Community Members Voice Concerns Over IPS Tax Referenda

Monday night the Indianapolis Public Schools referenda team answered public questions about the $220 million operating referendum and $52 million capital referendum. Both will be on the general election ballot this November.

IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee told the group assembled that the district will struggle if the referendums don’t pass.

“We will continue to have the challenges around teacher compensation and our ability to compete there,” Ferebee says. 

The $220 million operating referendum would go towards teacher salaries and special needs programs, it would be spread over eight years. And a one-time $52 million capital referendum would support school security and building repair.

Indianapolis resident UnoBlessed Coons says she supports the referendums but worries a rise in property taxes could hurt renters.  She also asks why the district needs more revenue after it just closed schools.

“Closing some of our, most legacy community schools –– to ask for more money, right?" Coons says. "And where does that money go?"

Ferebee says the decision to close several IPS high schools was motivated by enrollment numbers and it was necessary to redistribute resources.

The current operating ask is lower than the first. In July, IPS asked for more than $315 million for an operating referendum –– for teachers salaries and special needs programs. But it lowered this proposal to $220 million after the Indy Chamber expressed concerns.

IPS School Board President Michael O’Connor says the board found the right balance.

“We’re taxpayers also, so we want to make sure we have the right balance, but it will be a challenge," O'Connor says. "The biggest function we have as a school board is governance and making sure our administrators, principles, and teachers can do their jobs.”

However, Coons says she feels the community is not as involved in the referendum discussion as it should be.

"We’re having critical conversations, that should be –– parents are in the room, kids are in the room, young adults that came from IPS," Coons says. "We have to have a conversation about the future of IPS, and I don’t think that has been facilitated.

The last IPS referendum passed was a capital referendum in 2008, for $278 million.

The next public meeting on the issue will be this Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Indy Reads Books, 911 Massachusetts Ave.