voters still wary of the economy. Only six of 17 statewide school referendums on the ballot in November passed. In May 2010, half of the 16 school referendums voted on statewide passed.
Many districts say they have no choice but to ask voters for help.
Funding has dropped in part due to state-mandated property tax caps and a change that shifted responsibility for school funding from local property taxes to the state. Falling Indiana tax revenues during the recession forced millions in education cuts that have deepened the wound.
Superintendent Walter Bourke of Franklin Township schools in Indianapolis said class sizes will increase and the district will be forced to cut programs and services, eliminate teachers and close three schools if the referendum fails.
"I fear the loss of general education transportation, I fear the closing of schools, I fear the loss of 81 teachers," Bourke told The Indianapolis Star. "It's not a tactic — it's a scary plan, but it is not a tactic. It's an outcome if the referendum fails."
Terry Spradlin of Indiana University's Center for Evaluation and Education policy said Indiana is earning a reputation as a "referenda state" for school funding needs and that the trend will continue as school districts seek more money.
But some residents don't think school officials are doing enough to cut costs.
"I think they should start trying to live within their means like all the rest of us have to do," said Teresa Jones, 55, an insurance business service representative.
Referendum opponents are stepping up campaigns to promote a cost-cutting agenda.
Steve Harlan heads Citizens for Responsible Government Spending, a political action committee formed in Avon this year to oppose that district's school referendum. The group meets weekly at Avon Town Hall and is buying signs telling local residents that "It's OK to Vote No" on May 3.
Spradlin said less than half of statewide referendums seeking tax increases to bolster school districts' general funds have passed since 2008. That rate drops to about 40 percent when school construction referendums are added to the list.
He blames the economy and predicts the questions on Tuesday's primary ballot could go either way.
"Voter sentiment in Indiana has become increasingly hostile toward the tax increases proposed by the referenda as a result of the Great Recession and the higher unemployment rates," he said.
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